The readings from the past two weeks have definitely made me
reflect on my own writing and research processes. For starters, Nathan’s piece really made me
look at what I do in regards to my academics and if any of it could be considered
“cheating”. I have always taken pride in
doing my own work and not taking the ideas of others to claim them as my
own. In addition, I always give proper
credit to work in my research papers. What
Nathan’s article really brought to my attention was the fact that many of the
students today engage in academic behavior that we do not view as cheating, but
that is in fact just that.
As far as
Sommer’s piece on revision strategies, her findings where not that surprising
to me. I had figured that student’s
revision strategies were less than structured as well as in clear stages. In high school, my English teachers were
constantly reminding us that in order to be a better writer, we have to be
constantly revising, and not just for grammar (which most of us were guilty of)
but for content and structure as well.
This is one of the differences that Sommer’s found between the student
writers and the experienced writers. I
think that in order to improve my writing, I have to open-minded. I think an important factor in order to improve
my writing, I have to try to model my writing process as well as my research
strategies on those that Sommer’s found in her studies.
I'm glad you found ways to improve your writing from looking at these readings. I didn't feel as affected by the readings as you did, but it's still good you can find ways to improve. I wouldn't advise copying Sommer's strategies because while it may work for others, it may not work as well for you. It all depends on what you feel like you need to do.
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