Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Scattered Thoughts
I wouldn't say writing essays is necessarily something I love to do, but I don't mind it too much. When I am given a topic of for an essay, I brainstorm ideas in my head. I really just sit, with a pencil and scratch paper, and jot down ideas as they come into my head. After I have completed my research and have organized my information, I immediately start writing out a first draft. The first draft is the most important step for me because I rarely make drastic changes after that. I guess I get lucky because it seems that my original rough drafts are never too far from my final draft in terms of content and composition. After I get my first draft done, then it is straight to the computer. As I type my paper out, I check the flow of the words as I type them and make changes where needs be. This is another crucial step because as I type out the essay, I read it in my mind and I can tell if it is choppy or not. Personally, I spend the most time on my opening and closing paragraphs. I pay meticulous attention to how my opening paragraph sets the stage for the rest of my essay and for how my conclusion leaves the reader thinking "hmmm..." I work really hard to nail the last couple sentences of my essays so that they flow really well and leave a good impression of my paper. Because I focus so heavily on my opening and closing, I feel that the organization and cohesiveness of my "body" paragraphs suffers. I need to work better on not going all over the place in my supporting paragraphs so the reader can follow what I am saying. I have to say that I agree with Spencer in that writing an outline would be extremely helpful in organizing my thoughts and getting all of the supporting facts nailed down. The PH has a good example of an outline that would help organize our thoughts and make the writing process much more effective and efficient.
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2 comments:
Since you're somebody who finds most of their progress in the first draft, do you find you work best under pressure normally? I don't just mean in writing essays, but in general - do you find that the more you think about something the less progress you make? Sometimes I seem to over-analyze things, and I think that people's gut feelings tend to be the right ones.
Thanks for the comment Sean. I wouldn't call it a talent or anything of the sort, but for some reason or another, it just seems that a bulk of the information that ends up being a part of my final draft is in my initial rough draft. I find that I can waste a lot of time thinking about things I need to get done. When the clock is ticking, I know what I need to do and I just sit down and pound it out.
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