Andrew Wilson

Reflection 2

A big difference between paper 1 and paper 4 was the outlines. In paper 1 it wasnt so

much of a detailed outline as it was a list of topics that I felt fit with the essay. For the first one I

also had gone to the writing center for the outline to help get the process started. Compared to

the fourth essay where I had written an outline myself focusing on organization and where I

would add certain details and support. I focused on that partially because in reviews it seems I

tend to analyze to much and not provide enough specific details. The first essay went very well,

so hopefully the fourth will continue the trend.

As time went on I tested some of the writing strategies the class discussed during the

year. Some ideas we had gone over include heuristic rules like starting with the introduction, and

outlining which prior to college I was not in the habit of doing. I know an issue that needs to be

worked on is finding sources and using them as I write instead of writing and fitting them in

after, it could be more efficient. With paper 1 I had 3 people peer review it, a student in class, the

writing center, and my sister. Doing this cleared up any silly errors and made it flow smoothly.

The fourth paper did not have as much peer review, but hopefully by organizing my thought

prior to writing had a similar effect and made the essay more clear and concise. The general idea

for the format is the same. I feel the headers help let the reader know where the essay is going

and its a very easy and clear way of moving from topic to topic.

As time went on I would hope my outlining and organization in essays would improve

and between essays 4 and 1 and it has, although the writing center does help a lot with this

process. Later on, I began to focus more on word choice and writing so that everything flowed
and made sense. I would work on this while revising by reading through the essays once or twice

to get an idea of how it sounds.

One problem in both of the essays is that I sometimes write and in my head it sounds how

I want it to, but it will sound strange reading it. I think that it happens less frequently now, but I

still miss it sometimes. It can mess up the clarity of the paper and takes away from any

organization it has.