Writing from my point of view and others

I thought my writing style was concreted by this point in my life. As I read about how others in this class go about their writing and the techniques they use, I realized I not only had ways I could improve on my writing style but found ways to simplify my sometimes complicated approach. Many of my fellow classmates and myself begin their writing by brainstorming. Katie introduced me to the idea of breaking this brainstorming down into smaller steps or questions to simplify it and open ourselves up to new or different ideas. Dr Sentell also mentioned in his comments that sometimes it's important to look at the smaller details instead of the bigger picture to avoid becoming overwhelmed and getting mentally blocked by it.

My next step in my writing is to arrange these ideas into my topic or thesis, my supporting points, and supporting information of those points. In the past I have always went about this through the use of an outline. Again I took a helpful point from Katie's writing approach of using the umbrella technique over the outline. This more fluid approach allows for easier rearrangement of ideas and grouping of supporting information together. Below is an example of how this umbrella approach wold look.

Now it is time to begin the actually writing part of our assignment. I have always jumped head long into my writing. I developed an introduction to my information then proceeded down the points in my outline and their supporting points, until I have covered all my outlined information. From reading about Tyler's approach though I realized it wasn't as much about my writing at this point as it was about my environment. He suggested to remove all distractions from around me to help to better focus on the task at hand. Although Katie mentioned putting something on television that she has seen numerous times before, I am more of the mindset of Tyler that regardless of the nature of outside stimulus, I would be distracted from my writing and topic. 

The final step in my writing process is rereading my draft and proofreading for spelling or grammatical error as well as sentences that are hard to understand or follow. Like many of my peers I have been lucky enough to have someone in my life who is willing to read my writing and give me constructive criticism and ideas on how to improve the writing itself as well as to help work out areas that are disruptive to the flow of my writing. After this last review, My writing is finally complete.