Alexander 1

Megan Alexander
Jan Rieman
English 1102
May 3, 2011
Keep Moving Forward

Dear Megan,

Originally you thought that taking this class earlier in college might have better suited

you. I do not disagree, yet I do think that taking English 1102 during your final semester in

college allowed you to really understand yourself. Taking this class immediately before

graduation allowed you to realize that you will never be able to rid yourself of the writing

process, and you should never want to. If you had taken this class earlier, you may have been

overwhelmed by the improvements needed over the course of the semester.

Your note taking abilities continue to help you, even in the search for employment after

college. Continue to keep that skill, and practice taking notes, even if it is just on books you read

for fun. Throughout the semester with the comfort you gained with classmates, talking in class

no longer involved a racing heart. Maybe this could help you in the future with public speaking,

if you ever have to speak in public.

You continually wait until the last minute on assignments, and that is a hard habit to

break. Realize that rough drafts of papers will help with having a more complete and polished

final draft. Use that realization and act upon it instead of sitting at your computer in the middle

of the night wishing you would have started earlier.

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Day book entries have helped you in class to get focused. While it was not an original

goal for you mid semester this year, maybe you should begin writing every day in order to

collect your thoughts and have a more productive day. It may or may not work, but it is worth a

shot. If you end up having to commute in DC the metro ride will give you the perfect time to

collect your thoughts before entering the work environment.

It is hard to believe that the semester is already over, it started off cold and dreary, and is

ending with sunshine. You have written a lot over the course of one semester. It is time to look

back at the goals you created for yourself and how well you have accomplished those goals. The

first was a small goal to look at comma usage and improve your punctuation issues with

commas. This is still a touchy topic. You still have comma usage issues yet your understanding

of commas is better. Use your time wisely and allow yourself more time to revise your drafts.

Using that time will allow you to catch comma usage in your papers and correspondences.

In line with comma usage is the ability to edit papers. Time is still the key to being able

to edit your own papers. You have found that writing something and going back to the paper

after some time has passed allows you to look at your paper in a different light than if you write

and immediately attempt to edit. While you know what it takes to properly edit your papers, act

upon your knowledge. Edit all emails before you send them as practice, it is low stakes writing,

but it will allow you to practice more often. Getting published is still a long time goal and will

take some time. Again, look at all opportunities to write as an opportunity for practice. Maybe

writing every day before work is a good way of practicing.

While I will not be catching up with you again through a letter, keep up with your goals and

eventually you will see your name published, and someone else will be reading your thoughts.
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Sincerely,

Megan Alexander