Week 5

Prompt: Besides the fact that you are required to use two sources for Essay 1, what other differences do you see between these two essays? You might want to discuss how your writing process has changed or how you see the progression of essay writing skills in our class.

The biggest difference between the two essays is that I feel I really struggled with this one. I find it hard to incorporate my thoughts and beliefs in with quotes and statements from other sources, and I think it shows when I write. I also felt another difference was having to make an actual, concerted effort to back up my thoughts, beliefs, and general knowledge with stuff. I think this stage of writing is very important in that it prepares me for more formal professional writing in the future.

I plan to use (hopefully) many credible sources for my essay, including the internet, news articles and books and magazines. With the internet, I will know they are credible if there is a clear author or organization who hosts the website, if the date on the website is current, and if there are other links that will take me to other resources within the internet. Credible sources are important because you are using them to support your thoughts, thesis, and main points of your writing.

My Final Draft Thoughts

You've turned in your final draft, how do you feel about it? What was your writing process? What would part of your process do you plan to keep for the next essay? What part do you want to change? Why?

After turning in my final draft, I felt quite a few emotions. The major one is relief that the task is completed. Mostly though, I feel good about what I had prepared, especially after the advice that Amanda gave on my rought draft, I think it reads better this time around. I do have a habit of writing like I talk, which sometimes in not a good thing. My writing process began late in the evening. My husband works second shift, and I have three boys that always have at least 3 hrs (combined) of homework each evening, one being in 5th grade, one in 7th grade, and one a sophomore in high school. It's just me in the evening doing the family thing with supper, dishes, homework, housekeeping etc., so I don't have a lot of time then, but believe me I'm thinking about the project and what needs done! I think I do my best work late at night, when the house is quiet, and I can work uninterupted. I enjoyed working on the little details of the paper, and revising and reading, rereading again and again until I left it was better. I think the part of the process I would keep for the next essay would be formulating all of my thoughts in the VES before I write the paper. Amanda stated that it is such much easier when you have complete thoughts and sentences, and you take your time preparing the VES. It works, and helps you narrow your thought pattern into the key points you want to center on. I think the part I would change for the next essay is staying up until 2:30 am in writing it. I keep forgetting I am older, and not as able to "bounce" back from lack of sleep like I could in my 20's. I need sleep, and although I do my best work at night, if I split it up over a few nights and quit around midnight instead of 2:30, this woman will not be dragging butt so horribly the next morning when preparing for work! I also want to spend more time on creating structured paragraphs. It is important to keep the goal of your paper, and the main thoughts that you want to convey in the forefront of your mind. For me, I tend to "get lost" in revision, and have to constantly reread it to be sure that I am still heading in the same direction.

Preparing Essay 1

Essay 1 is definitely a work in progress. The changes I have made from the rough draft to the draft I have submitted was major. I started out with a basic outline highlighting my key points, it was very basic and general, and the majority I mulled over in my head over the past two weeks. I think there will probably be many changes I will need to make before the final draft is ready. What I may think sounds great or is putting forth my best, usually never is, and any work could always use a little (and even major) tweaking here and there. Sometimes I forget how I am addressing my audience, whether I am speaking to them first person, and then change my point of view midway which is wrong. Also as I read it, I added alot, or changed a view things after reading it several times. I think maybe my beginning is a little lengthy, but I was "trying to capture the audiences attention" though I am not sure I accomplished that task. We will see...