Reflective Writing Assignment

1) I think the most successful part of my Obituary is that I was able to let the reader know exactly how my grandma is. I think I painted a pretty good picture of what she is really like. I also felt that my quote fit in well with the story. The most successful part of my article on Mike Cowling was being able to finish a somewhat interesting and informative story on a deadline and put information in that an audience would have found interesting and may not have known about before.
2) I think that one area of my writing that could be improved is my grammar and punctuation. I think that I have improved with those two areas since writing for the Advance Titan, but I know there are areas in grammar that I can improve in still. That improvement will come with practice and explanations on when to use certain words and punctuation at what times. I think one area I can improve in reporting is being more aggressive. I tend to be intimidated by certain people when having to interview them, especially those of high stature. When I get intimidated I tend to not ask the questions that I wanted to, I lose my frame of mind.
3)
Original Lead:
Mike Cowling, assistant professor at UW-Oshkosh and an editor at the The New York Times, spoke of the new committees the Times put together after the Jason Blair incident.
Revised Lead:
During the Dean’s First Symposium on Feb. 16, an editor at The New York Times spoke about the new committees put together by the Times after the Jayson Blair incident.

I believe the second lead is better because it includes someone of high profile and not a professor that may not be familiar to other people. The second lead also tells where and when he spoke about the new committees. I also improved the spelling errors that were in the original lead.

4) I think that two of the characteristics that I could improve are being precise and being clear. Sometimes I feel that I know what I’m writing about so no matter what it seems precise and clear to me. But, if someone else was to read my story without prior knowledge as to what I’m writing about, would that know all the facts and be able to put it all together to coherently understand my story. I think that sometimes I need to explain things better or even gain better knowledge of the subject so I can make the story clear to my readers. I think I can improve those areas by making sure that I have all the information necessary and also to have someone else read my story, who does not have prior knowledge of the subject. I think also, like I said earlier, the more practice I get, the better I’ll get. I don’t think there is much I get in class and outside of class, the better I’ll get.