Opps! Forgot to leave the tag MAIS606... perhaps I was rushing ; )

Upon review of Swales and Feak's (2004) six academic writing considerations, I have attempted to assess my own writing skills in each of the identified categories.

1. Audience - this is a consideration that is an area of improvement for me. I can sometimes forget the intended audience and write at a level that is either too high or too low.

2. Purpose - I believe this is also an area of improvement for me. The purpose is the part of a paper that provides focus and sets parameters. I think I can strengthen my purpose statements so that they are shorter and clearer for the reader.

3. Organization - this is a consideration that I believe is a strength for me, providing that I've managed to develop a good purpose statement. Once this is in place, I am fairly good at organizing my thoughts, dividing them into paragraphs, developing supporting arguments, etc.

4. Style - I think I do reasonably well in this area, though I must admit, I do get confused from time to time. In the Master of Health Studies program that I am enrolled in, we use APA style; however, in my work place we are required to use CP style. The two styles have their similarities, but there are some subtle differences.

5. Flow - flow is strongly aided by good organization of thoughts and ideas. Typically, if I get the former right, I usually also do pretty well with the latter.

6. Presentation - I can be very strong in this area; however, when I rush through a paper it is almost always noticeable. Error like: than/then, affect/effect and too/to start to pop up. I also tend to make these types of errors when I attempt to proof read something on a computer screen - not sure what that's all about.

Well, that's a brief self-assessment of what I think my strengths and weaknesses are - I'm hoping I'll gain more insight about my own skills throughout the course.