Looking at my first draft of Project 3 compared to my final draft, the only things that would give you a hint that they were the same paper are a few sentences in the introduction which remained the same. Between my first and second drafts, I changed one of the sources I wanted to use, causing me to rework the entire introduction. Once I got to my second draft, I knew what I wanted to write about, allowing me to pour words onto the paper. After I had a skeleton of rough ideas of what I wanted my paper to look like, I began looking back and making sure I had an engaging paper to read.
Usually, I practice local revision while writing, making sure that my sentences make sense or my words are spelled correctly every few sentences. Then, while reading over my essay, I will often catch misspelled or incorrectly used words and change them. After each paragraph, I’ll read what I’ve written, making sure it sounds correct and flows nicely. Most of the local revision my peers suggest has to do with punctuation, which can be tricky. Going back, I will often need to move a period from inside quotation marks to the outside or add in a comma.
Globally, I always have a hard time inserting my own thoughts and experiences into my writing when analyzing other work. Through the first few drafts, I will outline the details of their work, but I fail to bring in my own voice. For Project 3, I specifically went back into my paper to see where I could add my own experiences into each paragraph. I read over what I wrote and decided what parts of each story I could relate to, adding in short recounts where they fit. This reflects how I have learned that in order to get someone to read and engage with your work, you must insert yourself into the narrative as well. Where I would once send in an essay without even thinking about my own voice, I am now making sure to give my papers the opinions and experiences that I have.
