Essay #3 Peer Review Draft
If you could do me a huge favor and read over my third crappy essay and provide some feedback below, I'd really appreciate it. All I ever get from my classmates is "It was good," which is useless to me. If you don't feel like reading, though, don't feel bad. It's pretty basic stuff, and I'm sure you guys have better stuff to do. But if you get a few minutes.
Writing an Essay
There’s no escaping it. Over the course of your college career you’re going to be asked to write a number of different essays. Some will be formal, requiring elaborate footnotes or a bibliography. Others will be extremely casual; asking that you do little more than put your thoughts down on paper. Most will fall somewhere in the middle. Regardless of what kind of assignment you encounter, having a standard process in place for writing essays can be a huge help. My process, while far from perfect, gets the job done, and in an effort to help you find yours, I’ve detailed it below.
First, you need an idea. You probably already have some guidelines provided by your instructor, either via the syllabus, or in-class discussion. Even if it doesn’t provide you with a topic outright, it should at least point you in the right direction. Think about the assignment, and write down a few ideas right away. The brainstorming doesn’t stop right away, though. I don’t know how many ideas I’ve gotten while running errands, or waiting for the bus, or even while working on another assignment. Write these ideas down when you get them, no matter how silly or unworkable they may seem. You’re not committed to anything at this point, and you’ll kick yourself later if you forget the details of a great idea, all because you didn’t want to write it down.
Next, do a bit of pre-writing. Select a couple of your ideas, and just write whatever comes to mind. Don’t worry about form or style. Just get the ideas down. You never know when a particular turn of phrase might send you off in a direction you hadn’t considered before, so this sort of free-form writing can be a huge help. Soon enough, one of your ideas should start to emerge as the front runner, and that’s the one you should begin to flesh out. If you haven’t thought of a thesis statement, a conclusion, or even a title, don’t sweat it. You’ll have plenty of time for that later in the process. Just flesh out your idea and you’ll be set when it comes time to write your first draft.
At this point, it’s time to provide a bit of structure to your essay. Form your paragraphs, develop a basic thesis statement, and try to wrap things up with a concluding paragraph. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Heck, it won’t be. Drafts never are. Incorporate as much content from your pre-writing as you can, filtering out any details that are repetitive or completely off-topic. Check that your supporting paragraphs flow smoothly from one to the next. Try out one or two titles, and go with the one you like best for now. You can always change it later.
When you’re done with your first draft, it’s time to take a break. Give it to a few people to read, and ask them for honest feedback. As nice as it is for someone to hand you back your essay with compliments and praise, or worse, a vague “That was nice,” it doesn’t really provide you with any constructive criticism for you to work with. Encourage them to read with a critical eye. When you receive their comments, write them down (if they haven’t already), and tuck them away where you can find them later. Give yourself a day or so, and then pull your essay out again. Read it as though it were written by someone else. Have a pen at the ready, and make notes in the margins or between the lines, adding or removing elements as necessary. Mark the paper up as much as you need to. You’ll be re-typing this thing anyway.
Now you’re ready for your final draft. I suggest starting with a completely blank document, using your rough draft and various notes to get you started. Writing the paragraphs from scratch, even if you don’t intend to change anything can help you spot errors or things you might like to phrase differently. Once you’ve finished, give the essay a final read through to be sure it flows the way you want it to. Does the thesis statement adequately explain the purpose of the essay? Do the supporting paragraphs provide the details you need, and do they work well together to convey your idea? Does your concluding paragraph tie everything together nicely? If so, finalize your title, check that the document is formatted correctly, save, and print. You’re finally done.
These steps should be enough to tackle most essays you’ll encounter. More involved steps such a bibliography or footnotes can be easily fit into the process as needed. No matter what the assignment, so long as you find a series of steps that work well for you and stick to them, your essay should have no problems being a success.
[END ESSAY]
Offhand, I can already tell you that I need to bulk up the last paragraph. It sounds so cheesy and textbook-y right now. And I need to write a stronger thesis statement (which for some reason she keeps making us put on the last sentence of the first paragraph, instead of wherever we like, as with most of the essays we read in class). If you have any suggestions, I'm happy to hear them.
Writing an Essay
There’s no escaping it. Over the course of your college career you’re going to be asked to write a number of different essays. Some will be formal, requiring elaborate footnotes or a bibliography. Others will be extremely casual; asking that you do little more than put your thoughts down on paper. Most will fall somewhere in the middle. Regardless of what kind of assignment you encounter, having a standard process in place for writing essays can be a huge help. My process, while far from perfect, gets the job done, and in an effort to help you find yours, I’ve detailed it below.
First, you need an idea. You probably already have some guidelines provided by your instructor, either via the syllabus, or in-class discussion. Even if it doesn’t provide you with a topic outright, it should at least point you in the right direction. Think about the assignment, and write down a few ideas right away. The brainstorming doesn’t stop right away, though. I don’t know how many ideas I’ve gotten while running errands, or waiting for the bus, or even while working on another assignment. Write these ideas down when you get them, no matter how silly or unworkable they may seem. You’re not committed to anything at this point, and you’ll kick yourself later if you forget the details of a great idea, all because you didn’t want to write it down.
Next, do a bit of pre-writing. Select a couple of your ideas, and just write whatever comes to mind. Don’t worry about form or style. Just get the ideas down. You never know when a particular turn of phrase might send you off in a direction you hadn’t considered before, so this sort of free-form writing can be a huge help. Soon enough, one of your ideas should start to emerge as the front runner, and that’s the one you should begin to flesh out. If you haven’t thought of a thesis statement, a conclusion, or even a title, don’t sweat it. You’ll have plenty of time for that later in the process. Just flesh out your idea and you’ll be set when it comes time to write your first draft.
At this point, it’s time to provide a bit of structure to your essay. Form your paragraphs, develop a basic thesis statement, and try to wrap things up with a concluding paragraph. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Heck, it won’t be. Drafts never are. Incorporate as much content from your pre-writing as you can, filtering out any details that are repetitive or completely off-topic. Check that your supporting paragraphs flow smoothly from one to the next. Try out one or two titles, and go with the one you like best for now. You can always change it later.
When you’re done with your first draft, it’s time to take a break. Give it to a few people to read, and ask them for honest feedback. As nice as it is for someone to hand you back your essay with compliments and praise, or worse, a vague “That was nice,” it doesn’t really provide you with any constructive criticism for you to work with. Encourage them to read with a critical eye. When you receive their comments, write them down (if they haven’t already), and tuck them away where you can find them later. Give yourself a day or so, and then pull your essay out again. Read it as though it were written by someone else. Have a pen at the ready, and make notes in the margins or between the lines, adding or removing elements as necessary. Mark the paper up as much as you need to. You’ll be re-typing this thing anyway.
Now you’re ready for your final draft. I suggest starting with a completely blank document, using your rough draft and various notes to get you started. Writing the paragraphs from scratch, even if you don’t intend to change anything can help you spot errors or things you might like to phrase differently. Once you’ve finished, give the essay a final read through to be sure it flows the way you want it to. Does the thesis statement adequately explain the purpose of the essay? Do the supporting paragraphs provide the details you need, and do they work well together to convey your idea? Does your concluding paragraph tie everything together nicely? If so, finalize your title, check that the document is formatted correctly, save, and print. You’re finally done.
These steps should be enough to tackle most essays you’ll encounter. More involved steps such a bibliography or footnotes can be easily fit into the process as needed. No matter what the assignment, so long as you find a series of steps that work well for you and stick to them, your essay should have no problems being a success.
[END ESSAY]
Offhand, I can already tell you that I need to bulk up the last paragraph. It sounds so cheesy and textbook-y right now. And I need to write a stronger thesis statement (which for some reason she keeps making us put on the last sentence of the first paragraph, instead of wherever we like, as with most of the essays we read in class). If you have any suggestions, I'm happy to hear them.