Journal Entry #2- english 240

In this journal I am going to discuss two writing skills I need to develop, writing to a specific audience and highlighting the important information, and how I plan to improve these skills. In order for me to improve these skills I need a plan of action for each individual skill. First I will discuss my plan of action for writing to a specific audience.

• The ultimate success of writing to the correct audience would be that my paper is understood.
• how do I get there? 
• figure out who will be reading my paper
• If the person is older or has a higher position or authority I have to make sure I demonstrate a proficiency in the English Language 
• Make the tone of my writing matches the subject of the paper. For instance if it is my boss the paper may be more serious but if it is a peer or someone younger the paper may be more relaxed.
• Since I'm in school now I can make sure the audience is appropriate but asking for assistance from my professors
• To ensure I fully understand my topic I should plan and research before I write the paper, by doing so I can adjust how I write the information.

Next I will say my plan of action for highlighting the important information.

• The ultimate success of highlighting the important information would be that I get straight to the point instead of beating around the bush. In Business writing is brief and to the point.
• How do I get there?
• plan and research before writing the paper
• Figure out what information is necessary and which information can be left out.
• Revise and edit my paper to make sure that I made the important information stand out and let the little things be a filler as they are intended to be.
• I can monitor this by seeing if my writing improves as the semester goes on and if I am showing only what is supposed to be talked about.
• If I need help or I get stuck in trying to distinguish the difference between the facts that I have chosen, I can ask for help in the writing center or from a professor.

Journal Entry #1 eng 240

Everyone has their own style to writing and no style is completely perfect. In every paper there are things that need to be worked on. As a writer I realize there are many skills that I still need to work on such as writing to a specific audience, vocabulary and word choice, and highlighting the important subject matter. In a paper it is important to know your audience and the level of education they have received. For instance, if you are writing to a peer the writing style may tend to be more relaxed but when writing to someone in a higher position then you the tone of the paper is more serious and to the point. As I have learned, the older you get the more words you have to describe and not use the conjunctions that are so common to us today. I also need to work on the vocabulary in tone of my writing. For the most part I use words that most second through fifth graders can recognize. Now that I am in college, I know that I need to use more collegiate words that are found throughout my textbooks. Another thing I need to work on is getting straight to the point. In most of my papers I tend to focus on the small things instead of what is most important. Instead of using useless information I need to emphasize on the information that I need to cover.