Reflection on Project 2

In this post I will reflect on what occurred as I revised my Project 2 paper from draft to draft. In order to reflect on my revision process I will be answering questions from Writing Public Lives.

jill111. "Christmas Cookies Cookies Christmas Christmas Baking"
2/ 21/2015 via Pixabay. CCO Public Domain/ FAQ License. 

1. 
   What was specifically revised from draft to draft?
1. I think the biggest thing I revised from my first draft to the final was my introduction and conclusion. With my first introduction I had the wrong focus, and the conclusion was nonexistent. 
2. Point to global changes: how did you reconsider your thesis or organization?
1. With my thesis I had to reconsider how specific to make it. The first couple drafts of thesis-es I made were much to broad and did not mention the pieces of the rhetorical situation.  
3. What led you to these changes? Reconsideration of author or purpose?
1. Once I figured out what the purpose was that really dictated what I changed. For example, once I separated what the purpose of the entire essay was I changed my entire introduction paragraph.  
4. How do these changes affect your credibility as an author?
1. I think these changes made my credibility better. Once I changed my thesis to be more specific I think it drastically improved how on topic I stayed in my essay which makes me seem like a more credible author. 
5. How will these changes better address the audience or venue?
1. The new introduction addresses the audience by actually recognizing the rhetorical situation of my essay. Meaning--I actually mentioned the right audience. 
6. Point to logical changes: how did you reconsider sentence structure or style?
1. The biggest change in style that I made came after I identified my audience. Once I identified future chemical engineers as my audience it allowed me to connect with my audience more, since we have some common ground and it let me write my intro and conclusion a little more informative than just stuffing it full of background information. 
7. How will these changes assist your audience in understanding your purpose?
1. My new introduction actually introduces the topic of the essay instead of the subject of the article. I think once I explicitly stated why I was writing what I was writing and the importance of the analysis, it made it a lot clearer for the audience. 
8. Did you have to reconsider the convention of the particular genre in which you were writing?
1. Yes. Since we have been writing so much this year in different genres like the QRG and blog posts, the first draft I completely forgot citations and that paragraphs could be longer than like five sentences. 
9. Finally, how does the process of reflection help you reconsider your identity as a writer?
1. I think as I write I do a lot of reflecting, therefore for me sitting down at the end doesn't help me as much. But, I think through all of my reflection I decided that with my writing style I prefer to have a strong outline and heavy revision. These strategies made the writing easier for me. 

Reflection 

After reading Mehruba and Brandon's reflection on project 2 I found some similarities between myself and my classmates. Mehruba and I both completely revised our intro and conclusion paragraphs between the drafts. I've always thought these are the hardest paragraphs to write, and it was nice to see that some of my classmates also changed the direction they wanted their intros to go. 

With Brandon, we shared some ideas about how having a specific audience makes it a little easier to give context than with a broad audience. However, I was a little jealous to read that when it came to writing the essay he remembered all the genre components. I definitely felt a little out of practice when it came to citations and long paragraphs.