Dear Ms. Michele, Throughout this quarter of UWP I have strengthened my ability as a writer in many ways. I have noticed the most improvement in my ability to revise and my understanding of audience, as well as how to write to many different audiences. My Wikipedia project and Podcast project are great examples of how I have improved as a writer and my e-portfolio showcases these improvements. I have always dreaded revising my papers and have always done so out of having no other choice because it was just another assignment. I now realize that this was not the right attitude to have and by having this negative attitude, I was only hurting myself and not giving myself a chance to grow as a writer through my revisions. Throughout this quarter of UWP I have learned better strategies for revising my papers and have learned that having a positive attitude is the key to succeeding. Reading Murray’s piece really opened my eyes about revision in writing and how to exactly go about revising my paper. In the past when writing, I always tried to make it perfect and never thought of writing multiple drafts. I have really started to see progress in my drafts ever since I read Murray’s piece. The opening of his paper talks about how beginning writers often just correct typographical errors and then consider that the end of their revision process, however, professional writers often feel like they are just starting their writing process when finishing their first draft. This really struck me because I always just looked over my first draft for spelling and grammar and then considered myself finished. Now, I have come to realize how wrong I was, the way I think in relation to my writing has completely changed over these past few weeks. I now find myself taking more time revising my writing than I do writing my first draft. I write a first draft, and then end up with a second and third draft that turns into my final draft, this can be seen with my Wikipedia entry. With my Wikipedia entry as I was writing my second draft, I realized that my section on the Poolesville Day 5k had too many ideas and would make more sense to separate them into sections. At first I had all of my information under “Poolesville Day 5k Charity Race for PACC” where I talked about how much the race cost, what the running route looked like and what exactly PACC is. I decided to change this into multiple subtitles when I realized how important peer reviews are, and how sometimes you need a fresh eye in order to recognize your mistakes. After recognizing that too many topics were included in this one paragraph, I then made them into three subtitles, Entry Fee, 5K Route, and PACC. I put all of these three new subtitles underneath “Poolesville Day 5K Charity Race for PACC” and now my wikipedia entry looks so much more organized and easier to read, I have this all thanks to my peer reviews. As a writer I have really realized the importance of letting others help you, and how writing takes time, you cannot just expect to write one draft and it be excellent. I felt like I really grew as a writer and improved my skill of revision dramatically during the Wikipedia project, Murray helped open my eyes to the fact that revision takes time but, in the end, it truly is worth it. In addition to improving my revision skills, I have also improved on my understanding of audience. During my writing career, I have really only written to one audience and never really considered audience as anything I would have to think about when writing. The podcast was much harder to do than I had initially anticipated. I had to keep reminding myself to actively talk to my audience throughout my paper. I found that finding my audience was also a struggle and continued to be one throughout my revision process. Audience was a trend that I found throughout my writing process, for my first draft I had to figure out who my audience was and then talk directly to them. I thought I had it down and then looked at my comments from you where you said I need to deepen my audience's understanding and insight, which after going back over my paper, I understood that that must be done. In order to deepen my audience's understanding I had to narrow down my audience. I was writing to too broad of an audience and had to figure out how to narrow it down. At first I was writing to anyone who had an interest in learning about child behavior and also towards people with children. After seeing your comments I narrowed down my audience to people that are human development majors/minors. This in the end worked out better than my original audience I was trying to reach because parents might not be able to relate to me or trust me because I am not a mom, but I am a human development minor so i can really relate to that type of audience. The Wikipedia project also had to be written to a different audience and I found it quite difficult to adhere to the discourse community. I had to make sure I was not using opinion language which was something that I have never had to pay attention to. After my revisions and peer comments, I think I have a clear grasp on how to write to that audience. I now feel prepared going on in my career as a student and hopefully psychologist where I know I will have to write to many different audiences, and I now have practice with all different kinds of audiences and better knowledge on how to do so effectively. This past quarter has taught me so much and I truly have seen a growth in me as a writer, especially with revision and my understanding of an audience. My E-portfolio showcases my growths and improvement as a writer, I have these new understandings and strengths because of all the readings we have done, peer edits, and edits from you. I approach the revision process in such a different way now and it truly has positively impacted my writing as seen in my Wikipedia paper. I have realized how important it is to pay attention to what/who your audience is when writing, I have found out that there is more than one way to write to your audience as in my Wikipedia and Podcast projects. I have seen the changes in me as a writer and I hope that after this, you too see these changes. Thank you, Caroline Mullins Citation Murray, Donald. “The Makers Eye.” nabuckler.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/the-makers-eye.pdf. |