LEARNING OUTCOME #1: RECURSIVE PROCESS
The Appiah and Gladwell synthesis paper was my first paper of this semester and going into it I was very nervous about what was expected and what was required. I began with an outline, using the steps we discussed in class. Doing this, I had the most difficulty with finding good evidence that supported my claims. I found some quotes and analyzed them the best I could- but in the process I created extremely long body paragraphs. I really struggled to trim them down, I couldn’t pick out points that were unneeded.
Without creating an outline first, I would not have been able to produce my essay efficiently. I struggle a lot with simply starting essays, and using an outline throughout the semester had a huge impact on my writing process. I was able to create my ideas in short fragments, and then build upon them step by step, creating full paragraphs.
When revising my paper, I had a hard time looking past my own perspective to see sentences that could be adjusted or points that weren’t relevant. Peer review gave me helpful feedback that offered that second perspective. My partner offered advice on sentence structure, and suggested paraphrasing some of my evidence to make it flow better within the text. I found that his suggestions were helpful and provided new ideas that I hadn’t considered. This allowed me to look at my paper through his eyes, and see more places that needed improvement within my paper.
Throughout the course of my drafts and the peer review progress, I do feel as though I improved my essay. I thought that I made some of my paragraphs more focused than they were before, as I had tended to ramble off on a tangent with my claims. However, from peer review to my final draft I think I could have revised my paper more effectively. I tried but was not entirely successful in narrowing down and creating more focused body paragraphs. I believe this struggle was prevalent through most of my essays, and if I had worked on it more in my first essay it might have helped me be able to create more and more effective paragraphs throughout the semester.
Overall, I believe I did a good job creating an outline that allowed me to turn my thoughts and ideas into a well-developed essay. Getting to a first draft I revised and built my essay successfully, and peer review gave me a push to keep finding ways to improve my paper. After peer review, I should have dove deeper in and created smaller, more focused paragraphs. Doing so would have made my paper much more straightforward and efficient, and that skill would have helped me as the year went on.
LEARNING OUTCOME #2: INTEGRATING IDEAS
In this essay, my goal was to draw connections about similarities and differences in the text and use those comparisons to support my thesis. I compared the texts, “The Primacy of Practice,” by Kwame Anthony Appiah and “Small Change,” by Malcom Gladwell. Both of these essays discussed ways in which society can create change, but each argued significantly different views upon which methods are most effective. I believe that integrating the ideas of authors we learn about is important because it proves validity and strength within your claims. My essay contained more textual examples from Malcom Gladwell, as I agreed more with the points he made about how strong ties and dedication contribute to high-risk activism in creating change.
I felt that in my writing I made some great connections and comparisons between the texts. I included a quote from Appiah’s essay that I felt had some validity, but overall was not something I completely agreed with. I analyzed his point and applauded his argument but then expressed how I disagreed with him. I formed the question; “Appiah makes a good argument, however looking outside of these conversations, how is change supposed to occur if there is no consensus?” To support my disagreement, I used real-life examples from Gladwell’s essay like the dedication and commitment exhibited in the Montgomery bus boycott. I believe I did a good job here of comparing Appiah’s ideas with Gladwell’s, and using my own opinion to draw that comparison between them.
I included a specific detail from Appiah’s writing that discussed his father’s experience with changing traditions within their culture. I spent a great amount of my paragraph explaining and analyzing this story in attempt to provide context. I think by doing so, my claim became a little lost in the paragraph. I analyzed too much of what Appiah was saying, and not enough of why it was relevant, and why this supports my claim. Continuing on in the paragraph, I introduced how Gladwell and Appiah’s perspectives aligned in regards to how connections with others impact our decisions. This connected back to my claim that strong ties are important in creating change. I feel that connected Appiah’s story that he shared with my claim sooner in the paragraph would have created a more focused and efficient paragraph. Instead, my paragraph gets lost within my textual evidence.
Overall, I believe in this essay I was mostly successful in connecting my texts in a way that supports my thesis. However, I don’t think this shines through in my other essays, which often didn’t focus enough on connections between the texts. I struggled more in those with having focused paragraphs and finding textual evidence that supports my thesis. I felt in this essay specifically that Gladwell and Appiah discussing the same topic in different ways made it easier to draw connections between them. I do feel however, that if I had stayed more focused on how these connections supported my argument my essay could have been stronger, more focused, and more efficient.
LEARNING OUTCOME #5: MLA CITATIONS
When working with different types of sources, I feel that I learned how to refer to sources properly within my essay and did a good job creating works cited for each of my papers. With each paper, I used in-text citations to cite every piece of textual evidence, along with a works cited that provides citations for each source. Over the course of the semester, I feel like I have learned how to properly introduce texts within my introduction. I learned how to give a brief 1-2 sentence summary of texts and how to improve my framing of quotes within my essays.
LEARNING OUTCOME #6: LOCAL REVISIONS
When writing papers, I have always tried to produce sentences that have descriptive language and proper grammar. A huge part of my revision process is adjusting language and the phrasing of sentences. I believe that writing throughout this semester has improved my ability to create strong sentences that articulate my thoughts and say what needs to be said. Something I struggled with was being repetitive with my sentences, saying the same thing in different ways throughout my paragraphs. A way that I can still improve is by combining sentences that are similar, and to phrase my sentences in different ways to ensure my paragraphs flow nicely and aren’t too long.
