Certain strengths and weaknesses are highlighted in each writing assignment a

student does. Each year a few of those weaknesses should be improved upon, possibly
even becoming strengths. In my writing, two of the strengths are the thesis statement and
the prewrite, while the weaker skills include the explanation of textual evidence and
using only formal language.
The thesis statement of a piece of writing could be considered the backbone of the
writing. Luckily, this is one of the skills I learned through previous writing assignments.
Looking at the thesis statement in the essay on whether or not Mayella Ewell was evil,
the strength of this skill is clear. The statement clearly states my stance on the issue of
whether she is evil or not, as well as states three reasons to be further explained in the
body of the essay. Another skill that has been mastered is the ability to prewrite without a
prompt from the teacher. This is evident in the organization of the writing sample
presented. By examining the writing sample, a reader might be able to notice a clear
outline in the essay. A clear organizational pattern such as this one would need to be
formed by a strong prewrite/outline, showing that the skill of prewriting was mastered.
Though there are some skills that have been mastered, there are others that are
still to be learned. The first of these skills is the use of only third person in writing
assignments. Typically third person is used, but not without the help of phases like in
conclusion. This weaker ability is shown in the concluding paragraph of the Definition
Essay previously written, as the first sentence states, In conclusion, Mayella Ewell was
not an evil character because The second of the skills that are yet to be learned is
the explanation of a quotes/events significance in the text. Each piece of textual
evidence is explained; however, most frequently it ruins the fluidity of the sentence,

sometimes even spoiling the structure of the paragraph as a whole. A sufficient example
of this from the writing sample is in the third body paragraph when one of Scouts
thoughts was quoted. The quote did not flow through the sentence properly, consequently
changing the clarity of the sentence. When this occurs multiple times in one piece of
writing it can lower the quality of the writing as a whole.
These are important skills that need to be learned before entering tenth grade. In
order to do this, my writing assignments require more focus on explaining the
significance of textual evidence while also incorporating the evidence into the writing
more fluidly. Also, attention needs to be paid to the facts being stated, rather than
including opinions on the topic. With these improvements, the two unmastered skills
aforementioned should be mastered with great refinement.