getting there
May. 14th, 2006 04:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sigersonI have first drafts for both papers.
Neither draft could be handed in at this point--aside from paragraphs like "insert transition here" and "make this point better", they suffer from serious structural flaws at the moment. I couldn't even show them to friends for critique yet, the arguments are so sloppy. But now...Now I have clay to work with, words to shape and revise, opportunity to sit, restructure, and rethink.
The first round of rewrites will be structural. Should I cut this concept? How do I shape what I'm saying so it makes sense? Am I missing a portion of the argument? Does this paragraph belong here or there? Did I forget to prove part of my thesis?
The second round is improvement. Have I fully said what I wanted to say? Are there better ways to say it? Do I need to restate the argument halfway through to keep the reader with me? Does this need a better transition? And where did that citation go?
The final round is finesse. Is this language overblown? Did I miss a comma? Is this sentence too alliterative? Why did I start the last five paragraphs in the same way? Have I got everything on the Works Cited page?
Both are due Friday.
I like working this way. Partially because I'm lazy and don't like working for ten hours at a time on the same thing, and because this means I get decent amounts of sleep and breaks. But also because I'm training myself to work consistently, over periods of time, building up with a plan.
Oh, I'll still panic when I turn them in and have that wave of "everyone is smart but me!" feeling. But I think...I think these can be A or A- papers. And what's more, I think I'm getting used to writing, and I liked these topics. I even think I might try and write a paper over the summer.
The icon is pretty much just to show it off, not because I'm stabbity at my papers.
Neither draft could be handed in at this point--aside from paragraphs like "insert transition here" and "make this point better", they suffer from serious structural flaws at the moment. I couldn't even show them to friends for critique yet, the arguments are so sloppy. But now...Now I have clay to work with, words to shape and revise, opportunity to sit, restructure, and rethink.
The first round of rewrites will be structural. Should I cut this concept? How do I shape what I'm saying so it makes sense? Am I missing a portion of the argument? Does this paragraph belong here or there? Did I forget to prove part of my thesis?
The second round is improvement. Have I fully said what I wanted to say? Are there better ways to say it? Do I need to restate the argument halfway through to keep the reader with me? Does this need a better transition? And where did that citation go?
The final round is finesse. Is this language overblown? Did I miss a comma? Is this sentence too alliterative? Why did I start the last five paragraphs in the same way? Have I got everything on the Works Cited page?
Both are due Friday.
I like working this way. Partially because I'm lazy and don't like working for ten hours at a time on the same thing, and because this means I get decent amounts of sleep and breaks. But also because I'm training myself to work consistently, over periods of time, building up with a plan.
Oh, I'll still panic when I turn them in and have that wave of "everyone is smart but me!" feeling. But I think...I think these can be A or A- papers. And what's more, I think I'm getting used to writing, and I liked these topics. I even think I might try and write a paper over the summer.
The icon is pretty much just to show it off, not because I'm stabbity at my papers.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-05-15 12:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-15 01:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-15 02:52 pm (UTC)Soon you too will be standing over Tokyo in your bloodstained sweater, triumphant in the Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-15 10:06 pm (UTC)