Learning Outcome #1 – Recursive Process
I made many different changes between my first and final draft that I believe 100% changed my essay for the better. The first of these changes was actually formatting the paper correctly as I believe the format and structure of a paper is the most important part of it. If a paper is formatted wrong, then it is much harder to make a paper concise. After the first draft I then looked it over to see if I could make any surface level changes like spelling and grammar before tackling any of the big stuff like figuring out if my thesis needed any work. Throughout the whole process my thesis did not change, but I did look at it more to see if I could improve it at all. After my thesis I just went down my mental task list, seeing how much work my analysis needed before working on my conclusion.
My analysis changed the most out of anything over the course of my revision as I would add more quotes for both authors as the essay went on as well as the points I disagreed with for both Gladwell and Appiah. Throughout the writing process I would be writing ideas for any good sections for the essay on a separate piece of paper, mostly any ideas for improvement on my introduction and conclusion. During the final draft writing I would then implement these ideas into my paper, looking for the best places to put them. My conclusion was mostly written during the final writing process as I usually like writing my conclusion after I have all the other sections of the essay set in stone. Using all of these techniques I made the best essay I could, and it was even special as it was my first college essay.
Learning Outcome #2 – Integrating Ideas
Throughout my essay I would use both texts to describe how effective different forms of activism matches with each author. For example, I stated Appiah was more inclined towards low risk, low reward activism while my preferred author, Gladwell, was more inclined towards high risk, high reward activism. During each author’s designated section, I would use key quotes from both their essays to help show each author’s stance on activism and how it relates back to both of their essays. For example, I used Gladwell’s quote, “With Facebook and Twitter and the like, the traditional relationship between political authority and popular will has been upended, making it easier for the powerless to collaborate, coordinate, and give voice to their concerns” (Gladwell 444) to help my point that using social media makes people feel more comfortable sharing their beliefs. I would add my own ideas to these examples by figuring out which of the authors I agreed with more throughout the essay or explaining which I points I disagreed with for each author’s essay. My thesis for my essay was “in the long run, Gladwell’s essay resonates more with the idea on how society can change, using high risk activism to really make a difference. High risk activism has been used in the past to great success, while Appiah’s essay about the idea of making conversation, while still having some stellar ideas, falls short of making any major difference”. Using this thesis and the texts I made my argument that Gladwell’s essay described the more effective form of activism.
This essay serves as a good example of my ability to draw strong connections between the texts as I put everything, I learned throughout all of high school into it, using these lessons to help strengthen my argument that Gladwell had the stronger essay between him and Appiah, and that high-risk activism was more effective than low-risk activism.
Learning Outcome #5 and #6 – Citations and Local Revisions
I remember fondly the day my freshman English teacher sat me down after class and accused me of plagiarizing my first high school essay. I was in hysterics trying to explain that I didn’t know how to cite sources before another English teacher came by and offered to help me learn how to cite properly. Every Monday after school I would go to his classroom and really nail down any English writing methods I needed to work on. Now I try my hardest to cite properly with each paper I do. I was always good with grammar as well as my grandmother would make me spell words for hours at a time during the summer. Therefore, I did not have to put too much thought into thinking about my spelling. However, grammar is still a little bit of an issue for me and occasionally I’ll have to look back at my writing to make sure everything reads correctly.
