The Maker's Eye: Revising Your Own Manuscripts Summary

Bruce Ballenger’s article titled “The Importance of Writing Badly” takes a rather peculiar approach to addressing the issue of effective writing. The author eccentrically argues for the importance of ‘bad writing’ by describing different reasons to support his arguments. He argues that it is normal to apportion blames without understanding the root causes of poor writing skills. The author quotes different people who have expressed concerns about poor writing among students including his doctor. He proceeds by explaining why he would encourage his students not to concentrate on their poor writing experiences. He explains this by using a personal anecdote. The author gives an example of his eighth-grade teacher, Mrs. O’Neil. He explains that his English teacher was very keen on grammar. Her error-free culture would see the Ballenger receive ‘awkward’ comments each time he submitted his assignment for marking. The author further observes that everyone went

Transitioning from high school to college can be overwhelming. Before English 1301, I did not worry about preparing for college. I quickly realized that my little background in writing essays was not enough for college courses. Writing is not just a skill that I will need for English classes. In college, I will have to use effective writing skills in all my classes to complete research papers, essay tests and communicate with professors. Throughout my education, writing strategies persisted to be a challenge for me. I dreaded writing because I could never find ways to transition my thoughts from my mind to the paper. Ironically, a class that petrified me due to the amount of required writing ended up helping me in numerous ways. English 1301 and my professor prepared me for college and real life by giving me a foundation of effective learning strategies.

Anne Lamott 's essay, “Shitty First Drafts” explains to its readers that all writers, even the best, can have “shitty first drafts.” The essay presents the proper writing process from the first draft to the final piece of work. Her essay is intended to encourage writers who are in need of direction when it comes to writing and to teach inexperienced writers ways to become more successful in writing. Anne Lamott uses her personal experiences to build credibility, figurative language to engage the reader and provides the reader with logical steps for the writing process.

As I was reading Melissa Duffy’s “Inspiration, and Craig Vetter’s “Bonehead Writing,” I found myself connecting with Vetter’s paper more than Duffy’s. I found that the presentation in “Bonehead Writing” to capture my attention, and that Vetter’s feelings about writing was similar to my opinion on writing. Through his wording and humor, I think Craig Vetter wrote the best essay.

Whenever I think about what I have learned since the beginning of this course—English 101, It always gives me a great pleasure to tell myself and people around me that I have learned something great; something that can make me a better writer. However, I have learned some writing skills based on the course’s teaching learning objectives that can help me in my future courses. Also, I’m glad, because my strength in writing essays have increased. Most especially, writing narrative essay in MLA formatting. I might not be an excellent writer, but I know I have not stopped learning, and I know I will get pay-off in the long run if I can keep the ongoing pace of my learning—guaranteed.

As a first year student I have very specific goals in mind that I hope to achieve through my work in college. My main hopes for the future are that I pass all of my exams in the coming years, graduate and receive my honours degree in general nursing, become a registered nurse and finally get a job as a nurse. Throughout this essay, I have detailed my strengths and the opportunities that will help me finalise these goals along with my weaknesses and the threats that will hinder my progress.

As I look back over the past semester of English Composition, I realize that I have grown as a writer. Not onlyhas my understanding of the writing process changed, my whole attitude towards composition has too. This composition course has made a significant impact on my learning experience and has given me tools to take forward into my future educational and professional goals. Throughout this course, I have discovered things about myself as a writer and know some of my strengths and weaknesses. I now feel more prepared for future writing assignments, whether for work or for school. With the instruction given to me over the past few months, I have grown as a writer and gained confidence in my writing skills.

Annie Lamontt, author of Bird by Bird, offers a glimpse into a world many writers can relate to. In the chapter called “Shitty First Drafts”, she utilizes the writers she associates with as evidence to support that the writing process does not begin with an immaculate first draft (Lamont, 1994). This is the “fantasy of the uninitiated” (Lamont, 1994, p. 1). Strangers to the writing process may not understand that writing isn’t simply “writing”—it is a process. The uninitiated, in this case, are non-writers. Furthermore, she considers this a fantasy because it is not the reality shared between herself and the writers she knows (Lamont, 1994). This distinction is vital to the credibility of “Shitty First Drafts”, as it absolves her from being accused of being too hyperbolic.

After reading the first chapter, writing with Style, from “Thinking Well”, by John R. Trimble, he made it seem as if he was writing about my writing when he explained a novice writer. Trimble explains how a novice writer would write by giving examples of how their style of writing looks like. For example, Trimble explains how new writers unconsciously write and how they are not aware of their egocentrism. He states what a novice would have to achieve objectivity, empathy, courtesy and social sensitivity in order for him to have a readable style. Trimble then discusses what makes a veteran writer and how their thinking process reflects their writing situation. He lists four fundamentals that would help win the readers and the only way to win readers is by courteously serving them with their satisfying needs. There are five ways to serve the readers needs: Phrase your thoughts, speak to the point, anticipate their reactions, offer them variety and talk to them in warm manner. I found everything that he had to say about a beginner and veteran particularly true. From my personal experience, Trimble makes

Over the course of the semester, my main goal was to become a more precise writer and develop my identity as a writer. According too, the Portfolio Letter assignment sheet, becoming a better writer consists of precise planning, draft and revising. It also includes understanding a variety of academic genres by examining the basic characteristics that defines each type. In order too efficiently meet my goal of becoming a better writer, it was very important to have my work evaluated by others and myself as well. The use of rhetorical knowledge, critical thinking, reading and writing all are the important aspects in this course. All of which helped tremendously with becoming a more precise writer and developing my identity as a writer.

The article “Shitty First Drafts” by Anne Lamott is a simple article discussing how most well-written essays must come from a “shitty first draft.” Lamott simple yet effective organization, casual use of language, and style along with humor sells her concept that the scattered first draft does not have to be perfect and is necessary to create a well-written essay.

Creations, like most things in life, are improvable. Ideas and theories are always evolving into different ideas or more sophisticated ones. Discourse communities is a term that has been debated over the years. Three of those debaters are James Paul Gee, James P. Porter, and John Swales. In this essay I will analyze what each of these writers see as the definition of a discourse community while comparing specific points that each of them have regarding their personal view on the subject. It is also important to keep in mind that these authors published each of their articles within a 3-year period. That is important because Swales was the first of the three to publish his paper, everyone who wrote about discourse communities after him, already

A large part of my revision process – which Meg was immensely helpful in – was developing a strong ‘so what,’ part of my thesis. Meg’s comments on her letter and in person helped me realize that even though I could not see it, the argument I was trying to make was already present in my paper. In our meeting we talked about a couple of different paths my argument could take and Meg helped me narrow down all of the different lines of thought I had to make a singular argument. Meg and I also discussed how after developing my thesis thoroughly I would be able to go back through my paper and alter my examples – eliminating them, elaborating, or / and finding a couple more for new points I would be making in my revision.

Writing essays and other types of posts has always been difficult for me. But, throughout this composition class, I have learned many interesting and new things about the different types of writing styles. When starting this class, I considered myself to be an average writer with run-of-the-mill vocabulary, ordinary sentence structure and typical finished products. This class has helped me greatly improve my writing skills in a variety of ways. I have learned multiple things by taking this class, such as new ways to approach writing and that there is much that I still need to learn about composition.

Author E.M. Forster once said, “How do I know what I think until I see what I say?”(Forster). Academic writing has the ability to reveal the students inscribed thoughts and opinions in ways that may surprise even them. The better get at writing analytically, the easier it is for them to apply those skills to other aspects of their life. People who write in journals often find it a useful form of exploring self-awareness (Ribeiro 2015). By writing down student ideas and perspectives in essays, even in non-academic disciplines, they hone their own expression skills, identify patterns, observed events and consider possible solutions. The skills we are learn for college and university can help us in career, as well. Reports for office jobs, essays for scientific journals and many other careers require us to know academic writing. Learning it early and getting lots of practice is a good way to get ahead in our