The revision process is an essential step in reaching a final draft copy. Oftentimes receiving feedback from peers can be a useful tool through the editing process. My critiquing and writing have improved greatly through the peer revision workshops that have taken place in class. Reading my essays out load to an audience, cutting and pasting my essay, and creatively describing my essays have positively impacted my revision skills. Through reading my essays out load to my peers I was able to make grammatical and organizational edits to my essay. I was able to catch typos more easily and hear what sentences flow and which ones don’t. This exercise also allowed me to hear feedback from my audience. Hearing the take a way that my audience had from my essay allowed me to make changes in the tone and overall theme of my essay to fit the writing criteria better. Through hearing my peers’ essays being read aloud it also enabled me to think about writing through a new perspective. I am used to reading essays and making minor corrections as I go along but this exercise allowed me to think deeper about the overarching theme, rhythm, and tone of the essay. Another activity that has strengthened my editing skills was physically cutting and pasting my peers’ essays together. I found this abstract method of editing to be greatly beneficial. I was able to give feedback that would help them to make major structural revisions along with improving the flow and context of the essay. I found this to be one of the most valuable editing techniques as an author as well. When I received my essay after it had been botched back together, I found that the corrections made, turned my essay into a more coherent argument. The critiques made on my essay also caused me to think more deeply about what my audience wants to me to elaborate on and what parts they found to be unnecessary. Finally, I found describing the essay creatively to be very helpful when making revisions to my essays. Through describing what shape the essay was or what type of clothing it would be wearing said a lot about the theme that I was portraying in my writing. I enjoyed the creative aspect of the feedback because it also made me think about how my revisions would change my essay’s shape or clothing. I also found giving this feedback to others to be more engaging and fun. It allowed me to give meaningful feedback to better their writing instead of making minor grammatical changes to the essay. After reflecting on the revision exercises, I have participated in over the course of this semester, I have learned many new techniques and perspectives to apply to my writing and editing skills. 

Actively reading articles poses not only as a valuable method of remembering information but also acts a way of becoming more involved in the reading. In Susan Gilroy’s “Interrogating Texts: 6 Reading Habits to Develop in Your First Year at Harvard”, she discussed the values in active reading. Gilroy delves into the value of active reading by stating, “annotating puts you actively and immediately in a ‘dialogue’ with an author”. I agree with Gilroy in this matter because writing comments and questions as if you were speaking with an author allows you to view the reading through many different lenses. Annotating articles also acts as a valuable method to rephrasing information in a manner that is meaningful to you. “Try to put it back together again in language that is meaningful to you”, urges Gilroy. Oftentimes I have found it useful in previous assigned readings to summarize information that I didn’t understand into writing that is easier for myself to understand. Re-wording information also allows the reader to further look into the meaning behind the authors writing. It enables readers to think about questions such as, what was the authors intent, who is this piece targeting, and why is this meaningful to the audience? Gilroy agrees with this perspective when she writes, “Analyzing adds an evaluated component to the summarizing process”. When a reader is engaged in a piece of literature, it allows them to further analyze the work which leads to an overall better understanding of the reader has read. After reflecting on my personal annotating methods, I have found them to be very similar to the exercises that Gilroy suggests.

Using source evidence in essays can be powerful tool to help drive home the overall thesis of an essay. In my essay, Analyzing Animals in Film, I used many different forms of source evidence to help drive home the overarching theme that animals in literature are viewed differently based off of the reader’s background. When integrating source evidence into a paper it is useful to use a “M.E.A.L Plan’ style to set up a cohesive paper. “M.E.A.L” stands for, main idea, evidence, analysis, and link. I used this style when integrating evidence about contrasting viewpoint of people and their morals about animal protection acts. My main idea leading up to the introduction of my quote was, “Although the horrific scene of the seal hunt is seen as inhumane by many, the fisherman and hunters of the local area have a different perspective” (Anderson 3). This main idea clearly states what theme the following quote will consist of. I then followed this introduction with my evidence, “Local Fisherman, many of them out of work, angry that anyone would consider the welfare of seals above their own”. This evidence is relevant to the main idea making the idea coherent. After giving evidence I followed up with an analysis of the quote. “It is essential to the hunters that the seal industry thrives so that they can support their families. The seals are viewed as a way of survival and profit instead of the common notion that they are beings that should be respected’ (Anderson 3). Giving an analysis gives context and meaning to the readers. Finally, I wrapped up my thoughts with a link back to my essay’s thesis. “The manner in which people see the natural world varies upon personal experiences with nature” (Anderson 3). Through using the “M.E.A.L Plan” structure, I have found that my essays have become more concise and have a more seamless transition among ideas.

Throughout the course of the semester I have engaged in both local and global revision processes to widen my perspective on editing. I have part taken in local and global revision through in-class writing workshops, free writing, and peer-review exercises. Throughout the development of my writing over the semester, I have found that my writing and editing habits have changed greatly. Through the drafting process I have gained more knowledge about the different methods of editing used to target different areas of revision in my essay. For example, reading my essays out loud to an audience allows me to make structural changes to my writing and catch minor typos that I previously wouldn’t have caught. Peer review exercises have also had a large impact on the shift in my thinking while writing. In one peer review exercise, the reader described the traits of my essay. Through reading their feedback, I was able to think more clearly about the theme that I wanted my essay to portray to my readers and better make those corrections. The local and global revision process has helped me better analyze the consistent mistakes I make in my writing and the different tactics to use in order to overcome those mistakes.

Using source evidence is a powerful tool to better enforce an argumentative essay. I have used source evidence in my essay “My College Plan”. I used case studies that delved into the benefits of internships, double majors, and study abroad opportunities. Through using reliable evidence, I was able to more clearly express my ideas as well as back them up. When you state a personal opinion in an essay and don’t use evidence to back up your statement it makes your point weak. It causes your readers to wonder why your opinion is important and why they should consider your perspective. Through using sources in my essay that backs up my discussion points, my stance become more valid. It can be compared to a scientific discovery. If a scientist makes a claim without conducting an experiment, then their claim is not as reliable as it would be if they had the supporting scientific evidence. Along with using supporting evidence, it is important to properly cite the sources that are used. In my essay I cited my sources using MLA format within my works cited and internal citations. Citing your evidence is important so you give credit to the authors that you quote and avoid plagiarism. Source evidence has greatly helped my writing trough making my arguments more credible as well as making my writing more convincing.