Learning Outcome 1

Early on in the year when I had first done a revision on an essay, I wasn’t quite sure what I was looking to revise. I had put a lot of time into trying to make the first draft nearly perfect the first time around which actually caused more errors. Being so bent on making the paper really good the first time around made me lose focus on the main ideas and messages I was trying to get across in my paper. This resulted in me not quite knowing how to revise my early draft. The first draft was so incoherent that I wasn’t sure how to fix it so I just focused on error that I knew how to fix like simple grammatical errors. This didn’t help much with making my paper effective at arguing a point but rather just let me ignore the larger organizational issues at hand. My strategy had then changed to not put so much effort into every last detail of the first draft. I had realized that it was a much smarter plan to focus on the organization and the main themes of my argument. With a skeleton of a paper that had direction the revision process became much easier and more beneficial.

 

Learning Outcome 2

Early on in the year I was not very good at introducing quotes into my papers. My original process was to use them very sparingly and I would only use them when it was absolutely necessary. I wasn’t quite sure how to properly cite the quotes after I would write them and was rather intimidated to do it. Instead I would just summarize all the information in the article without actually referencing it. This process made my arguments much less effective as there was no evidence backing it up. Through this class I learned how to effectively introduce quotes through a process called the quote sandwich. This process involves introducing the article the quote is from to give readers some sort of picture of what’s happening. Then you can properly bring up your quotes without your audience being confused as to where the quote came from. Then you talk about what the quote has to do with your article specifically. After that you can talk about why the chosen quote helps make your argument more effective. This is an example from my chosen writing piece: “Newman explains this in her piece on beauty, “The pictures of the young girl with wide-set eyes and a small nose is easier on the eye that the one of the young girl with close-set eyes and a broad nose. Extremes are off-putting and generally not attractive, Langlois says” (Newman).”

 

Learning Outcome 3

When I annotate papers, I will mark anything that might be of some later importance or benefit when I revisit the paper. My strategy when it comes to annotations is to read through the page one time to get the general idea of what is being discussed. After my first read through, I will go back and highlight any important aspects of a statement I see. This usually means that I would highlight the subject and action of each statement so I can easily identify what is going on without having to read the whole statement again. Another trick I use is circling words that I do not know and then writing their definitions down in the margin. But most importantly when I see any idea or thought that is interesting, questionable, or important I will write down my full response to it in the margin. This can range from something simple like, “Good point” to a question I have or even an argument or retort to the idea that’s being stated. In the end what’s being said isn’t necessarily super important because the whole point of these annotations is to converse with the text and deeply connect with it. This style of annotating makes the reader critically think about the point that the author is trying to make and when the reader is using the author’s work for an essay they can more effectively argue with quotes from the original work. Susan Gilroy explains this whole concept by describing annotations as a conversation between the reader and the author. The whole point of this is to get the reader actively thinking about what they think and what the author is trying to convey. The interaction between these two sources allows for more complex and developed thoughts to be formed.

 

Learning Outcome 4

When I had first started this class peer review was something that I had little experience with and was very unfamiliar with. I was unaware of how peer review could be helpful to oneself when trying develop an essay. There is only so many things that one can identify when judging their own work. It is often hard and very difficult to be able to tell when one has made mistakes in their own work or when it could’ve been done better. Having another person’s opinion to help judge what to do is the most effective way to prove your argument. Other people can provide a new way to organize your essay or a new point to prove your points. This is an extremely effective strategy to keeping your writing less stale and boring. A different perspective will aid you in thinking of ways to improve your writing, and fixing any errors you may not have noticed.

 

Learning Outcomes 5 and 6

In the past MLA format was kind of a complete loss to me and I wasn’t quite sure how to correctly cite my sources. After this class I now know how to use parenthetical citations and use them very consistently in my papers. The Little Seagull Handbook is incredibly useful when it comes to figuring out exactly what the correct way to cite a source is. Because we use many sources from articles, podcasts, to websites it becomes very tricky to correctly cite them all. When it comes to grammatical errors, I feel as though I had a fairly good grip on what proper grammar is or I was at least good enough to catch my mistakes. This class gave me a refresher on a couple of cloudy subjects like the proper use of commas and what not. I feel as though I am better equipped to writing papers with correct citations and grammar.