Week 14: 

            “Yes, You Are a Writer” was a blog post that related well to me personally and would relate back to Fernsteen and Reda’s  (2011) article “ Helping students meet the challenges of academic writing”. This semester has involved in a lot of changes, growth and learning experiences in my academic writing. First with the reality of have to write in a formal setting verses work that usually involves emails with clients and corresponding notes for files. Cayley discussed an identity change involved in writing for graduate students where there is more anxiety and need to simply perform. The pressure is on to juggle life and school while we move towards our educational goals. By providing three ways grad students can improve their writing skills in concise form gives me an additional checklist to add to my cheat sheet and were items addressed in feedback. Cayley first addresses in my case a new grad student lack of my own contribution towards assignments. Even thinking back to my literature review it was hard to not just rely on the data found but without adding my own additional material in the paper lacked direction. It  was just a relay of information and data without anything more behind it. The entirety was a learning process of how to build an outline and write a literature review something I’ve never done before. By using Dr.Volek as a resource to building my outline the “second” edit allowed a lot more flow and distribution of information. The need to construct a proper outline of a literature review made such a difference in how the paper I handed in for the final review read verses the draft version. In addition, changing the voice to presenting the information instead of an argument to craft my paper. The links and information from Cayley’s blog were pieces I  wish I had accessed at the start of the semester. I know I need to work on three of those area’s mentioned in the blog. Many of the topics discussed in her blog relate back to points in the semester where it gives what I would call a light bulb moment. She further presents the need for more practice which has been preached by Dr.Volek to find time to write, Swales and Feakes (2012) and Fernsteen and Reda (2011). With the tools and new skills from MAIS 606 I am a better writer than I was in September and can the see the changes in my informal or work writing. Continuing to practice my formal writing skills and implementing the feedback will help me continue to grow my writing voice and confidence in academic writing. 

Cayley, Rachel. “‘Yes, You Are a Writer!".” Explorations of Style, 20 Aug. 2017, https://explorationsofstyle.com/2017/08/10/yes-you-are-a-writer/.

Linda A. Fernsten & Mary Reda (2011) Helping students meet the challenges of academic writing, Teaching in Higher Education, 16:2, 171-182, DOI: 10.1080/13562517.2010.507306

Swales, John M, and Christine B. Feak. “Unit Six Writing Critiques,” Academic Writing for Graduate Students: Essential Tasks and Skills. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press, 2004, Print.