Common Portfolio Essay

Anthony Bradt

MAJ. Garriott

English 101-18

07 December 2016

Development of Writing

One of the largest issues a writer can face is most often the most obvious issue for their reader, faults within their own writing. Many writers, myself included, struggle with this because it is hard for a writer to see the issues with their conventions and grammatical choices. If you realize your own faults in writing, you will be able to develop your writing to create a more effective thesis as well as entertain their reader.

The biggest issue I personally faced in my writing is creating an effective thesis and structuring my paper from that. I found that in all my early writing, my thesis is simply a simple fact. Although this may have been okay in early high school writing, with a higher-level course, there is no real room for development within the paper. In my early writing, I would often just state a fact and struggle through the paper spitting out whatever information would come to mind. This would often result in a paper with no clear direction and, although it may have contained good ideas, their was no flow from idea to idea or paragraph to paragraph. This was extremely evident in examples of my writing and I would often miss the opportunity to make good connections within the paper. As my writing progressed, I was able to make these connections.