Learning Outcome 1:
While I was working on the assignment of 1000 words to post online and to then share with the members in my group for the peer review session, I ran into a main problem, I had no idea where to go. I had two giant paragraphs for my introduction and that was it. I had written one paragraph to introduce ideas and concepts that I wanted to discuss in my paper. Following this, I realized I still needed to mention in some depth the sources I was planning on using. This was the reasoning for the second introductory paragraph. After these two paragraphs had been completed, I realized I had spent way too much time talking about different concepts in this intro. Therefore, when I continuously attempted to start body paragraphs for any of these concepts I did not know how to start without being repetitive from what I had already discussed in one of my first two paragraphs. After meeting in my peer group, I was finally able figure out how to move on. To proceed, I worked to identify, within the first paragraph, the numerous potential beginning for a number of separate body paragraphs. Following this, I was able to expand on each individual idea, introducing sources and adding quotes, to strengthen the claims I was making. At one point I even decided to change one of my sources entirely as the alternative would fit better with my thesis. Following this, I focused on smaller, more local revisions to finalize the paper. I fixed several sentences that did not flow well and therefore did not make much sense. Finally, I improved some individual word selections. Overall I was able to not only rework almost my entire essay to display a better structure, but I was also then able to improve upon a potentially completed essay to make it more polished and ultimately finished. By this final project, I was more confident in the ability to change directions if needed, taking complete advantage of the full writing process.
Learning Outcome 2:
During project one, my approach to integrating the various sources was very different than the one I used weeks later in project three. Using a similar approach from when I was in high school, for project one I would start by writing a full body paragraph, complete with the ideas and claims I wanted to make. Following this, I would then search through the article or essay to find any potential sections or quotes that could support, and therefore strengthen, my argument. I would continue this sequence throughout the essay: paragraph, source, paragraph, source. In some cases, I would choose not to include a source at all. In other cases, I would have to force the quote to fit into the situation as it did not always work as well as I wanted it to. By the time I reached the third project, I had developed an alternative, hopefully more productive approach. Having an idea in my mind of what I would want to write about, I reread each of the three articles I planned to use and picked out potential quotes to utilize. Therefore, when writing each paragraph, I had an idea of what themes to stick to so the quote, or quotes, would better fit into the writing. Additionally, by coming up with a list of quotes, instead of only one, I had a few options for directions to take and was not limited strictly to a single quote. By doing this, I was also more familiar with the quotes and how they fit in with the writing. Therefore I was better able to introduce, include, and explain the quote.
Learning Outcome 3:
In high school, I was not great with ‘active reading’. We never really explored the full process of doing so, along with the benefits of it. Therefore, while completing each of my assignments, I would simply read the article, book, poem, or whatever piece of writing we were assigned to review. It was then often difficult to create a product piece from this shallow understanding of the writing I was to base it off of. Often this was a result of a lack of interest in both the piece I was to read along with the one I was assigned to produce. When arriving at college, I was often significantly more interested in both of these products. I was also more motivated to complete my work at a higher, more complete level, with a better understanding of what I was learning.
In coming into college, I came up with a number of ways to improve upon my reading style. Firstly, I would underline significant sentences, ideas, and even single words. Following this, I would write down thoughts in the margins. These could range from my reaction to various opinions and ideas to simple summaries of important sections, all things Gilroy mentions as important in interacting with your reading. Following each of these, in the second round of reading the piece, I approached it with a different mindset, and therefore, a different tool. Using a colored highlighter, I highlighted concepts and quotes to potentially use in my writing. Additionally, I would write ideas, again the margins, about how these quotes may be important or context I wanted to be sure I would mention in my essay in the future. All of this allowed me to not only better understand what I was reading, but to also remember both major concepts and important details within the piece.
Learning Outcome 4:
The peer review process overall, throughout all three projects, certainly had its highs and its lows. Some essays I was immediately interested and therefore had a lot to comment on with high hopes to be a helpful part of them making their paper into a really piece of work. There were, however, some papers I was not at passionate about either because the topic they chose to focus on was harder to follow or likely because their writing style was difficult to follow and could then be difficult to read and comment on. Because of this, I surprisingly decided to share my revisions from one of the very first papers I looked at for project one. My peer’s paper had some really great ideas and a strong base so the comments I gave were generally to help strengthen the argument or improve upon the flow of the discussion. The biggest comment I had, that continued throughout the paper was that his view point seemed to evolve slightly throughout the piece. In the introductory paragraph, he set it up as though there were really no positive traits to Soylent, or at least that he did not find any potential ones valid. Eventually, by the final page he had reached a turning point admitting that there were in fact times when even he could consider Soylent to be helpful. Discovering this, I suggested he spend some time rethinking his view point on Soylent to hopefully clear his own thoughts and then project them better into his paper. Aside from this, I input a few questions that attempted to challenge what he had said in his paper to try and show potential holes in his argument he could focus on. Additionally, I gave a fairly specific quote suggestion that having a quote from Walter Willet, an expert in nutrition, from the article could really strengthen the students claim regarding surviving compared to thriving. Overall, there were not too many places to focus in on sentence structure and I tried to avoid being nitpicky as they would hopefully pick up on them for their final draft. The one local revision I chose to focus on was an inconsistency with his usage of “I” and “You” in the introductory paragraph, suggesting he chose one course or another and continue with it through the collection of sentences.
Learning Outcome 5 and 6:
My ability to properly follow and apply MLA guidelines is illustrated in my chosen Significant Work. The piece exhibits properly formatted page numbers, a proper heading, in text citations, and a Works Cited page. As an example, my works cited page is double spaced, with a first line hanging indentation, and each source listed in alphabetical order. Additionally, this piece demonstrates my ability to make local divisions. The final draft of this piece has been revised of grammar, sentence structure, and spelling errors.
