You dare question me!?

After learning just before class today I had to do a 'mandatory assignment' on my 'mandatory blog' (eh, essentially mandatory) since I never received that email... (blaming ELMS of course) I figured it best to take my time of today's blog to... well, you know, do it.

1. Introduce yourself briefly. Where are you from? Where have you gone to school? What educational plans brought you to the University of Maryland, and what fields of learning or potential majors interest you at this stage in your academic career?

Hi, I'm Dan (Hi Dan) and I'm from Baltimore County. I went to Hereford High School, not the one in Texas (in case you decided to Google it). I had plans to go to college, applied to MIT and UMD, didn't get accepted into MIT but did here, so here I am. I'm interested in Aerospace Engineering.

2. What kinds of writing have you done in high school? At UMD? At another college? Outside of a school setting?

I preferably write informally, but have had to write research papers and the sort... I don't really know or remember what types but I pretty much hated them all equally. At UMD I've written an informal paper about me and blogged. Haven't written at another college, and I try to not write in my free time.

3. What steps do you usually follow when you write a paper? Do you outline? Revise? Compose on a word processor? What part of the writing process do you find easiest? What part do you find hardest?

Unfortunately, I typically don't follow a set plan on writing a paper. Example: for my Junior and Senior year in high school I did not write a rough draft and wrote the entire paper the night before it was due (I got both 92% by the way). I did do the required note cards, though late, and I do type them up on MS Word.

4. What kind of writing has given you the most satisfaction?

Freestyle. Any way I can just let some wit or personality into my writing that comes naturally.

5. What is the longest or most challenging paper you have ever had to write? How did you go about preparing and writing it? What did you learn about writing from that experience?

My Senior year writing 12 pages about comparing two novels. I didn't prepare, I took some notes in the novels, I did an outline, and I didn't do a rough draft. I learned to use more time on my writing reports.

6. What do you remember learning about writing from other courses or other writing experiences that you found useful?

To put it blunt, I didn't.

7. Assess your strengths and weaknesses as a writer. What are you good at? What aspects of your writing are you dissatisfied with?

I am dissatisfied with the speed I write a paper and I don't always write as thoroughly as I wish. Another problem is that sometimes I try to plan the paper perfectly in my head and lose all my time with that.

8. What part of the writing process do you think you will need the most support with?

Planning to Rough Draft

9. If you had your choice of subjects for a research project, what issues or topics would you like to write about?

Something fun like video games or nature.

10. What do you associate with the term argument? How do you feel about taking a course that focuses on argumentation?

I associate argument with someone talking about a particular side of a discussion/debate. I can focus on promoting one side of an argument pretty well so I'm not too worried about that part of the class.