RUNNING HEAD: WRITING SKILLS 1

Writing Skills

Rhea C. Everett

Social Practice One

Melanie Berte-Hickey

Briar Cliff University

Part one:
In writing everyone has their strengths and areas for improvements. Knowing these will

help improve your writing. By knowing what does not need improvement and what does. I was

able to think of three strengths and three are for improvement in my personal writing.
One area that needs improvement is that I can deepen or explore my thoughts more in

writing. This is evident in all my essays, it is mentioned in the review of essay one. Another area

of my writing that I can further develop in is in text citations. Instead of citing all my sources at

the end of the essays I could cite them at the end of a sentence or start off the sentence by saying
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something similar to In Brene Browns video on empathy that can be found on YouTube. A

third are of improvement is sticking with the APA guidelines while writing my papers. As some

of my essays do not follow the APA guidelines, in wording, setup and citations. Along with areas

of improvement come areas of strengths.

One area I feel I have strength in is covering all the points of the essay and getting to the

point. Although I could go into more detail. I am able to cover the needed material and give a

little information on it. Some of my wording is also a strength as I tend to not talk in first person,

using third person. One area of strength is also an area for improvement, my use of APA

formatting. As this has improved from my first semester it is an area that still needs

improvement. All through high school and community college MLA formatting was what was

used on all my papers. Since starting Briar Cliff University I have started using APA formatting

and this has become easier.

Part two:
In professional writing comes the use of professional language. In this professional

language comes the use of social work professional language, which one to use this is the use of

the verb to feel. This is also an area that a person will have strengths and areas for

improvement it. By assessing your personal use of professional language a person is able to find

their strengths and areas for improvements. I was able to think of three areas in my use of

professional language that I can make improvements on.

One area is that my language could be more professional as I am still developing my

professional language through school. I am also not using the verb to feel that much in any of

my papers. This is an area I plan to improve in by stopping and thinking about the different

feelings and how to use them in my professional language. Another area of my professional
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language, mainly in writing, is my use of correct spelling and grammar. This has always been a

tough area for me personally, spelling is not my strong suit.

Part three:
By writing this essay it will positively impact me as a social worker by learning and

acknowledging my strengths and areas for improvement. This will allow me to see what areas I

need to improve on along with learning how to do so. This goes along with CSWE competency,

use supervision and consultation to guide professional judgement and behavior. This essay goes

with it in that I am able to use supervision and feedback on my work to know what needs

improvements, to become more professional.