Learning Outcome #1

            At the beginning of this course, one of the major differences in my revision process was the number of drafts I produced. For my first paper, I have only two drafts, which are one rough draft and my final draft. Looking back, this revision process wasn’t sufficient enough to develop a well written essay. In my third paper, which is the paper I’ve decided to use as my chosen work sample, I had four rough drafts and my final draft. In this paper I posted a draft after every 300 words or so. I feel that this drafting process was more effective because I could clearly see the errors I wanted to correct in my final text.

            When rereading my most recent paper, I can see how I’ve made textual advances in my writing over the course of this semester. I have become more skilled at addressing both local and global concerns in my paper. When examining local concerns in my chosen work sample, I rearranged some of my sentences from previous drafts to make them clearer and to the point. I also revised some of my topic sentences, to connect each paragraph in my chosen work sample. Some may see these local fixes as less important than global concerns, but it’s the details in a paper that draw the reader in.

            My revision of global concerns is also evident in this work sample. In my first drafts, I was unsure about my conclusion. I had a difficult time piecing this particular paper together when I reached the end. After writing the first draft of my conclusion, I decided it wasn’t sufficient. I felt that I had too many new ideas in my concluding paragraph for it to be a true conclusion, so I expanded on those new ideas in a separate paragraph and rewrote my conclusion. I also made sure all my paragraphs connected back to my thesis. One of my most prominent struggles in the beginning of this semester was staying on topic and connecting all the ideas in my paper to my thesis. I can see an improvement on this skill in my writing.

            My ability to address both local and global concerns in my paper is a development for me, because I never used to look very hard for errors in my essays. Before this semester, I was never challenged to examine what wasn’t working in my writing, only what was already acceptable. College writing requires more effort and self-analysis than just doing “good enough.” Recognizing written errors is a skill I have developed in this class that will mature my writing and further my abilities. Addressing my errors will also make me a stronger and more confident writer.