Sierra Singer

Ms. Deborah Kabwang Makuma

English 101

23 October 2021

Key to success: Revisions

As a student/person coming from a family that isn’t into writing or reading, I grew up learning

from the education curriculum in my schools. Those schools were not always graded the best on

the education scales compared to surrounding areas, but I had to deal with the hand dealt. So

English class was fairly easy since the curriculum wasn’t at a high standard. But I gained more

knowledge this semester about writing, more than ever. The information provided so far this

semester has revealed that revising and applying myself to my writing is key. I thought revising a

paper was just checking for misspelled words, but it’s more than that. Revising a paper consists

of misspelled words, good title, taking your time, and making sure the paragraphs and words

flow together throughout the writing. I wrote many essays in high school without putting effort

into them or interacting with them, but the class that I’m taking in college, ENG101, opened an

interest of taking my time with writing and to enjoy it.

This past week in my ENG101 class we read an informative article about revisions called

“Shitty first drafts” by Anne Lamott the writer discusses the writing process that most writers go

through. The process begins with writing down any information that comes to your mind while

writing your first draft, no matter the length the draft ends up to be. The first draft doesn’t have

to have a flow or anything great since it’s going to be the worst draft of all. But then later you'll

have to go through the draft again and get all the important information to create a second draft.

Then you go through that to make sure the writing flows, make sure to take breaks and take your
time. The main concept of the article is that everyone has that horrible first draft but to get the

writing piece complete it takes time and a lot of revisions. In the last few weeks in my English

class I have learned many ways to better my writing with time management, description,

methods, and many more. One method that guides you on how to write a paragraph, it’s called

the Schaffer Method. First start with a topic sentence, then have details to follow up the sentence

with a fact, then another fact, and finally the conclusion sentence to wrap up the paragraph.

While revising papers it’s best to take your time. So it would be better to start a paper a

day or two before you actually want to start because revisions take awhile. In the module I just

went over, it talks about taking breaks every few sections so you can come back with a clear

head. Then after going through it once, look over it again or have a friend or family member

read over it for any advice.

Overall writing is a subject everyone can learn something new about everyday. I thought

I knew most of the writing when I entered the class, but it turns out I just learned the tip of an

iceberg. Just make sure to keep an open mind when learning about new writing methods or

advice. I know I will learn a lot more in writing throughout life, not just in school but even in

books, newspapers, blogs, or even social media.