Comma here, comma there, comma over there, commas everywhere!

I think, as a writer, I have a few grammatical issues that I definitely need to be working on this semester. In high school, I was a part of my school’s newspaper and I was told to use a comma just about everywhere. Comma here, comma there, comma over there, commas everywhere! Before working for the newspaper, I used commas only where they seemed appropriate. But once I was forced to begin using them everywhere essentially, I fell into the habit and it really started to hurt my academic writing. I remember my first college English class from when I was still a junior in high school. I had been working for the school newspaper for a little more than a year and I was really excited for my college English class. My style of writing for the newspaper had become my everyday style of writing, and it hurt me. I wrote my first college essay with my newspaper style without even realizing it. I got the paper back and had done horribly. I went to speak with my professor and she said “your essay was good and was written well, but it wasn’t written correctly.” I asked her what she meant and she told me that my grammar and mechanics were really off. From there, I was careful to use commas less, but I am still, three and a half years later, stuck in the habit of being “comma happy.” I noticed it more and more just last semester when I started offering to edit papers of the people I live with. They all knew I was an English major and they just wanted someone who “knew their stuff” to edit their papers. I would be editing their papers and I would tell them “oh, you need a comma here and here and over there.” They would tell me that it wouldn’t make sense and they didn’t understand why they needed a comma there. I couldn’t explain to them either, other than with “well, you just do,” or “it makes the sentence flow better.” One way I have worked with this already is to just go ahead and write my papers as I normally would. Once I finish, I go back and check all my comma placements and what not. Most of the time, this has definitely cut down my comma use and helped me to notice more and more when I am sneaking in those extra commas. So, what that all boils down to is that, this semester, I would like to be able to cut down on the use of my commas to the places where they only really need to be. I don’t want to be using my commas where they don’t necessarily need to be.

I know I have other grammar and mechanical issues that I need to be working on as well. I think another one of them would be not necessarily my organization in my papers, but rather than explanations that go along with the organization in my papers. That probably doesn’t make any sense right now and may not even make sense by the time I am done explaining. I have noticed that I tend to get nervous in my writing and I am having trouble fully conveying my thoughts and my ideas on paper the way I want them to be conveyed. To me, they make sense. But, to someone else, they may not and that is hurting my writing as well. My papers are organized, but at the same time, I am having trouble clearly conveying my ideas in a clear and concise manner. When I have this trouble, it really makes my papers look sloppy and unorganized. I think this would fall under some of my mechanics that I need to work on.

As of right now, I can’t think of anything else that I need to be working on, although I know that there are other issues with my grammar and mechanics that could use a makeover!