I actually really liked this short excerpt of her view on how we all write shitty first drafts and how no one just sits down and writes a perfect paper their first go. I definitely agree that my first draft was not my best work and most certainly not a finished product, but a good base for a paper that could turn out amazing
(hopefully). I loved how she said that few writers actually know what they are doing until it has been done. That’s how I feel when I am writing in that it feels like you are just writing words on a page until you look back over what you have done and read the finished product. I can also relate to the fact that she said she would just start writing a page long paragraph, which is what I can tend to do, and how she would clean it up from there so it’s nice to know that I’m not the only one who does that!
Revision Plan Strategy:
- My goal for my paper at this point is to finetune any details and shorten the lengths of my paragraphs. I will also strive to use more examples and quotes from the EA’s and Southan to strengthen my argument.
- I first plan to shorten my paragraphs into sections of relevance to the argument, add supporting evidence and arguments into places that are needed, rearrange my paragraphs so they structurally make sense, and fix any grammatical errors and improper tone of voice.
- I see my biggest challenge being the structure of the paper and where to place what information where so that I can make my argument understandable and clear.
- If something becomes too difficult for me to figure out I will look to my peer review notes for guidance and clarity, and I also have the Little Seagull handbook which contains tons of information on how to strengthen an argument and how to structure a paper.
I’m glad that you found the article useful. I found it applicable to my essay also, even if in different ways. Your revision strategy is great and very clear, but I’d like to try to suggest something that might help. If your biggest challenge is making things understandable through the structure, it might be helpful to have a friend or two (or a tutor) read it over for you, and tell you if anything doesn’t make sense to them. Especially if they are unfamiliar with the subject, they will notice anything unexplained in your essay.
Yes, this is good advice, Mary Kate. I would also recommend looking for patterns. What themes do you see emerging from your “long paragraphs?” What do you actually want to argue? If you can spot the strong moments/ideas in your essay, you can reorganize around them.