There I was, poised with the first draft of my masters thesis, ready to jack it under the rear wheels of my car so that I could vent my anger and frustration. Never had I felt this kind of undiluted rage in dealing with a piece of writing. As far as I was concerned, the first draft was complete and therefore the entire piece was finished; however, my thesis advisor didn’t quite agree with me. A less deranged friend of mine talked me out of repeatedly backing over my thesis, and convinced me that it didn’t really matter if I did leave tire marks on it because I had multiple drafts on my disk. But still, I knew that it would just feel so good to leave some tire tread on the paper. I had not written a thesis as an undergrad, and I was looking forward to this process. It took some time for me to find a professor willing to work with me, but after a number of false starts, I finally came to Peter Heinegg’s door. My thesis was based on the disparate work of Nathaniel Hawthorne and radical feminist theologian Mary Daly. Each week that I left Peter’s office, I found myself laden with at least five books that he deemed absolutely crucial to my writing and thinking process. At one point, I needed an English translation of a German text, and when I finally secured it, I opened the cover to find that the work had been translated by Peter. It was somewhat humbling to work with him because he was so intelligent; however, he was an absolutely amazing teacher and I credit him with helping me to fully understand the impact that revision has on the writing process. At times, during the writing of our theses, my roommate and I were reduced to performing stupid hair tricks in the wee hours of the morning to entertain ourselves and to create som... ... middle of paper ... ...them before they are ready to learn this. I am the eternal optimist, however, so we continue to work on the revision process. Being back in grad school has been an amazing experience because it has put me back in touch with my own process of writing; I am conscious of how I write in comparison to the way in which I expect my students to write. I find myself using the information that I share with them, although at times I feel the pressure that I must earn all A’s on my papers because if I haven’t mastered the process of writing, then I must be a bit of a fraud to be teaching it. But then I have to remember what I have learned about my own process, and what I continue to learn about my own writing process. I keep in mind the epiphany I experienced in graduate school, and I seek to share this information, for current or later use, with my students in the classroom.
Receiving the opportunity to check one of my completed compositions created leverage to strengthen elements of my oeuvre. This reflection consists of a process of dissection, scrutiny, and close reassessment. As a writer in the editing and revision stage, I examined particular features throughout my essay including background information about the topic, credible evidence to support overall claims, and grammar and sentence structure.
In this essay, “The Marker’s eyes”, the author, Donald Murray details how the writer needs to produce a progression of the draft. Murray also stresses the importance of revising your draft is when you really discover the deeper meaning of your writing. Murray explains how to a professional writer, the first draft and its following drafts are what helps them to get started with the writing task. The author also talks about developing a special type of reading skill, which will help the writer progress from draft to draft. He goes and says that writing is never finished in the writer's eye, it can always be modified and rearranged. The purpose of this essay is to demonstrate to the readers how important revising is
My development as a writer has flourished throughout this semester. The first week of this fall semester started out with writing responses from our readings in the textbook. Looking back through and analyzing my reading responses at the semester to now; I noticed a substantial improvement in not only my grammar skills, but also my summarizing, and in-depth studying of writing adeptness. Another way I have progressed this semester is the vocabulary of my writing has significantly improved and become more scholarly. Another advancement I noticed was that the content of my work has matured, along with my organizational adeptness.
Over the past semester, I have found the most challenging part of this course to simply be the transition from high school composition classes to college. Because writing expectations are so different in college than in high school, even with AP and Dual Enrollment “college level” classes, I first found myself being overwhelmed with the pressure to write the perfect first draft. The pressure came from knowing how much a final draft of a paper contributed to my grade. This left me sitting in front of my computer for hours at a time with thoughts of what I wanted to say racing through my head, but unable to deliver these thoughts into organized, structured sentences. I learned, through writing my persuasive essay, that instead of trying to write the paper start to finish and already in its perfect form, it is easier for me to look at the paper through its different components and focus on them individually, then work to best organize my ideas fluently.
In Joseph Harris’ “Revising”, published originally in 2006 as a chapter in his book Rewriting: How to Do Things with Texts, he offers a compelling case to rethink the way that writers revise their own works in academic writing. He criticizes what he believes to be an incorrect understanding of the revision process, claiming that today’s college students “have been taught how to edit but not how to revise” (444).
As I shoved my notebook into my backpack, I heard my writing fellow murmur something about an essay. I wasn’t worried. After taking every Advanced Placement English class my high school offered, I felt equipped to handle a simple essay until received Dr. Carver’s email with the prompt and instructions. I blinked at the screen and rubbed my eyes; thinking I had misread the message, I read it again. I was supposed to have the essay finished in approximately 42 hours, but I had never written a decent essay in less than four days. I was in a state of panic; all of my ideas had evacuated my imagination leaving me with a painful case of writer’s block. To me, most of good writing is good editing and proper editing requires having a window to forget your writing before returning to it: a window that 42 hours just couldn’t provide.
When dissecting Adler’s testimony concerning the profits readers gain when thoroughly annotating a piece of literature, I found myself persuaded to look at each detail of a page to a deeper effect. His emphasis on needing patience and a strong work ethic in order to see future rewards perfectly not only applied to literary works, but also other slow processes such as the college application process. By incorporating writer’s thoughts “into] your bloodstream” (1), information gets preserved and further analyzed for years to come. The act of physically interpreting statements as if you were inquiring or joining a thought “preserve[s] those reactions and sharpen[s] those questions” (2).
...of Responding to Student Writing; or, Looking for Shortcuts via the Road of Excess.” Across the Disciplines 3 (2006): 21 Jan. 2010 .
As students of all ages scampered to prepare for tests, and elucidated ideologies ceaselessly in an attempt to complete term papers during the academic year, the consternation over potential failure stimulates stress and perspiration. Nonetheless the novels and autobiographies which were read during this American Literature course, accentuated a theme of nonconformity which is not kindled through effrontery but sparked through a cycle of assimilating to making mistakes. While in the academic realm engendering anything outside of perfection is condemned by many pedagogues and students alike, elsewhere the act of unintentional blundering is seen as boon opposed to a burden. Furthermore, through novels such as “The Scarlet Letter,” readers can
Over the course of about six months my sister’s health began to rapidly deteriorate to the point where she began to look like a walking corpse. I was only in sixth grade and never fully understood the severity of her unknown illness. I never thought that her scraggly brown hair, exposed ribs, and extensive bed rest was becoming a massive problem, I just thought she was losing weight and needed to eat more. My family finally had and answer during early March 2013.
“You got him! Nice shot man! You did amazing on it,” my brother congratulated me.
First off, my parents have always been there for me. They are so dependable. One day, my mom and dad were working while I had a game and my friend’s mom dropped him and me off. I was really sad since they couldn’t watch me play. The first period past, my mom nor my dad weren’t there, sitting where they usually sat. It was halfway through the second period, and my team was losing 3-5. My coach sent my line out on the ice. Off the faceoff, we sped up the ice. I got the puck, shot, and scored for my team. I went to look and the spot where they usually sat at, and in the three small chairs, were sitting my mom, dad, and sister. I felt so great to realize how much my parents go through in work to watch my game. When my parents are there to watch my play my hockey games, it feels like I have
Smith shared his personal experience with publishing his first book, which was based on his dissertation, and suggested students should “look at his/her dissertation as a process, which could later turn into a book”.
There is a point in everyone’s life when they step back and realize “I can’t do this anymore, it’s ruining my life”. Many of my friends have started smoking cigarettes while drinking at a very young age, and continue to use this drug currently and don’t realize the affect it has on their future. While I have been smart enough to avoid smoking, I haven’t been as wise at making decisions when it comes to drinking. The amount of partying I’ve done in college has taken over my life, and has had a huge impact on my grades. Changing my drinking habits and continuing to avoid cigarettes will enable me to be the best I can be for the rest of my college experience.
Up north at Chico State University, a young man confessed to his friends that he sends his rough-draft essays to his mother for "proof-reading." His mother essentially woul...