Thursday, February 2, 2012
Reflecting on your second assignment
I’d like you to start class today by taking a few minutes and reflecting on your second assignment. What did you learn from completing this essay? What lessons did you apply from your first paper? What do you think you improved on as a writer? What remains challenging for you? As you look ahead to the rest of the quarter, what goals would you like to set for yourself as a writer?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
After the first paper, I learned that I need to work more on explaining fully my thoughts in papers. I have I think in part accomplished this in our second essay in that I was able to explain each idea to the extent that it was clear and concise. However, I think that I still need to work more fully on explaining the connection between different ideas more fully. I think that I have improved somewhat on my fluidity, but in the future I would like to be more clear and connect my thoughts in a more explanatory and understandable way. I especially think that I need to do this more quickly within a paper because it seems to me that by the end of my essays I have been able to get a firm grasp on my ideas, but I cannot portray them as well at the beginning. If I can tackle this obstacle I feel like I will be able to produce a better product the first time around.
ReplyDeleteFor this paper, I tried to step outside of my normal paper format to make it more interesting. Instead of the traditional 5 paragraph essay format I chose to let the paper flow with less structure. I found this to be difficult because I was stepping outside of my comfort zone, yet I feel that it prompted a stronger essay. I also tried to connect my points with each other so that they all tied together and allowed the essay to flow more smoothly and effectively. This is one of the things that I think I struggle with, and certainly did on the previous paper, so I worked to improve that. I think that one challenging thing that I can improve on is getting my paper to flow. From my thesis, through my points and into my conclusion, I really feel that I need to work on connecting everything and supporting my thesis with strong, linked arguments. One goal that I want to achieve is an A on a paper. This will show that I have drastically improved as a writer and it would be cool to see this improvement happen, paper by paper.
ReplyDeleteI made a number of changes based upon the feedback that I received from my first essay. What was my intro I decided to put at the end of my paper so as to remove personal opinion from my intro. Also, in this paper my thesis was significantly clearer. The more I reflect on my last paper the more I realize that my thesis was both unclear and didn't really connect well with the assignment. I learned a lot by going to the writing center. Although they made me take out my favorite line of the paper, I believe that the choice added to the overall mood. This paper was much more organized than the last one. I have a clear intro, clear body paragraphs, and a clear conclusion. The email I received from Professor Bateman was very helpful, which indicated that I should reserve personal opinion for the conclusion. I also thought that the texts for this assignment were overall of a higher quality that those of the last assignment, which made it very easy to food quality evidence to support my claims.
ReplyDeleteFor this essay, after reading the comments you gave, I tried to write more succinctly. I know I have a tendency to drift away from the point I am trying to make, so I just tried not to do that. But, what I am still concerned about is how not to write a complete analysis in the process of making my ideas more concentrated, (I think when I try to throughly analyze something is when I stray from the main point that I am trying to make).
ReplyDeleteWhat I learned from completing my essay is that I'm a relatively safe writer. I choose a thesis that is relatively straightforward and pretty easy to prove with the materials that we have read in the course. From my first paper, I learned a lot about the construction of my essay. I feel like in this essay, my idea progressed more clearly. Mostly I think I accomplished this by making my transitions from paragraph to paragraph more evident. This allowed for my train of thought easier to follow. In addition, I took the advice from my peers on my first paper, and attempted to use less quotes. I tried to let more of my voice speak and dominate the paper. I think this helped me develop my style and voice as a writer. What was challenging in this essay was to make my argument unique. While I did have a solid argument, with substantial evidence to support my claims, I'm not sure if my ideas were interesting or particularly attention grabbing. A goal I would like to set for myself as a writer is to take more risks. I don't want to be afraid to step outside of the box, move outside of my comfort zone, and push my ideas to the limit. I want to be more creative. More specifically, I don't want to feel like I always have to stick to my first idea. If I'm not totally pleased with the direction of my paper, I want to feel confident in trusting my instincts. If I come up with a new and better idea during the course of drafting my essay, I want to take the risk of pursuing this secondary idea. This might end up helping me create a more unique and interesting essay. Overall, though, I was pleased with my paper, and after revising my rough draft, I think I extended and pushed my argument as far as I could.
ReplyDeleteThrough this essay I think that I learned more about how to write an essay that has a larger overarching connection, even though it may be focused on that smaller aspects of rhetoric. From my last essay I tried to improve on creating smooth transitions throughout my paper. In addition, I tried you utilize more specific examples and support from the text. In a more broad sense, I think this paper improved my writing by pushing me to be more creative in my ways of thinking about argument. Looking ahead, I would like to continue to think about prompts in a deeper and more creative fashion. Also, I would like to start for focus on my own implementation of logos, pathos, and ethos.
ReplyDeleteFrom this essay, I learned how to better organize my thoughts in a logical manner. I felt that the points I made in my paper flowed together better than they did in my previous essay, in which I essentially had a list of different points. I also feel that I was more coherent and I elaborated and explained my thoughts much better in this essay. Doing so is still somewhat challenging to me though. I have to think for a while on how to properly explain my thoughts and how to word my sentences in a way that would most clearly explain what I want to say without sounding too simple.
ReplyDeleteMy goal for the rest of the quarter is to continue to improve on my abilities as a writer. I hope to become better at clearly explaining my ideas.
Upon completion of the assignment I felt as if I learned more about how social justice can affect a society through its rhetoric. I felt as if I was able to get a far more in depth understanding of how the three articles I used (Thorpe, Yasui, and Soule-Cramer) rhetorically persuaded their audience. In addition I think that I was able to get a far deeper understanding of the articles themselves by reading them and thoroughly analyzing it. From my first paper I think that I was able to apply some of the lessons regarding getting my thesis statement across earlier. This paper was a lot harder for me to write on a whole because I did not have as solid of a starting point as I did with regard to the last paper. Another lesson I took from the first paper I felt was providing more evidence for some of the phrases that I used. Typically when I write, I make broad sweeping statements and I do not always back these statements up with solid evidence. Also from the first paper I looked at how I transition from paragraph to paragraph and I feel like I am making stronger transitions in general. However, I am definitely still struggling with exactly how to make these solid transitions and strong as they could be. Another issue I had while writing this paper was my word choice. I read through it and noticed that I had far too many “appeals” and “strong ethos” in the essay. It is a small point but it drove me kind of nuts. I am still struggling with how to place as much evidence as necessary and this is definitely a goal of mine to improve upon in the next paper. Finally my goal for the rest of the quarter is to avoid the sweeping generalizations and remain specific throughout my essays.
ReplyDeleteThis assignment was difficult for me because I have trouble pinpointing what I want to focus on in my paper and then how to say in a concise way. Compared to my first paper, I tried to develop my arguments more by adding more evidence and quotes from the text and then by explaining exactly how that evidence proves my argument. I think I did this better in my second paper, but I am not at exactly where I’d like to be. My main challenge, as it has always been, is have strong ideas for my paper before I begin writing. I have trouble in the beginning of the process with knowing exactly what I want to say, I end up typing way too much and never really hit my main point. By doing this, I then have to edit my paper many times and it ends up being a whole new paper compared to my rough draft. Although revision is good, the way I write papers is very time consuming so I’d like to work on having my argument, thoughts, and evidence sorted over and thought out before I begin writing my paper.
ReplyDeleteI actually really like this essay because it was an opportunity to branch out and write a paper that I wanted to write instead of a cookie cutter essay that a teacher would normally assign, one where there is a definite, almost prewritten, thesis and list of ideas. Instead this paper gas me the freedom to really branch out and write about something that I saw in the works that we have been reading. In this essay I tried to take several ideas from my first paper and expand on them. This included a focus on detail and not leaving ideas hanging out in space, with the reader wanting more. I also tried to work on my flow a lot more, my last essay felt really forced as I read through the paragraphs and there is not a real strong connection. In writing this essay I really tried to go back to my debate roots and look for ways that I could make the entire essay flow from paragraph to paragraph while forming one cohesive idea throughout. The thing that I find myself still struggling with slightly is my opening paragraph and thesis. In many cases I know what I want to talk about, I just don't know when to start and stop giving information in order to a paint a proper interest in the paper while also generating a desire to read and find out more. As I look ahead I really hope to clarify my abilities to write a clear and concise thesis, while also breaking a personal pattern for myself by getting help from others in clarifying my writing and my ideas.
ReplyDeleteIn completing this essay, I found that when I am given a broad topic, unless I spend a large amount of time singling out a more specific area of focus, I can regurgitate a bunch of information onto a page in a cohesive and actually understandable way. This is not to my benefit as it tired the reader and is not as good in a class such as this as I cannot drive my argument home as well. Furthermore, one I actually am able to formulate a strong and narrow thesis, I feel I am getting better at writing to that thesis with stronger evidence, and much stronger explanations of my evidence as I relate it back to my overall thesis, in effect, creating a stronger paper. However, this paper was very difficult for me to write as I attempted to improve on some of the comments from my last essay, and neglected other areas of my writing that were stronger in the past. I still feel I struggle with the length of some of my sentence and I need to work on shortening and diversifying them. For the rest of this quarter, I hope to procrastinate less, and focus more on exactly the points I am trying to get across in my essay and finding appropriate evidence to support and strengthen the overall work.
ReplyDeleteWhen writing this essay, I feel like I really got a better handle on comparing different texts and coming to a conclusion about what authors who write in that genre do that makes their work unique. I definitely continued to work on showing reasoning for every piece of evidence that I provided and making sure that all of my evidence supported my thesis and I didn’t have any random thoughts or quotes thrown in there. One thing that I hope to improve on is wordiness. I feel like I use a lot of words to get my point across, and I’d really like to get to a place where I can concisely state my argument/evidence/reasoning. I also think that in this paper I really improved on organizational techniques and really considering what should go where. I also think that I improved at coming up with a specific, concise, arguable thesis and supporting points for it. As for the rest of the quarter, I’d really like to improve stylistically and become more fluid with my writing.
ReplyDeleteThis essay taught me how to cross-examine pieces based on rhetorical concepts. My first piece was essentially an explanation of one text according to rhetorical definitions and other texts about rhetoric. This essay gave me the opportunity to compare the effectiveness of different aspects of rhetoric in comparing the effectiveness through time of different texts and ideas. I learned that using rhetoric as an evaluative tool is very useful in determining why certain texts work better to convince an audience of an idea. I applied the lessons I had learned in paragraph construction and argument and thesis development from my first paper, but implemented ideas about text chronology and voice in this one. I think that I improved my argument cohesion. As I revised this essay, I really worked to tie each paragraph back to my thesis. Something that remains challenging for me is to ensure that I fully develop of my ideas on the rhetoric of certain pieces before I move on. I would like to set the goal of being able to make my arguments developed and effective while still transitioning well in between paragraphs as this quarter progresses.
ReplyDeleteI feel that I have improved mainly my ability to provide, explain, and analyze examples from sources. This was something I did not do as well on my first paper, and now I worked to explain my examples more thoroughly and connect them back to my man argument as well. I also learned more about synthesizing information and how different rhetorical strategies connect to each other. For the remainder of the quarter, I would like to improve my ability to combine style and a concise, analytical tone to make my arguments even more persuasive.
ReplyDeleteI feel that I have improved mainly my ability to provide, explain, and analyze examples from sources. This was something I did not do as well on my first paper, and now I worked to explain my examples more thoroughly and connect them back to my man argument as well. I also learned more about synthesizing information and how different rhetorical strategies connect to each other. For the remainder of the quarter, I would like to improve my ability to combine style and a concise, analytical tone to make my arguments even more persuasive.
ReplyDeletethis paper I think improved as writer by getting my main idea out of my head and on paper much quicker than normally. This is probably the case because of the aid we all received from the guiding questions, but nonetheless it helped me. Acknowledging this makes me more inclined to start my writing process with similar basic thinking questions to get my thoughts going. After getting my first paper back, I think I was able to transfer some of what I learned and put a much stronger paper together. Mainly in regards to supplying more explicit examples to be used for support and going into in depth analysis. Also I think I anchored the paper with a stronger claim and melded it together with stronger transitions. I hope to continue to make a strong claim that is evident from the start.
ReplyDeleteThis assignment challenged me and helped me to grow as a writer because this was he first time I had to analyze multiple texts. The last assignment was primarily about the movie The Laramie Project but this assignment was more focused on finding commonalities authors use to argue there own claim, then analyzing what that meant in regards to social justice as a whole. Finding these commonalities was hard but I definitely grew as a writer from it. One of the biggest problems with my first paper was that I did not elaborate enough in my conclusion plus I generated a claim to quickly in my conclusion without actually building up to it or supply evidence that support its. In this paper I spent a lot of time on my conclusion because I wanted to find a way of being elaborate in my conclusion while not repeating everything I said in my paper. I wanted to take my paper to that next level and I wanted to think outside the box. Still remaining is that struggle of creating a stronger conclusion that illustrates higher thinking but I think that what’s most important is that I still made that first step towards deeper analysis in this paper.
ReplyDelete