Reflection on Writing Skills
August 24, 2017 for the time I have engaged in this training, there has been pretty a lot to learn and unlearn from my daily experience. Unlearn in this case implies reviewing my previous received knowledge to meet the reality and the required standards. It has taken exposure, comments, personal reflection and interpersonal interactions to study and evaluate my writing skills, especially for my health professionals’ diploma. It has taken gradual improvements, beginning from the assignment on “introduction to course directors and tutors’. There are setbacks and instructions I have picked from all subsequent tasks that I will explore in my reflection and further planning.
Grammatical Errors and Sentence Structure
A reflection of preceding tasks reveals a great magnitude of grammatical errors in my writing. There are some technical differences between the spoken language and writing language for academic purposes. I used much of spoken English than academic English. I also had an issue to do with sentence structure. This can as well be attributed less exposure to written academic English.
On the positive side, I have been good at quickly learning the mistakes I picked and correcting immediately. I have experienced significant improvement; although I have not engaged in a personal evaluation exercise to this extend before. I am also good at research and different formatting styles such as American Psychological Association (APA), Chicago and MLA. This is important on further assignments that will require research and citations. I have also learnt and improved on content editing and paraphrasing. This could be imperative as I engage in further health professional research. It will reduce chances of plagiarism as this is one pertinent issue in emerging research and publication.
Avoiding Direct Copying and Introduction/Summary
On my personal evaluation as well as the tutor’s point of view, what I should improve on is to avoid direct copying from other sources. That I should rephrase the content I access elsewhere to fit the context of my work. This was captured in my task on introduction to the tutors. There was also a comment from the supervisor that “Include an introduction and summary in your written work”. This must have indicated that I had little idea on the structure of an academic writing work. This is an area that I work on improving every day with a hope of perfecting the same.
Feedback from Colleagues and Vocabulary
I feel excited every time I learn something new. This is a strength that is worth further utilization for progress in writing. A correction from colleagues also makes me realize new perspectives and probably improve on content delivery. Most classmates concur with my personal evaluation about writing. However some identify an issue with vocabulary. Native English speakers claim that my words are quite shallow while non-native speakers express strain in my flow of the language, claiming that it is unfathomable. I therefore find this to be contradicting but I think it implies an easy grasp of English and an expectation of a better future in academic literatures.
Areas for Improvement: Contextual English and Referencing/Citation
According to interactions I other course associates; I am doing a commendable learning application in the main areas of “English for academic study”. That is on reading, grammar, vocabulary, and writing, speaking and listening. However, I still need to improve on contextual English. I have a problem on content based English, which is, relating the spoken language to the medical practice and learning. Learning this skill will help improve the prospects of relating professionalism with written and spoken dialect.
The second of the most mentioned shortfalls I have is on referencing and citation. Although this does not come up as a primary issue in contemporary English study, it plays a great role in avoiding plagiarism and for quality academic writing chores. The challenge applies to general writing formats. I have learnt a bit about formats such APA, MLA and Harvard but I am still lagging and need further study. I have also not studied Chicago and any other format used for academic writing. In-text citations, page structure, cover-page design, pagination, spacing and referencing are the particular areas that I am not good at. My previous studies and writings have not been in line with any required standards on paper structure.
Structure of Writing Tasks: Essays, Assignments, and Reports
The final problem encountered and pointed out by fellow students is on the structure of various writing tasks. These include essays, assignments, computations, argumentative discussions and reporting standards. However, I felt excited when I wrote an essay and performed above average. This was an indication of an improvement; except that content based essays needs more research and evaluation. I have not done the rest in the recent past and I therefore need more time to allocate and practice the same.
Methods to Improve Writing Skills
The methods I have identified to up my writing skills is basically reading and practicing more. Some need short term address while others need long term solutions. Contextual English needs that I read health professional books. I will also be watching health related shows and content on television and movies. These will help grasp the methods and conventions generally used in the United Kingdom and beyond. It will also help me put the whole subject of English for academic study into its real expected context.
Writing formats and different writing themes can be learned through reading and practice. I intend to read more published essays, calculations and reports. This will help master the art of step by step structure. Notes on different writing formats are also available online and in published books. Reading about the structure and published formats will significantly help understand them. Referencing and citation materials are also available for reading. Most of these materials are available online and in the library. Regular assessed practice will also help cement the acquired skills.
General Timelines on reading may take a lifetime. However, I plan to focus on formatting, referencing and contextual language. I will therefore watching at least one health documentary per week. I will also download and train on at least one writing format in every two weeks. That implies that within the next four months, I could write an acceptable academic research paper in the health field.
In conclusion, a reflection of my writing skills reveals an imperative degree of developments over the recent months. There are gaps, opportunities as well as strengths. I will use the opportunities such as available online materials and time and the strengths such as my quick learning skills to fill the gaps in formatting and content delivery. All these are possible in the timeframe of four months.
