One way to learn from your mistakes is to take a writing inventory. It can help you think critically and analytically about how to improve your writing skills.

Collect two or three pieces of your writing to which either your instructor or other students have responded.

Read through these writings, adding your own comments about their strengths and weaknesses. How do your comments compare with those of others?

Group all the comments into three categories—broad content issues (use of evidence and sources, attention to purpose and audience, and overall impression), organization and presentation (overall and paragraph-level organization, sentence structure and style, and formatting), and surface errors (problems with spelling, grammar, punctuation, and mechanics).

Make an inventory of your own strengths in each category.

Study your errors. Mark every instructor and peer comment that suggests or calls for an improvement, and put all these comments in a list. Consult the relevant part of this book or speak with your instructor if you don’t understand a comment.

Make a list of the top problem areas you need to work on. How can you make improvements? Then note at least two strengths that you can build on in your writing. Record your findings in a writing log that you can add to as the class proceeds.