I have to say I was a big fan of “Shitty First Drafts” by Anne Lamott because I felt like it really distressed my worries about having to write a really good sounding first paper with little to no mistakes. I understand now that the first draft is meant to have tons of errors and it’s the second draft that should be used to compile all those pieces into one structure. For me, my first draft somewhat compared to the ones that she was describing, particularly when she mentioned the opening paragraph taking up a whole page. My strategy for making my first draft was to try writing more than what was expected just to get all my ideas out there and then trim some parts of my essay back to make it sound more clear and concise. Overall, I enjoyed the reading, especially the sense of humor Lamott uses in her discussion.

 

 

After reading my peers comments and having the peer review in class, I definitely know that I need to reorganize parts of my essay and cut back a little on some of my thoughts by trimming down words and combining paragraphs. My biggest goal obviously is to convert my paper from a “shitty first draft” to a coherent well sounding final piece of work that is clear to any reader.

 

In order to achieve this goals I feel that I must:

• Restructure my opening paragraph so it goes from general to specific rather than going from general to specific and back to general
• Change around the order of my paragraphs and read it aloud which was recommended by one of my peers
• Consider combining a couple of my paragraphs that are very similarly related and cut back words from each one so it doesn’t take up an entire page.
• Make sure that I don’t start a sentence off with a quote, but instead, address the author’s name and then list the quote followed by analysis and synthesis
• Try not to end my paragraphs with another claim unless it directly relates to my next paragraph. Starting with a claim sounds more professional than finishing with one.
• Make sure my reader understands my references such as “the furniture” from Erard before I mention it in my own words.

 

Out of these goals I’ve listed, there are some I feel will me more challenging to achieve than others. I think changing the structure of my opening paragraph will be alright because one of my peers listed the order I could set it up in and I liked the way that looked. Changing and combining paragraphs might be a pain, but if it doesn’t sound any better, then I can always revert it back to the original. The claim and quote issues will be minor tweaks which I can revise simply by reading back over my work carefully. The hardest goal for me to challenge myself with is the last one which is making sure the reader understands what exactly I’m referring to before I refer to it. I like to write with an advanced style of language that may not settle as easy with peers as it does with an instructor, however I did notice there were some parts of my essay that probably wouldn’t sound clear to the majority of the audience reading it. I plan to go back and make my essay as clear and organized as possible while still hitting home on all my claims to tie back to the thesis.