Summative Letter

Writing skills are integral to communication. By acquiring writing skills, a learner gains fluency, comprehensibility, creativity, and independence of mind. Good writing skills enhance our communication capabilities and opens new avenues for interaction with others, thereby making our lives simpler and more interesting. Other than the traditional face-to-face communication, good writing skills give us the opportunity to relay clearly out thoughts and ideas to a large audience with much ease. From the course assignments I have undertaken, I have gained invaluable experience and knowledge in writing. My comprehensive, analytical, and creative abilities, as well as clarity of thoughts, have greatly improved.

Each of the writing assignments we have undertaken have contributed significantly towards my new found skills. The narrative assignment, for instance, enhanced my organizational and presentation skills. Though it was a painful story of losing the one I loved, I was able to collect myself and to present a flowing story. I got an insight from this too; that through writing, one can narrate painful and troubling events with much ease, as compared to face-to-face communication, which often leaves many in tears. The summary assignment enhanced my ability to spot and to discern important ideas from a lot of information. While going through William Kamkwamba’s “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind,” I learned how to separate significant events in the story from other events that were merely included for continuity, flow, and plot development. William’s story taught me many things beyond writing skills. I also acquired many facts from the writing assignments, especially from the story on blood diamonds. The story brought to my realization many troubling facts on diamond trade in Africa. As people around the world enjoy using diamond products, lives are lost in Africa in the fight for diamond mines.

I learned a lot about myself as a writer in the process of completing the course assignments. First, it came to my realization that I have always written only when I have to. I also came to realize that my narrative skills are not well developed due to overreliance on other modes of communication. This explains why it took me several hours to complete a single page assignment. My creativity, on the other hand, came out to be apt. Additionally, I realized I had an eye for details as I summarized and analyzed texts provided for course work. Going through reputable writer’s works, I realized that it takes more than just analytical skills to be a good writer. Competent writers are skilled, have unrivalled creativity, develop their plots excellently, explores various themes, and produce flawless writings. Based on these standards, I realized my walk to stardom or a successful career in writing could be a long and challenging one. Finally yet importantly, I realized that the use of rhetoric add flavor to writing. The rhetoric analysis assignment was both thought invoking and exciting. It broke away from the traditional narration techniques and, for a moment, psyched me to consider using such techniques in my writings.

This course has helped improve my writing skills tremendously. I have learned, from the works of highly reputable writers, how to convey my ideas to my targeted audience without being misunderstood. I have also learned how to do audience analysis, which is an integral part of any type of writing. Additionally, I have come to realize the importance of punctuation, correct grammar, and spelling in the writing process. Readers, no matter the strength of a writer’s content, are prone to form negative opinion if the work is riddled with punctuation, grammar, and spelling mistakes. I have also learned the importance of demographics such as gender, race, religion, and age in shaping the direction of a writer’s work. In summary, I have become a better writer, who is more aware of his environment and his audience, and endowed with exciting writing skills.

In conclusion, I must say I have realized that becoming a good writer requires reading other reputable writers’ works, and analyzing various texts to enhance your understanding of the writing process. Better still, analyzing different types of works from narratives to rhetoric is more rewarding. Poor writings affect readers’ perception negatively. Therefore, we must put much effort towards becoming excellent and competent writers.