Razan Ahmed

Dominika Szybisty
English 101
26 September 2017
Tracking My Challenges in Writing
Challenge #1:Reading Comprehension: I enjoy reading books, and once I have read

something I usually understand it. However when it comes to reading comprehension on

standardized tests like the SAT, I do not perform as well on regular reading tests in English class

for example. After doing some research on methods to improve my reading comprehension skills

I have discovered some items that I feel have helped me the most with improving my

comprehension skills.

Re-read to build fluency Re-reading texts helps one understand the meaning of

what they are reading. The more you read the easier it becomes to read fluently

and clearly.

Read aloud Reading aloud forces you to go slower which leaves more time to

process what you read. Apart from seeing the words, hearing them while you read

aloud helps one understand the text.

Challenge #2: Sentence Structure: The proper use and organization of sentences makes all the

difference in they way the text sounds. No one wants to read a choppy paragraph, sometimes I

struggle with making a clear and smooth flowing paragraph. After doing some research online I

was able to return to the basics and review the basics of sentence structure. I also discovered a

few ways to improve ones sentence structure while surfing the web.
 There are four main basic sentence structure forms, they are: simple sentence,

compound sentence, complex sentence, and compound-complex sentences

(Thought co.) Below are examples of each sentence structure:

- Simple sentence Judy laughed..

- Compound sentence Judy laughed and Jimmy cried.

- Complex sentence Jimmy cried when Judy laughed.

- Compound-complex sentence Judy laughed and Jimmy cried when the

clowns ran past their seats.

Some tips for improving ones sentence structure are:

- Put keywords and ideas at the beginning or end of the sentence, this

helps to emphasize the keywords instead of concealing them in the middle

- Use active verbs, do not over use the passive voice or verbs in the to be

form

- Read aloud when you revise your writing, when you read aloud you can

hear whether your sentence sounds smooth or makes sense

- Cut away excess words, while revising your work, remove the unnecessary

words from your sentence

Challenge #3: Thesis Statement: A thesis statement is a sentence that explains the main idea of a

paper, it gives the audience a brief forecast of what is to come. Thesis statements tend to portray

the writers opinions or view on their writing. A good thesis statement helps make clear and well

organized writing. Below are some tips for writing a thesis statement:
 1. Firstly, determine what type of paper you are writing, is it an analytical, expository, or

argumentative paper?

2. After discovering what type of paper you are going to write, you should come up with a

topic and narrow it down to something specific. Your thesis statement should only cover

the concepts you will be discussing along with support from evidence.

3. The thesis statement typically appears throughout the introduction, specifically at the end

of the first paragraph of a paper (Purdue Owl).

4. Lastly, as you are writing your paper, your topic may shift a little. If your topic does

change a bit you may need to revise your thesis statement and make sure that your thesis

statement reflects what your paper is discussing.

Challenge #4: Run-ons Comma splices Fused Sentences: Run-ons, comma splices, and fused

sentences are the names given to compound sentences that do not have the correct punctuation.

Run-ons and fused sentences are terms describing two independent clauses which are joined

together without connecting words or proper punctuation (Purdue Owl). Sometimes I

underestimate the simplicity of writing sentences, I tend to make a lot of small grammatical

errors that can be easily fixed. One way to avoid making such small mistakes is to punctuate

compound sentences properly by utilizing the important rules below.

1. Firstly, join the two independent clauses (clause that can stand as a simple sentence) with

one coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, nor, so, yet), and use a comma before the

conjunction of your choice (Purdue Owl).

Ex. He enjoys walking through the mall, and he often goes shopping in his free time.
 2. When you do not have a connecting/conjunction word (or when you use a connecting

word other than and, but, for, or nor, so, or yet between the two independent clauses) use

a semicolon.

Ex. She often watched TV when her show came one; he preferred to read instead.

Ex. She often watched TV when her show came on; however, he preferred to read

instead.

Challenge #5: Citing Sources: Throughout high school, citing sources was not a big deal. As

long as a teacher trusted that you did not plagiarize you were pretty much okay. The only cases I

can remember were we would have to cite sources was when we did research papers or

bibliographies. Entering into college, basically every paper written must have a works cited page,

or some form of citations. Creating citations can be a meticulous process especially since there

are different styles for each resource (books, websites, and videos), here is the proper way to cite

your sources:

1. Starting off with the basics, here are some common features one should try and find in

order to properly cite your sources. Not all the features listed below will be provided,

therefore use what you can find

Author and Editor names

Article name in quotation marks

Title of the book, website, or project in italics

Any given version numbers (volumes, editions, or issue numbers)

Publisher information, particularly publisher name and publishing date

Add notes of any page numbers (p. or pp.)

URL without the https://

 The date you accessed this material

The following features should be put together in this format (Purdue Owl) Author. Title.

Title of container (self contained if book), Other contributors (translators or editors), Version

(edition), Number (vol. and/or no.), Publisher, Publication Date, Location (pages, paragraphs

and/or URL, DOI or permalink). 2nd containers title, Other contributors, Version, Number,

Publisher, Publication date, Location, Date of Access (if applicable).

There are many resources that we use that call for citations but the most commonly used

resources are websites, books, and articles. Below are examples of what each citations

should look like.

Books: Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. Publisher, Publication Date.

Ex. Charms, Sarah. Chaos: Making a New Science. Penguin, 1987.

Websites: The Purdue OWL Family of Sites. The Writing Lab and OWL at Purdue and Purdue U,

2008, owl.english.purdue.edu/owl. Accessed 23 Apr. 2008.

Articles (Online Scholarly Journal): Dolby, Nadine. Research in Youth Culture and Policy:

Current Conditions and Future Directions. Social Work and Society: The International Online-

Only Journal, vol. 6, no. 2, 2008, www.socwork.net/sws/article/view/60/362. Accessed 20 May

2009.

Work Cited

The Purdue OWL Family of Sites. The Writing Lab and OWL at Purdue and Purdue U, 2008,

owl.english.purdue.edu/owl. Accessed 9 November 2017.

Nordquist, Richard. The Basic Parts and Structures of English Sentences. ThoughtCo, 12 June

2017, www.thoughtco.com/sentence-parts-and-sentence-structures-1689671. Accessed 9

November 2017.

Improve Reading Comprehension. Scholastic.com,

www.scholastic.com/parents/resources/article/developing-reading-skills/improve-

reading-comprehension. Accessed 9 November 2017