This class has been hard but, very interesting at the same time. I feel that I have learned a lot more in this class than the previous COMP I.My advice to someone writing their first scientific research paper would be to use the available resources that is given to them. The resources available are the Kaplan Library, the KU Handbook, and the Kaplan writing center. Attending seminars and professor input is a great learning tool also. I have learned a lot about APA formatting, citations and so much more in this class. Don’t be afraid to ask questions because they may think you’re stupid or whatever. I have found that some students have the same problems that I have and they are minor and silly little ones. Do a lot of research because, it will help you write a much better paper because, you will have more information. Wording is a huge factor when researching. Writing a research paper can be fun if you let it. I actually came into this class thinking that I was going to hate this class, because I was so unsure of my writing; I actually ended up enjoying this class, and writing my paper. My paper was fun to write because I picked a subject that really interested me. Researching the information was fun for me also because I could reword my search and find different sources. I know that there is so much more that could be learned about the writing process but, I feel I have learned a lot so far. Also, use spell check tools.

Working on the final product!

Here we are at the last part of writing a paper. The finished product is a great process but, in the end if you work hard and go through each process step by step; you will have a good paper that flows well and is interesting to read. The process of writing include; researching what you are going to write about, using the correct format such as APA, introductions, abstract pages,understanding writing disciplines, properly formatting your paper, learning the proper way to write an abstract page and so much more go into writing a paper.

Making the paper interesting enough to keep the readers attention is a task that takes time;you do not want to just start writing and not worry about your audience. Use your spellcheck tool to make sure you have the correct spelling. Although, spellchecker does not catch all spelling errors, it does catch the majority of them.You will want to read your paper out loud to make sure it sounds good and to check for any grammatical errors.

I have learned so much taking this composition class and I am satisfied that using those skills I will now be able to complete a paper without any worries.

Finalizing a paper

In order to finalize a paper you have a lot of things you need to do. Reading the paper out loud to yourself is a good thing. When you read it out loud to yourself you can find many errors this way. You can actually hear the mistakes that you have made.

You also need to check for punctuation and spelling errors, spellcheck does not always catch every spelling error.

The writer needs to make sure that the sentences have a nice flow to them and that they do not have run on sentences.

A peer review can also help in finding things we may not see. I know from experience that after working on a paper for several hours and days that if I leave it alone for a while and then go back to it, I will reword it or find mistakes that I could not find before.

Writing takes time and effort. You cannot just write and expect it to be great if you do not take the time to make sure you have gotten all the bugs out.

I hope this tidbit of information helps to those of you who plan to write a paper.

Peer Reviews

Have you ever read an article and thought wow, they should have wrote that differently or, that sentence just doesn't sound right? Well, that is where peer review can help. It is kind of like feedback on what you have written.

This week we recieved peer reviews on our papers in class. Peer reveiws are very helpful when writing papers. You can recieve some very helpful feedback and if you take the tips given, you can usually end up with a very good paper. Peer reviews also help in the fact that they may find an error in your paper that you have overlooked. Take peer review as being helpful and not that your work is being criticized. Listen too what they are saying.

Rough Drafting

I recently finished an outline for my orugh draft. I was doing horribly with my outline until my son made me stop and realize that an outline was basically brainstorming only you add a thesis statement and a conclusion. so, with his great smartness I rewrote me outline and it looks much better than the first one.

It is kind of nice because we are both in college and what I am weak in he is good at and vice versa. So, I help him with math and things like that and he helps me with writing papers.

I like to write, however it is different than just writing for everyday use or writing a letter to a friend, etc... There are more things you have to worry about like; correct punctuation, spelling and grammar.

Well must get back to work on my writing so let me know what you think and have a great day!

Unit 5 post

Well here we are again another week and another unit. The different methods used for starting a paper are brainstorming, freewriting, outlining, bubbling and there are many others. Myself, I prefer freewriting and brainstorming because it allows you to write what you are thinking at the time and then you can go back and put your own wording together and make it come together to make sense. I have alwasy used freewriting and I find it works well for me. After I write a paragraph or two I find that all of a sudden those few paragraphs I just wrote led into more information that I could use. After writing it all down I then go back and rearrange it and put everything into place.

Many of my great papers have been completed this way. I also use brainstorming so that I don't foget the important things to put into my paper.

Writing and Plagiarism

Today I am writing about whatever comes to mind when a person writes a paper.

Writing a paper takes a lot more critical thinking than a person would think. The process is well thought out and planned when writing an important paper.

Depending on the topic you will have to do some research and find information about your topic.

The biggest part is plagiarism. You have to be sure to give credit to the person your information was gained from. Plagiarism is an act of stealing and shows that you are not capable of writing your own material.

You want to let everyone know that you can write a paper and do research to find the information you are talking about and that you have done your part by finding the valuable information from whatever sources you have used.

You want to be known as credible and show that you can do good work by using correct citations, punctuation, etc...

Oh, and you can use in-test citations also to show where your words came from.

Hope this helps with learning about writing everyone! Have a blessed day!

July 6, 2010 11:48 PM