Summary Reflection

For this summary assignment, I started out cutting too much information from the article. I took three sentences to sum up the first paragraph. After I realized I was cutting too much, I went back to add more. I also let the word count hinder my progress. I was worried I would have too many words, which is silly since any work can be edited. I tend to edit my thoughts before they become sentences. This causes problems when I start assignments early. I often can’t get past this mental block unless I feel pressured to meet an upcoming deadline (typically within a few hours). I try to free-write as a means of planning out my writing and starting any thoughts. Sometimes I even sensor myself during free-writing. This block also leads to me putting assignments off. My inability to come up with ideas I find worthy of writing, even for a draft, makes the task seem larger than it really is. To avoid this, I try and break up the assignment into even smaller chunks. However, sometimes I feel this also makes my task seem bigger. It just adds to the number of things I have to do. For example, my list might look like: pick article, read article, find thesis, pick out main points, find support, type. This seems like more work than: find an article, read article, type up summary. Once this starts to happen, I try and switch my mentality to make the assignment easier. One goal I have for the next assignment is to create a schedule and stick to it. I currently track my tasks with a running to-do list. This causes problems when I just move tasks to the next day without thinking about the upcoming deadline. Hopefully setting deadlines for myself will also encourage me to stick with them.