On April 16, as a “comment,” post your process cover letter. Make your response a thoughtful two, to four, paragraphs. Make in-depth comments (of at least three sentences) on at least three other entries from this class before April 18.
In the cover note section, in your “collaboration” page, note whose responses you replied to for Process Cover Page blogging. If you have not done so, also note whose responses you replied to for your previous blogging.
anne f walker 
Process
Process section contains all my drafts of essays that I have done in this semester. The prompt given to us was clear and I found it easy enough to understand the main context. Before to finish the final essay, I always make minimum 2 drafts but I may also make 3 rough drafts. It makes the final essay clear enough also gives strong statement on the given prompt. In fact, I really like when our class have peer editing workshop. With my fellow students help I have a lot of feedbacks on my essay so I can improve my paper close to A.
For me to start on any kind of essay, I plan first everything what I am going to write. I write down all the information that I know already based on the topic especially when I am working on research paper. For example, my research paper was about Elvis’s culture, which almost everyone in USA has a common knowledge about King of rock’n roll. I decided to research about him because we have millions of resources on Elvis. Even though there are so many resources out there based on specific subject and argument, I like to gain knowledge from the actual book. This is genuine real me who loves books more than online sources.
Once I have all my drafts I analyze them just to get to my final essay. I separate the body texts into parts and then discuss those parts sometimes in class and their meaning. Also I tried to support my essays by explanation to make a clear and intelligible state that needs to be understood or interpreted.
Overall end of this semester in WRI 010 class, I think my writing skills are improved. Unlike high school, college is a bit of tough for me but I am tried my best to do well on any classes. In this class I had some difficulties like peer editing. Sometimes it’s easy for me to find my mistakes on my own paper, but it’s difficult for me to find on others. So, to improve this skill, I think I should give more concentration and focus on what I am reading. In addition, peer editing is very helpful activity where we can discuss our strengths and weaknesses. Even though we had not that much handouts from our instructor, it was helpful when she explains in person. Class-work such as free writing, editing, small group discussion; were the most applied activities for my writing skills. I feel very comfortable in this class, I love having a group discussion because everyone is very outgoing and they ask questions. In my opinion, asking questions from others is the best way to start on thing that you having trouble with. Every time, when I ask questions I always find out the answers for it. I felt very dependable and free with various drafts.
I agree with you that books are better than online sources. They offer a broader spectrum of information, and on top of that you know that it’s legitamite. I think the class work components of the course are what contributed to the improvement of my writing the most as well. It was helpful to hear from my peers what I could improve. Without peer editing, several of the mistakes I made would have been overlooked. I agree that group led discussions were helpful, because usually more than one person will have the same question, so having the discussions gave us all ideas to use in our essays and how to improve them.
Peer editing is very helpful like you said because it does help us achieve a higher grade. I do the same as well when it comes to my essay, I write what I know and then I see where it takes me to. I work better this way because I have my idead organized like an outline and then I just add examples and commentary. And I do agree with you that we should focus more on our papers, give more thought to it.
I agree with having something physically there is easier to read rather than online. I find similar strength and weaknesses in peer editing as well. I also thing it’s helpful when the professor explains an essay to the class. Writing is difficult with me sometimes, my excuse is writer’s block, but as long as you keep going and trying your best I believe that’s one matters the most. Keep asking for help if there’s any confusion. It is helpful.
I agree that the editing workshop helps a great deal with my essays as well. I liked how you kind of portrayed a process of your “Elvis” research and such in this assignment, it seemed quiet clever. Also, I really like how you give the feedback on what you can improve and how you can.
I liked that your first paragraph let the reader know exactly what is in your process section. I also like that you explained your writing process. In addition I agree with you I also feel very comfortable in class.
Process
Throughout the semester I immersed myself in copious amounts of analytical reading, synthesized some formal essays, all while presenting the information clearly and concisely. When we first began the assigned readings, and the material was at times difficult to understand and analyze. With the aid of discussion, my level of reading comprehension and retention has greatly improved. Through utilization of peer editing and revisions, I gained the knowledge that an essay is never perfect and there is always room for improvement.
The peer editing and revision processes which our essays underwent improved the essays quality each time. Through peer revisions I would be made conscious of mistakes in my writing. Sometimes the mistake would be something as simple as a misspelled word, or as critical as a misplaced thesis sentence. My peers taught me things that I had not had to do in classes prior to this one, and would remind me of simple improvements such as adding a works cited page or a header. I am glad we had peer editing because it not only improved my work but it saved me a lot of points I would have lost, and in turn, Anne did not have to grade all of those mistakes. I also went to Anne’s office hours for editing, and it was immensely helpful. She helped me make my sentences more concise and she told me what I needed to elaborate on and what information could be removed. I also learned the proper way to organize an essay, not that I was not aware before, but my skills needed improvement.
When I wrote my first essay I made the mistake of putting the thesis as the first sentence of the opening paragraph and my topic sentences were vague. This is an example of one of the many things I learned in writing 010. I learned that pdf format is what is expected in the professional world and I learned how to effectively utilize and cite sources. Prior to this course I was unsure if the citation was to be placed inside the quote or on the outside, now I know the proper way. In addition I improved my public speaking skills.
In writing 010 we were required to conduct two group led discussions. These discussions taught me how to engage a class and make a presentation interesting as to encourage participation. It exhibited to me how difficult it is to be a teacher, you always have to think of innovative ways to incorporate various class material.
An essay is never perfect, it is always good to keep that in mind. I agree the editing of essays really helped improve the quality. It’s good that you were able to fix your mistakes and create a professional essay. The group led discussions were fun but showed me i did not want to be a teacher because it is a lot of work
I felt that the thesis would be the most difficult part about the essay because I thought it was difficult to put those three ideas into a creative sentence. Writing an essay requires a lot of editing. Our peers helped a lot because i had responses from different people. I met new people throughout the year and I saw many different point of views.
I agree that with the discussions certain readings became easier to understand and analyze. Through this we are able to write a great essay as well and like you mentioned, an essay is never perfect as we see with peer editing. And it is true, through peer editing we see the small mistakes that we missed. Overall peer editing on multiple drafts is helpful to have a great final draft.
I do think this course has helped many students especially with their writing. Anne does encourage us to work on our thesis and main points and I feel like I’ve greatly improved. I also went to her office hours and it was really helpful. It is true, there’s always room for improvement. I’m glad we all got the opportunity to in class and with each other.
I agree the aid of discussion helped me comprehend the text. Also I agree peer revision made us more conscious of mistakes in our writing. In addition I agree and feel I improved my public speaking skills.
Process:
My process section of word press includes all my rough drafts to my essays. This section is to show how I first started when brainstorming to write an essay. Most the first drafts are basic outlines to what I was thinking. The second drafts include more detail and the third draft is when I am nearing the finish product with evidence. When viewing my drafts you will be able to see how I may writings started to become stronger. Thanks to peer editing I was able to strengthen my essays with the feedback I received. I enjoyed editing others work because I was able to may get some ideas on how to approach an idea. Also, getting advice from a different perspective allowed me to understand what others would get from my writing. With all the feedback I was able to write good essays. What I took into consideration was the paramedic method at first I did not believe it would work, and then it did and created strong sentences.
Each essay was about something different which allowed us to see what our weakness in every topic was. I was able to figure out that I have a hard time placing quotes where they should be to prove my point, but after writing the first couple drafts and essays it became easy. The easiest essay to create was the first one because the topic came to me instantly while the second one was challenging I changed my thoughts over and over. Group led discussions always help me get ideas of what to include in my essay and what quotes to use.
For the first essay, I made several mistakes I put my thesis in the wrong spot and had a lot of run on sentences. The second essay was I had got the outline correct just I struggled with detail and consistency. The third essay I enjoyed because I was able to compare and contrast two books. Finally the last essay it my favorite because I am allowed to basically write about anything as long as it is appropriate. So many ideas came to mind but I decided to analyze a song and tell how it relates to me. Each prompt to an essay explained what was expected. I read the prompt at least three times before posting a final draft: once before writing, second time while writing and, after rereading my essay.
The amount of effort it took to write each essay shows in the drafts and the final drafts. Along with my rough drafts is my diagnostic essay, which I did not do so well on. With the diagnostic essay I included a revised version. The diagnostic was to see how well we are as writer timed. I get nervous when being timed to do something and then lose my train of thought. I can see how much my writing has improved from the writing to the now and I hope everyone else can as well.
I as well enjoyed editing my peer’s work because it gave me ideas for my own papaer that I had missed before. I had trouble with my first essay as well since in high school we are taught to structure our essay differently but it turned out good at the end. And as for a timed essay, I have trouble too but if you focus on your paper and leave the time aside you’ll be able to have a great essay or something at the end.
I liked how you explained the process of your rough drafts and then tell us that the end product of your essay would be a lot stronger compared to how you started it from the beginning. I also agree that because of the comments and the peer editing process I was able to take it all in and require them in my essays. Lastly, I also concur by the fact that group led discussion also played a great role in understanding the books and the poem that we were introduced to.
I had same difficulties too. When I got my ideas for my paper, I changes my mind over and over which makes me more confusing. But I found out the presentations that we have had so far in this class were really helpful and effective to our essay.
I agree advice from different perspectives helped my writing as well. Also group lead discussions also helped me brainstorm my essays. In addition I liked that you described what the essays where about.
I agree that peer editing gave me an idea of how others would view my writing. As Anne said, you want to tell the reader how to interpret your writing, and that’s what editing helped me accomplish. I also found that the more open ended essay promts were the most difficult to write on. I think the way that we were required to write many drafts showcases our efforts and how we have improved.
Coming into this class I was excited because I like writing but I knew I needed more learning. I acquired basic skills in my last writing class which helped me immensely in writing ten. In this class we have written different essays that range from our own perspectives to compare and contrast. In the process section of my portfolio I include the three drafts required before the final draft as well as my final draft.
When it comes to compare and contrasts essays I always think that it is easy but it is otherwise. I have come to learn the comparing two pieces is more than just pointing out the differences. We have to go more in depth and comment on how these small differences change the perspective of the reader or how it changed the readings into something else it is not. To do this we had to analyze the material which was a bit challenging at times but discussing them in class helped me understand it more as well as peer editing. Going through several rough drafts of this essay helped me understand my problems as well as adding more comment. Before I use to go through a single draft and after going through three drafts I was able to see my progress more so if I were to have written a single draft. Though peer editing I was able to open up my mind a little more and add commentary that I may have not thought otherwise. Not only receiving but giving feedback helped me because others had similar mistakes as I did and I took my own advice as well. Receiving feedback helped me in several ways; correcting the small mistakes that were simple to fix before turning in the final draft so it could be the best work the professor grades.
Aside from gaining skills in writing, I also acquired speaking skills. I typically do not participate or try to keep it at a minimum but throughout the semester I have come to comment on certain things, give my opinions. At the beginning of the semester it was a bit intimidating but once we knew each other it became easier. These basic skills that I have acquired have helped me in other classes and outside of school as well. Overall, I have learned several writing and speaking skills that have helped me outside of class as well. I had my struggles with the essays but there was help through by going through three drafts for each essay.
I like how you introduced the section what it contains so in that way the reader will know right know what he or she is expecting. Also I am totally agree that students go trough at least 3 rough drafts in order to get positive feed backs on the final essay.
I like your introduction to this assignment, since I can relate to is a lot. I also came into writing 10 excited since I love writing, and then I noticed how much of a great deal of help this class has given me also. I also concur, that in the beginning it was a tad bit hard to participate, but as were getting used to everyone and overall all of our classes we all began to just participate immensely throughout the semester.
I never really thought that comparing and contrast has more depth to it as well. I also learned that in writing the third essay because the differences do change the perspective. I do find the analyzing challenging as well but discussions in class did help a lot. I didn’t like the three drafts as well but having the drafts is very beneficial allowing us to add and fix mistakes. I do enjoy the discussion and participate more now that we know each other better as well.
I had also thought that compare and contrast essay’s were easy until we had to support and make sure everything flowed and made sense. Speaking in front of people is not my favorite thing to do either but after this semester it became easier. That is good that you were able to get comfortable with talking in front of class and that the three draft essay’s helped you.
The compare and contrast essays were quite simple just because I think those may be one of my stronger type of essays. They were a bit harder that we had to make everything flow because of the amount of ideas that I had. I was afraid it’d be cluttered. The many drafts we went through were very helpful because in high school, we usually went through one draft instead of three.
Process
The progress that I have made since the class has begun till now is pretty impressive. I never really noticed my capabilities thoroughly as I would have before, but this class has broadened my knowledge and the ability to learn a bit broader. I became more aware of what my capabilities were. Especially with dealing with critical reading, formal writing, and public speaking, I grew to be more be a lot more confident in dealing with them. I have become a lot immensely confident in my writing. Since before, such as in writing 001, I would not really be confident nor quiet at ease with my work, but knowing that I get a lot more peer editing and more criticism, I was able to shape and mold my essay with the critiques given to make it flawless. I have learned that feedbacks really do help with writing. Some may be blunt, and others may have been too nice to say anything but overall I felt, if the reader can understand what my major topic is, then I have got the essay on lock down. I know that I am capable of writing great papers, but with the help of others like my classmates, I learned to trust them and to take their advice into consideration.
I have learned that in the writing processes and expectations in the larder academic community has a lot more pressure and baggage to consider. Since people would be looking for specific and certain things which make it a bit tad stressful and frustrating at times since the stress of wanting to do well, and to portray that in a work like an essay can be overwhelming. The progress that I have gained pertaining to the skills of public speaking and particular audiences is that in order to capture the audience, I must be confidence in myself, in my work, and in my words. That I should not be afraid, but rather be prepared for any mishaps or questions that anyone would ask. Overall, I have learned a great deal in writing 10 and I am very glad that I have classmates that I can rely on, along with my Professor.
I agree, this class has helped me become a lot more cinfident in my writing skills. Peer editing was very helpful, my peers would point out things I would have otherwise overlooked, and I also have found with taking this class, now essay writing is simple. My confidence has gone up because writing a paper isn’t some huge task, the way Anne taught us to formula a thesis and topic sentences.
I agree that the collabortive work done in the class has broadened my perspective as well. I feel like I am now able to take my peer’s advice about my papers and use it to my advantage. I think it’s an interesting point you make about gaining confidence in your writing abilities; the collaborative work we did in class also helped me gain confidence in my writings and ideas.
I agree the process has showed my improvement from my first essay to the third essay. I noticed the change to more direct sentences and my knowledge to reword them to make sound strong and interesting. the constant revising of our essays has helped me understand that many mistakes are involved with writing and essay the first time.
I agree that GLD brought much experience to class for public speaking and some GLDs had really fun activities. Unlike writing 001 class, this class made us to be very confident and helped to improve our writing skills as well.
In the process I have included all my drafts of essay one, two, three and four. Initially with essay one I was nervous because I felt my writing was lacking. Yet, throughout the process of revising my essays I learned great skills in class that I incorporated in my essay. Such a thesis sentence should not only be in the end of the first paragraph but in the first sentence of the conclusion as well. In addition I learned to how to make my sentences clearer with the paramedic method. In my peer feedback I learned how to improve my sentences. Also in my professor’s feedback I learned that books should be italicized not in quotations, and I learned how to cite correctly. In addition my professor’s feedback suggested to improve sentence structure, in text citations, and to use paramedic method. I incorporated all of these suggestions in to my essays, and when I finished my final product of my essays I saw an improvement in my writing. I found the writing process pre-writing, drafting, editing, revising, and integrating feedback very helpful for my development of writing essays because I have been equip with great skills that I will continue to use in my writing.
My writing progress has also included compare and contrasting my initial essay with peer feedback on my essays. Thought peer feedback I have gained a deeper insight in improving my writing and it has helped me expands my writing ability. In addition my progress has included synthesizing academic materials and course readings because the essay prompts incorporate this. Through developing ideas for my essays I synthesize academic materials and course readings. Lastly I integrated my feedback in my final essay, and I felt very proud of my final product of my essays because my writing had improved tremendously. I have also learned how to write in an academic voice through comparing and contrasting my essay through feedback; and learning what I am doing wrong and correcting the errors to end up with a great essay.
I felt the same about writing essay one, I thought I was going to get a bad grade because every professor has different expectation for an essay. That is good that by listening to what others said you were able to improve your writing. It is always helpful to compare your first draft to your third draft to make sure you bettered your writing. I liked that you explained what helped you improve your writing abilities.
I agree that the skills acquired from this course are extremely helpful in future writing classes, especially the work we did with the Paramedic Method. It was newly learned methods like the Paramedic Method that helped me improve my writing as well. Also, increased use of appropriate academic language in my essays helped to communicate my ideas in a concise manner.
I feel the same about the struggle throughout my essay, has helped me improve the style of writing. After my first essay that was very choppy it,I noticed i need to be more careful with what write and become more direct with my statements. Through peer editing i noticed i needed stronger topic sentences and a more direct thesis to have a stronger cohesive essay.
I am glad that other people’s advice and ideas have helped you improve in your writing. I think that the first essay was hard because it was hard to pick a topic to write than the professor assigning a specific topic for me. Through this class, I also feel that my compare and contrast skills have increase.
Process
This process section is to demonstrate my engagement process of critical reading, formal writing, and public speaking. I believe I have made progress within this course, specifically with comparing, contrasting, and synthesizing academic materials. I realized that college material is different from high school material. Therefore, beginning this class I found it difficult to comprehend and fully engage in my writing because I was not confident. I can easily read an essay and find my peer’s mistakes, but not my own and not effectively. Throughout this course, I have made great progress and confidence with the help of my peers and professor. With comparing, contrasting, and synthesizing academic materials in general, I learned to note the purposes of the materials/readings. With the movies or other readings, I learned how to see the transitions and understand what is different. The differences also helped the class see a different perspective. With synthesizing material, I had challenges with pulling out important information. However, after understanding that I should just take out the important plots, I gained better skills. I have not perfected these skills, but I know it’s a process.
A major lesion I learned about revising written assignments by incorporating relevant faculty and peer feedback is to find whether the written assignment has met the requirements. I believe that’s one of the most important factor. I feel that I have learned a lot with the advice of my peers and Professor Anne. I have greatly improved on my sentence structure because of the encouragement to use the paramedic method. I learned to be careful with my tense usage and to keep it constant. With my writing process, I have learned my weaknesses and strengths. I find planning an essay a boring task. However, brainstorming about an essay is the only way for me to begin thinking about my essay and its topic. So I know I need to keep working on that. The expectation of the larger academic community expects an essay to be coherent and clear with the message the writer wants to present. Most importantly, writing is a process. Therefore, trying and improving is what the academic community would want to see, in my opinion. I do think I have improved with my writing process compared to my first essay. I know that I have so much more to improve.
I believe that no matter how many times I have already spoken to the public, I will always be nervous. Therefore, every time I have an oral presentation, I always gain more confidence. I think that I learned how to feel more comfortable with my peers to be specific. I learned that depending on which audience you have, even in writing, the groups want something different. For example, depending on the audience, they would want a certain tone or a different approach to present an idea. I have included some of my essay drafts in the process section of my wordpress as evidence. It can be found at this url: http://kuethao.wordpress.com/process/ .
I agree with what you said about understanding translations between books and film; prior to this course, I had never really thought about why movies based on books and vice versa might be completely different from one another. I too was able to gain a different perspective from my all peers throughout the course. One of the greatest things about this course was that everyone got a chance to speak, and I was able to learn about differing perspectives.
I agree the process helped me think more in a critical way and make my sentence more direct. This made my essay more to the academic standards that is needed for the Writing 10 class. Looking at my draft I also noticed it helped with making my format of my essay more formal to the MLA standards.
“Process” Cover Letter
I believe I have made a bit of progress in my abilities to compare, contrast and synthesize academic materials. Considering most of this course was based on group work, any improvement I have made in my abilities to synthesize academic materials has been a result of my collaborative work with my peers. When synthesizing academic materials amongst ourselves, I sometimes elaborated on someone else’s idea to form my own; which has its advantages and disadvantages. Major lessons I have learned regarding essay revision mostly revolve around my newly-found knowledge about the Paramedic Method. I feel that my writing is now concise and to the point; which assists in the reader’s understanding of the ideas I’m attempting to convey.
My writing processes are now substantially more organized thanks to this course. I’m able to create an organized brain storming map to ultimately be able to organize my idea in a cohesive, thoughtful manner. Learning to utilize appropriate academic language in my writing has been extremely helpful with my writing. I have learned that the larger academic community expects academic essays to be concise and clear. Put more specifically, one should refrain from writing their academic essays in the same manner in which they speak in casual conversation. In terms of public speaking, I have grown substantially. The collaborative environment developed throughout the semester made it relatively comfortable to speak in front of my peers and share my ideas.
The ability to understand and interpret writing is just as as being able to write well. If you cannot understand by reading what the key components of an essay are you will not be able to write them. Through this course, I have used different texts, group discussions, and researches to help me better understand writing. I have been able to compare and contrast different texts, such as comparing Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and MaGuire’s Wicked, as well as analyze characters, like in Capote’s In Cold Blood.
Peer editing and feedback also influenced my ability to understand text. I learned through peer editing that an alternate perspective can make your idea stronger by showing you where your weaknesses are. Also, giving feedback shows you what to look for in your writing to improve on; you can learn from their mistakes. My writing has greatly improved over the length of this semester because peer feedback has shown me what is expected of me and forced me to push myself harder. All of the skills I have improved in this class will help me in my career in the future.
I agree that writing is not just the ability to write well. Being inspired by others’ ideas and opinion can lead one to write an excellent story or essay. Opinions and ideas open a different route for one to take. Peer editing is an important part of the writing process.
I agree, to construct a coherent essay, you must understand the key components. Peer editing helped me as well, feedback told me what I could improve and what was already good. My writing has improved largely due to peer feedback, I learned what mistakes I was making that I otherwise would’ve over looked.
“Process” Cover Letter
I believe I have made a bit of progress in my abilities to compare, contrast and synthesize academic materials. Considering most of this course was based on group work, any improvement I have made in my abilities to synthesize academic materials has been a result of my collaborative work with my peers. When synthesizing academic materials amongst ourselves, I sometimes elaborated on someone else’s idea to form my own; which has its advantages and disadvantages. Despite the disadvantages, collaborative work was obviously very helpful. Major lessons I have learned regarding essay revision mostly revolve around my newly-found knowledge about the Paramedic Method. I feel that my writing is now concise and to the point; which assists in the reader’s understanding of the ideas I’m attempting to convey.
My writing processes are now substantially more organized thanks to this course. I’m able to create an organized brain storming map to ultimately be able to organize my idea in a cohesive, thoughtful manner. Learning to utilize appropriate academic language in my writing has been extremely helpful with my writing. I have learned that the larger academic community expects academic essays to be concise and clear. Put more specifically, one should refrain from writing their academic essays in the same manner in which they speak in casual conversation. In terms of public speaking, I have grown substantially. The collaborative environment developed throughout the semester made it relatively comfortable to speak in front of my peers and share my ideas.
Yes, collaborative works are very helpful in reviewing in you essay because they are able to catch mistakes that one cannot. Through process, one is able to brainstorm and coming up ideas. Process allows one to improve one’s essay over and over again. Group Led Discussions did allow students to grow in public speaking.
This section contains the process of my progression throughout each essay. My first essay was about the style of writing Capote used with the fictional novel, In Cold Blood. I explained how unique his writing was and how he used it to his advantage, but after this explanation I was stuck. I did not know how to go about talking about his writing without making it sound bias to his story. I was able to talk about the strength his writing style had and how the narrator was not there but was able to tell the intimate details of both parties. The emotions of the killed family and what Perry was thinking while it had happened. The three drafts show the difficulties I had to overcome, in order to have a coherent essay that involved his writing style to the actual story. In my Birth of Venus essay I explained how the painting of Venus portrayed the feelings of society had about the Renaissance. Throughout the process I had difficulties of matching the era with explaining the message of Venus. But some obstacles the history if the renaissance began to explain the reasoning to Botticelli painting such an abstract picture. The Breakfast at Tiffany’s essay I had problems of showing the similarities without being redundant with my sentences. But after explaining the contrast of the film and short story I was able cohesively explain the connection between both. The process sections shows the difficulties I bared while writing these essays, the steps I took to write my essays, show I begin choppy but soon later I make them more cohesive.
All three essays so far had to deal with a different topic so we were exposed to many different ideas. I was able to see that the choppiness improved when you wrote your essays. All the ideas were able to flow very nicely.
That’s great that you learned from your mistakes and put an effort to change them. We all have difficulties with the writing process and at times it can be really hard to get past something we’re stuck on. It sounds like you were able to overcome these challenges and produce good quality work.
Through process, I have make improvements in the multi-stage processes of critical reading, formal writing, and public speaking. In this class, there are many readings; therefore, one have to pay attention to what one is reading and understand what the author is trying to say or portray to the audience. There is important information that readers should know or pick up so reading critically is crucial. I learned how to keep and annotated quotes and phrases that I think I will use in my essays. Furthermore, in formal writing, I know that I am writing an essay to my peers. I learned how to make my essays less wordy and more to the point. In writing, I learn how to contrast, compare, and synthesize my materials well. For example, I was able to compare and contrast the book and movie, Wizard of Oz. The transition between the movie and novel can be very different, depending on the maker. In this class, I was able to practice lens essays which is allowing other readings to open another view for an object of art. This allows the readers to see and understand another possible point of the object of art. I learned this writing style in high school. I was looking forward to use it during college.
One of the major lessons that I have learned about revising written assignments by incorporating relevant faculty and peer feedback is one have to give understanding and straightforward feedback. This enables your peers to know that you understand what they are writing but their words can be written a different way to sound stronger and more concise. Moreover, in writing, I learned that the first draft is never the final drafts. There are always errors that I do not catch the first, second, and even third draft. By allowing others to correct my papers, they are able to point out these simple mistakes for me. I also learned that the expectation of the larger academic community is high. The larger academic community expect one to be on top of one’s work and keep up with its pace. Through Group Led Discussion, I am able to present and led discussion in class and outside of class. Still I am nervous but now I have more confident to present in front in a group of people and lead.
As evidences, I have my drafts for the three essays. These drafts demonstrate my process in reviewing and taking other’s opinions into my essays. Again, first drafts are never perfect and might never be perfect even in the final form, but by drafting, I am able to lead my essay into perfection. It might not be perfect, but at the very least, it is close to perfect.
I also feel that keeping my writing concise is important to strengthen my idea and keep it focused. Feedback from peers is always helpful because like you said, it is easy to make errors and not realize it. The opinions and ideas of others are also helpful when crafting essays.
Essays take a lot of time and edits to perfect. Even then, it is not perfect, but it is the best that it can be. With my essay, the first draft, I look to add details or to take out details. The second time I go through the essay, I check for grammatical errors or the small mistakes that I often make. The last draft is usually for last minute corrections and fixes. I still use the same process that I did last semester for the drafts. The different methods of editing and essay are all very helpful when it comes to developing a well thought out essay. The paramedic method helped out with the long sentences. The ones that were awkward and wordy were fixed with that method.
My issue with writing essays is still starting the essay. I noticed that I should do my body paragraphs first and then do the rest because it saves time and it is easier to condense my ideas into my thesis sentence. I had different people help me on my essay; I was able to call my sister for some proofreading. She definitely helped me a lot because her writing has always been better than mine. I remember at the beginning of the year, Anne talked about how your best writing comes from wherever you are comfortable. I was able to find a comfort spot to write my essays and this is going to be good for me in the future.
Getting my ideas into one essay is not hard; the hard part of the essays is putting your ideas into the essay so it flows and transitions from one idea to another smoothly. The essay that keeps the reader wanting to read is the best essay there is. I try to make my essay the best that it could be. I feel that I have improved in my writing because to this class.
I agree with you, it is difficult for me to create if I’m not in a comfortable environment. The ideas just start flowing and my creativity comes out best when in this ideal situation. Transitioning from topic to topic smoothly is also a difficulty I have faced when crafting essays.
I found the writing process to be extremely helpful in producing essays this semester. The prewrite, drafting, peer-editing, and revision was really important in crafting essays because it allowed me to catch any mistakes I made and gave me insight into how I could improve them. In this section, I have included all my drafts for the essays we did as well as hand-written and revised drafts of the writing diagnostic. This evidence will show my capability to use the multi-stage process in formal writing.
My ability to compare, contrast and synthesize has improved immensely this semester. I enjoyed the fact that with most of the material we read in class we were able to watch the film adaptation. This allowed me to find the similarities and differences between both works and use that information to help me with my essays. For example, in my third essay, I compared Truman Capote’s novella Breakfast at Tiffany’s with the film adaptation. For this essay I received a B-/B which shows that I have improved since the second essay.
I have also strengthened my skills in public speaking. I think the skills that are necessary to be an effective public speaker are eye-contact, loud and clear voice, and most importantly knowing what you are talking about. I feel that working with peers in the group led discussions allowed me to present in a way that I felt more confident and self-assured. The two texts that I presented also happened to be based off my favorite movies so I really got engaged with the text which resulted in coming up with interesting ideas to present to the class.
One of the biggest lessons I have learned this semester is to use feedback and incorporate it into my writing. Revising my homework was extremely helpful because I feel that at the end of the process I was able to turn in my very best work. Also, the feedback from my peers and Ms. Walker was beneficial because it gave me insight into things that could be altered or that just weren’t flowing right with my essay. I always took in to consideration my peers comments and advice when crafting my final drafts and overall I think it shows in my work.