DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.

Journey Reflection: Essay II Final

 

            After submitting my first draft of this second essay, I had Karen and my dad read it over. This was extremely helpful because they each noticed different things. Karen did a good job at helping me with the content of my paper and my dad helped me identify punctuation mistakes while providing an outside perspective of my paper. Before I went to work on these revisions, I also read my paper out loud a couple of times, noting where things felt awkward or detached. Then I sat down and applied all the comments, one paragraph at a time. I understood from the sample essays we discussed that I should do a better job at explaining my personal connection to my topic. Reading through Karen’s paper in peer review also gave me direction in this respect. Her voice was so clear and she related her personal connection so enjoyably that I was inspired to try to do the same.

            Thankfully, I was able to find a primary source that I believe will be very useful to me. My only concern is that I haven’t “integrated” it enough in this proposal. I must admit that even after the rubric activity, I was still left with some confusion about how to tackle my sources and the paper in general. I understood from Mujda that it’s okay if we merely reference our primary source and explain how it relates (or will relate) to our topic; however, some of the rubrics from this week noted that we need to integrate it fully. I guess I’m just a tad concerned that this will end up being problematic, simply because I haven’t had the time to read through my source yet and am therefore unsure of how I could integrate it more fully.

            While I do like that we seemed to be given the freedom to structure our essays in the manner that suits us best, I still felt a little shaky about what I should focus on. For example, I know that we aren’t supposed to have a thesis yet; however, the tentative rubric we were given, and asked to revise, referenced that we should include a variety of sources. Similarly, one of the revised rubrics noted that we should include both sides of an argument. I’m pretty sure that my paper doesn’t have what could be considered a “variety” of dissenting sources at this point. I hadn’t thought that this would be a problem considering we’re just getting started and can’t form an argument yet. However, this week left me a little concerned. At the same time, I do appreciate the ability to shape the essay as suits our purposes. I spent a good amount of time giving background information on my topic. I felt that it was relevant to my paper, and in peer review my readers noted that they found it very helpful and informative. Despite the confusion, I currently feel pretty good about what I’ve written, and I think I’ve met all the main areas we discussed in class.

 

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.