When I receive an assignment to complete an essay there are many steps which I follow before handing in the final product. After the assignment and guidelines are fully explained, I begin pondering the things in which I want to include in my paper. This consists of everything from overall points to support the thesis to details which may make the essay more interesting to readers. Once I have thought things out a bit, I typically jot them down in an outline based form to ensure I don’t forget to include anything when I actually begin composing.
Next, I generally sit with my laptop at my desk where there are no distractions and I can focus on my work. Personally, I believe the hardest part of the entire assignment begins at this point. I always have to work for several minutes on an opening which satisfies my own expectations. However, once I get the paper going I generally just write it to its entirety on my computer in a single setting as I like begin able to get thoughts out and then easily reword or change them. After I have completed the first rough draft of an essay, I walk away from it for a few hours before returning. I then opt to read the essay aloud so that I can hear how it sounds and I tend to catch more mistakes this way. This also helps me to locate areas that do not flow very well and ones in which I simply want to improve within the paper.
Next, I prefer to read the essay aloud to someone else or have them read it. I make any corrections caught by this individual and am then confident in taking it to class for peer editing and so on. To me, peer editing is an excellent opportunity for a writer if used correctly. Although every person who edit’s a paper isn’t going to provide the same type of feedback, it does bring attention to problematic areas. I also feel that unlike many other readers of the essay, peers fully understand the assignment and can therefore point out aspects that may have been overlooked by the writer. Because I like receiving specific feedback about my work, I try to have a basic idea of what the paper will consist of for this process but know it isn’t the final draft. Once having gone through peer review, I make any additional corrections, do one last aloud reading and am then ready to turn in the completed final copy of the assignment!
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I would have to agree that the hardest part of any writing assignment is just being able to start it. One rather large contrast between my style and your style and mine is that you actually look back at your paper while I never actually read what my paper says in one sitting I only read individual paragraphs and make sure that they work on their own. Personally I find revision to be rather a pain because no one ever tells me what is wrong with my papers and instead they only bring up the highlights and pretend the low points do not exist which just frustrates me because I know that my writing needs some work.
ReplyDeleteI too agree that it is better to sit down, and write the paper out completely because it does help get all of the thoughts out. I also like the idea of you reading the paper out loud to someone. I think that is a good idea, and a very good way to go over a paper
ReplyDeleteI agree that the hardest part of a writing assignment is the opening part. Once I get past the opening, the rest of the paper seems to flow with the introduction. I think it's a good idea that after writing your paper you walk away from the computer for a while before you reread your paper. It seems like a great way to see your writing in a new perspective after taking time away from it.
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