Migasi 1

Matthew Migasi
Professor Jason Melton
English 5
19 February 2016
Writers Narrative Essay
The writing process of every person is different in one way or another and can help to
show why and how things were written the way they were. The writing process contains three
different parts: the pre writing portion, the draft, and the final copy which each have a different
goal that the writer must keep in mind to have a successful paper. There are many positives and
negatives about my writing style, I noticed all of these after reviewing one of my papers I had
previously written. The paper I am reviewing and analyzing is a history paper on progressive era
problems and how they could be solved.
The most important part to analyzing a previous paper to myself is seeing what worked
and why it worked. The pre writing strategy I use for most assignments is the most effective
piece of my writing process. My pre writing strategy consists of reading and rereading the
prompt to understand what is being said and all the points that I need to bring up. This is also
where I do my research on the topic to make sure that every point that I do make on the paper is
correct. In Beans article, Reading Rhetorically, he says that the readers must Make sense of a
text not by passively receiving meaning from it but by actively composing a reading of it (Bean,
1). I am able to do this in the prewriting process by connecting what I know already with what I
need to know in order to complete a completely covered paper. I used this strategy to complete
this paper and have seen that I am now covering more of the topic than previously, as well as
making it less confusing to follow.

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Another positive I see in my previous paper can also be seen as a negative because I
make my papers in a way where it will get the most information across to the reader, that being a
professor, which makes the paper feel more like a textbook article. It is negative in the fact that I
am not creating the paper in a way that is enjoyable to read by anyone other than the professor,
which defeats the purpose of being a creative writer. However this can be seen as a positive to
me because I feel like I am connecting with my reader in a way in which I know they will
receive my information best. I find that this is the most important part of the draft and final copy
of any paper because as Flower says in her article Know the Needs of Your Reader there are three
things a reader must take into account, those being The reader's knowledge about the topic, his
or her attitude toward it, and his or her personal or professional needs. I find that in academic
papers such as my history paper the reader is looking for a clear understanding of the topic and is
expecting ample detail about each main point.
My organization from my first draft that followed into my final draft is another positive
that I found in my previous writings because it was so successful at conveying the information in
a way that kept all relevant parts together and kept other parts that did not mesh apart. I make the
organization for all papers that I write in the very beginning of my process which helps me to
keep everything together in a way that makes the most sense. This can be chronological or spatial
organization but in my history paper I used a problem-solution way of organization in which I
posed a problem, followed by a quote from the reading which showed the problem in action, then
finished off with an analysis of what was just said. This way of organizing helped to make my
arguments about what the problems were more credible and helped to show the reader where I
found my arguments and why they apply to my text.

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Knowing the negatives of a person's writings process is just as useful as knowing the
positives because it is what needs improvement and helps better the writer. There are two main
negatives that I have found in my own writing process that I have seen and have recognized the
need for improvement. My ability to put things off for as long as possible is a huge detriment to
my writing because I have constricted myself so much in terms of time to complete all the steps
of a successful paper. In my history paper for example, I waited till the last possible day and had
to eliminate a first draft. This exclusion of a draft did allow me to finish the assignment in a
timely fashion but not everything in it is something that I can be proud of calling mine. The only
real way of combating this problem is allowing myself more time and creating a situation in
which I make myself use that time wisely. I can create more time dedicated towards writing by
spreading my papers out across multiple writing sessions and creating a plan showing what needs
to be done by when. This would not instantly make my writing better but it would in fact create
more thought out papers.
Saying that my first draft is my final draft is my other downfall when it comes to writing.
I skip writing my first draft of my paper because I have given myself no time but this also means
that what I have turned in is technically my first draft. I create this final copy in almost the same
fashion as I would creating a first draft because it is how the writing process is started. A writer
cannot simply skip a step of the process, what they can do however is stop early which I have
done many times in the past. Lamott describes what a first draft should sound like in her article
Shitty First Drafts by saying that The first draft is the childs draft, where you let it all pour out,
and then let it romp out all over the place (Lamott, 22). Reviewing my past material that I have
written I can see that this is a very accurate representation of most of my papers. I need to learn

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that stopping early is not acceptable and need to make time for the complete process otherwise I
will never be fully satisfied with any material I ever write.
The only way for writers to get better is to hear criticism and the best critic is yourself. I
find that after reviewing my previous work I have a lot of room for improvement as well as
improving what I already believe to be strong points in my writing process. During this brief
time writing this assignment I have already seen progress towards a better paper in ways that I
had not thought of before. My only goal now for future papers is to be able to take ownership of
it proudly and call it mine.

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Works Cited
Bean, John, C., Virginia A. Chappell, and Alice M. Gilliam. Chapter 2: Strategies for Reading
Rhetorically. Reading Rhetorically. New York: Pearson/Longman, 2004. 20+. Print.
Flower, Linda. Step 5: Know the Needs of Your Reader. Problem Solving Strategies for Writing.
4th ed. Fort Worth: Harcourt, 1981. 194-197.
Lamott, Ann. Shitty First Drafts. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. New
York: Pantheon, 1994. 21-27.