My reading and writing preferences by Megan Christner

When I was little, the Scholastic Book Fairs were always my favorite time of the school year. I loved to go and see what new book I could dig up. As I got older, my love of reading didn’t change, just the time that I had allotted to read for fun. I’m a cell and molecular biology major with a minor in chemistry, so the majority of the reading that I do is dry, scientific textbooks. Since that type of reading takes a lot of comprehension and active reading (like highlighting and note-taking) I’m a slower reader than most. If I don’t read slowly, it’s likely that I’ll miss something important.
I feel like I’m definitely a better writer than a reader. The technical side of writing, like grammar and spelling, came easy to me, probably due to the amount of reading that I did as a child. Out of reading, writing, and speaking, writing is the easiest and most comfortable way of expression for me. I’ve always been somewhat shy so speaking in front of groups still intimidates me. I feel like I can express myself more eloquently through writing. Growing up in the computer age, computers have influenced my writing significantly. I constantly IM and e-mail my friends and family. It’s a little sad, but if I had to choose e-mail or the phone, I will almost always choose to communicate electronically. I think that’s more for convenience than anything though. When it comes to school and writing papers, I’m a computer composer. I never seem to get anywhere just sitting with paper and pen trying to get a draft out. It’s so much easier to be able to get research while typing a paper at the same time.