Engl. 326: Self Assessment

I am asked to write what I want to improve in my writing and grammar through this semester. I tried to stay away from using grammar and writing styles I know I have trouble in. But I guess now is a great time to learn something new, to make my writing that much better. One thing I want to improve on is trying to put my thoughts into clear and "to-the-point" sentences. I sometimes confuse my readers. I tend to have run on sentences that seem to have syntax problems or repeats an idea a second time but in a different manner. To be honest I think I just did that but sometimes I cannot catch it because I understand what I'm trying to say but others may not. This vague topic is what I want to improve on although it is difficult to explain.

A second thing I want to improve on is knowing when to use dashes, semi-colons, colons, and periods. I say periods because sometimes I may have run on sentences. I have no idea how to use dashes (except for in words or phrases like "semi-colon", "extra-curricular", etc), semi-colons, and colons. I also wonder if consecutive periods(...) is a real punctuation. And if it is not, I want to know if I can use any other punctuation, with the same "meaning", to replace the consecutive periods (...). For example, I may use the consecutive periods (...) in the short narration of a movie called Limitless, "He looks over, standing on the ledge and thinks if jumpimg is the best choice. The loudness of the furious men trying to beat down his door makes him realize they are going to kill him. He wants to be the person having the power over his fate. Taking one last look down at the hundred floors height, he picks up his left foot off the ledge and prepares to jump... but wait, he stops and realizes the human nature is to survive. Fighting for his survival is better then beating the murderer to his own death".

One last thing I want to improve on is knowing the appropriate time to use a marker of punctuation in my writing. I sometimes have the problem of using too many commas or not enough. I have the problem of not using the correct punctuation also. If you look through the second paragraph I am sure I did not punctuate correctly. I also high-lighted a comma because I was unsure if it is even supposed to be a comma. These are the three main points I want to improve on in my writing overall. I also want to broaden my vocabulary but that does not have to do much with what I am going to learn specifically in class.