Dear Matt,

When I learned that taking a writing class was a mandatory requirement, I was less than
thrilled. Writing has always been my weakest academic quality and I wasnt excited to have
someone validate my assumption. However, after completion of Writing 2 I can now say that I
dont consider myself a completely terrible writer; which doesnt sound like a huge feat but trust
me, it is. In the past, I would write out a draft for a writing assignment, look over it once or
twice, and turn it in; never thinking twice about if everything tied back to my thesis, if my
analysis went deep enough, or a many other aspects I should have taken into consideration. This
course has shown me that the shitty first drafts, as Anne Lamott would call them, are not going
to cut it anymore. The process of writing a draft, peer editing, making my own changes, and
eventually revising with notes from you helped me to see what a real revision process should be
like instead of my skim once and turn in mentality. I realize now that many times in my first
draft I dont support my thesis as well as I should, the information flow lacks, sometimes due to
the structure of my paper, and my analysis doesnt go as in depth as necessary. Overall, I realize
that the revision process needs to become my friend. Several in-class techniques and exercises
helped me during my revision process including index and flow. Information flow was an
especially hard skill for me to grasp during the revision process and the technique of underlining
the index and flow of every sentence helped me to create a paper thats easier to read. I also
benefitted from learning about how to delete unnecessary words. In the past, I often threw in
fancy words to try and strengthen the validity of my argument when in actuality it took away
from it. By my third WP I feel like I finally grasped the concept that less is more. After
completion of Writing 2, I now have the tools to allow me to approach any writing assignment
with conficence.

I chose to revise Writing projects 2 and 3. I felt like I had to revise WP2 because what I
wanted to say about each discipline and discourse community wasnt accurately portrayed in my
previous submission, and I received the worst grade on this project. I completely restructured
my argument for this paper. Before my argument was saying this discipline is better than this
one and while it was a provocative argument, it didnt relate to the original purpose for the
paper. In WP1 my thesis was too bland, and in WP2 my thesis was bold yet didnt relate to the
original prompt; in my revision I found a happy medium and created an arguable thesis that
wasnt completely out of nowhere. Changing up my thesis changed many elements in my paper
such as my use of evidence, structure, information flow, and analysis. I used the same general
evidence, use of secondary sources and relation to their audience, however my specific examples
and analysis of these examples were different than my original WP2. For example, I mentioned
how Global Studies opens up their use of secondary sources to other disciplines and named all
the different scholars Huntington quoted or mentioned in his first 40 pages. This example
showed how Global Studies needs to take from other subjects because their own discipline is all
encompassing and too young of a discipline to stand on its own. I also adjusted the analysis
within my body paragraphs to better suit my new thesis statement. At this point in the quarter, I
still hadnt grasped the concept of deleting unnecessary words so I had to take out many words
that didnt add to my paper and actually took away from it. Overall, changing the argument of
my paper shifted much of the analysis and content of my paper for the better.
The second writing project that I revised was Writing Project 3. I chose to revise this
project because it was my favorite WP to write and I thought I could improve upon areas in my
reflective essay. The main changes I made to this project were that I included more from the
original article and included how the rhetoric of the piece had to change from article to Facebook
post. I stated how the thesis of the original article was translated to the post and how the mom

waited to include her thesis until the end of her post to build up credibility first before presenting
her suggestion. I also talked about how the first article performed a study to come to their
conclusion and noted how the Facebook mom does her own sort of study when her babys
monitor broke. In including the change of rhetoric, I wrote how the mother used pathos to
persuade her audience to trust her and follow her advice. She tries to sympathize with her
audience and I added, from a mother whos been there in my translation to directly connect to
the audience of the Facebook post before she leaves her final thought. I was satisfied with my
original translation, so this was one of the only things I added and changed; however, I did add
more visuals to make my translation look like an actual Facebook post. Lastly, I included a so
what in the conclusion about the findings of the study, rather than about translating genres. Like
you suggested, talking about the importance of the issue helped strengthen the credibility of my
translation. I was proud of this WP before I started editing it and after my revisions Im even
more satisfied with the finished project. I was worried about having to cut down the paper to
two pages but it was actually quite liberating seeing how much I could delete and still have a
solid argument.
Through my time in Writing 2, Ive felt frustrated and run down while also feeling proud
and inspired. This course has given me invaluable skills that I intend to take on to other classes.
Above all, this class has helped me develop a solid writing strategy and revision plan. When
approaching a new paper, I will first research and develop an argument. Once Ive done that, I
will gather evidence and create an outline and structure for my paper. Then I will release all my
thoughts onto paper keeping my argument and outline in mind. Once I have a shitty first draft
Ill begin the revision plan which involves thinking like a writer and meta-cognitively analyzing
each choice I made when writing my draft. Ill make careful note to work on my information

flow and deleting every unnecessary word and thought that doesnt add to my paper. And voil,
at this point I will have a paper worthy of a good grade and a gold star.
The last thing that I will take away from this course is confidence. I now have the skills
and experience to confidently write a great essay on any topic. As I stated earlier, before this
class I used to think writing was one subject that I would never succeed in; however, now I know
that writing doesnt come naturally to most people and its not impossible for me to become a
good writer. Confidence, above all will help me go out into the world and write a paper that
will grab someones attention and make them listen to my point of view.
All the Best,
Kat