Goal 1 - Understanding the Text
I will make sure that I understand the arguments of the articles I'm reading before responding to them or using them as evidence. In my "Habits of Highly Cynical People" essay, I stated that "Cynicism is simply an inclination to perceive the negative. Naive cynics blindly stumble through life, regarding everything as terrible, without any evidence to back themselves up." Responding to Solnit, I assumed that she defined Cynicism as purely being skeptical and negative. However, it has a far broader meaning, describing people who view others as selfish beings who only serve their own interests. My essay focused on the idea pessimism rather than Solnit's definition of cynicism. In the future, I will make sure I fully understand an author's argument before I respond to it. I can do this by asking peers what they think the speaker is communicating or by doing online research on the article.
Goal 2 - Combining Illustrative and Analytical Writing
I will work on being able to forge my narrative, descriptive writing style with more analytical and critical ways of writing. I have always been skilled in writing very illustrative writing that defines an event and puts the reader in the scene I am presenting. However, I sometimes have trouble adapting this descriptive writing to expository pieces. In my "Habits of Highly Cynical People" essay, I begin with a paragraph saying "Rainbows cascade across the horizon, highlighting the magnificence of the beryl sky. Humans and animals alike tread across fertile soil, enjoying the abundant food and water that will last for eternity. The Earth encapsulates a community of love and nurture, where people live in harmony and never use the word “bae”. Disputes and conflicts are settled with thumb wars, while contracts and agreements are tightly secured with pinky promises. Everybody lives happily ever after in a world where problems don’t exist and nothing ever goes wrong. Alright, let’s get back to reality." This paragraph is well-written and works as an entertaining hook. However, it drags on for too long and doesn't make the point of my essay clear. In the future, I'm going to work on toning down the illustrative aspects of my writing and making sure that I get to the point quickly and effectively. Every time I find a good spot to delve into a descriptive, narrative sections, I will make sure that it is short, concise, and directly relates to my thesis.
Goal 3 - Conclusion
I will refine my ability to write conclusions and neatly wrap up my writing. At the end of my college essay, I write "My life is a story of success amidst failure, and I can’t wait for the next chapter." I think this is a decent ending to my essay, though it is cliche. My ability to write endings to my writing pieces could use work. Every time I have to write a conclusion for an essay, I will formulate a few different endings. Then, I'll read my entire essay from start to finish several times, using each possible conclusion once. After I choose one that I think is best, I will use that one. By having multiple options that I can test and choose, I will improve my ability to write effective endings to my writing.
College Essay Revision
Through the revisions of my college essay, I have grown in my ability to write strong metaphors and symbolism. In the first draft of my essay, I wrote "My engineering is a book of mistakes." This metaphor is fairly weak and dull. Through a few revisions, I came up with new, interesting ways to describe my metaphor. I decided that I wanted to implant an image, a scene in the reader's mind. I wanted a concrete symbol that would make my audience remember my essay. In my final draft, the line that I revised now reads "When I started my internship, I was a little kid, skipping to the end of books I hadn’t read. Now, I’m an engineer, a storyteller of technology." This phrase is far more memorable and describes how artistically beautiful I find engineering, as well as how I've grown to appreciate the process of refining technology. In order to refine my writing, I put myself in the minds of my audience and decided what I wanted them to think, what I wanted them to take away from my writing. Once I had that done, I wrote a sentence or paragraph that achieved that goal.
I will make sure that I understand the arguments of the articles I'm reading before responding to them or using them as evidence. In my "Habits of Highly Cynical People" essay, I stated that "Cynicism is simply an inclination to perceive the negative. Naive cynics blindly stumble through life, regarding everything as terrible, without any evidence to back themselves up." Responding to Solnit, I assumed that she defined Cynicism as purely being skeptical and negative. However, it has a far broader meaning, describing people who view others as selfish beings who only serve their own interests. My essay focused on the idea pessimism rather than Solnit's definition of cynicism. In the future, I will make sure I fully understand an author's argument before I respond to it. I can do this by asking peers what they think the speaker is communicating or by doing online research on the article.
Goal 2 - Combining Illustrative and Analytical Writing
I will work on being able to forge my narrative, descriptive writing style with more analytical and critical ways of writing. I have always been skilled in writing very illustrative writing that defines an event and puts the reader in the scene I am presenting. However, I sometimes have trouble adapting this descriptive writing to expository pieces. In my "Habits of Highly Cynical People" essay, I begin with a paragraph saying "Rainbows cascade across the horizon, highlighting the magnificence of the beryl sky. Humans and animals alike tread across fertile soil, enjoying the abundant food and water that will last for eternity. The Earth encapsulates a community of love and nurture, where people live in harmony and never use the word “bae”. Disputes and conflicts are settled with thumb wars, while contracts and agreements are tightly secured with pinky promises. Everybody lives happily ever after in a world where problems don’t exist and nothing ever goes wrong. Alright, let’s get back to reality." This paragraph is well-written and works as an entertaining hook. However, it drags on for too long and doesn't make the point of my essay clear. In the future, I'm going to work on toning down the illustrative aspects of my writing and making sure that I get to the point quickly and effectively. Every time I find a good spot to delve into a descriptive, narrative sections, I will make sure that it is short, concise, and directly relates to my thesis.
Goal 3 - Conclusion
I will refine my ability to write conclusions and neatly wrap up my writing. At the end of my college essay, I write "My life is a story of success amidst failure, and I can’t wait for the next chapter." I think this is a decent ending to my essay, though it is cliche. My ability to write endings to my writing pieces could use work. Every time I have to write a conclusion for an essay, I will formulate a few different endings. Then, I'll read my entire essay from start to finish several times, using each possible conclusion once. After I choose one that I think is best, I will use that one. By having multiple options that I can test and choose, I will improve my ability to write effective endings to my writing.
College Essay Revision
Through the revisions of my college essay, I have grown in my ability to write strong metaphors and symbolism. In the first draft of my essay, I wrote "My engineering is a book of mistakes." This metaphor is fairly weak and dull. Through a few revisions, I came up with new, interesting ways to describe my metaphor. I decided that I wanted to implant an image, a scene in the reader's mind. I wanted a concrete symbol that would make my audience remember my essay. In my final draft, the line that I revised now reads "When I started my internship, I was a little kid, skipping to the end of books I hadn’t read. Now, I’m an engineer, a storyteller of technology." This phrase is far more memorable and describes how artistically beautiful I find engineering, as well as how I've grown to appreciate the process of refining technology. In order to refine my writing, I put myself in the minds of my audience and decided what I wanted them to think, what I wanted them to take away from my writing. Once I had that done, I wrote a sentence or paragraph that achieved that goal.