My Writing: Lizzi Perkins

This semester I learned so much about the writing process. As an advertising major with an English minor I thought, I’m not going to have to write any more literary criticism in college again! But what I didn’t realize was that this class would help me in a lot of other aspects beyond literary criticism.

On the literary front I learned a lot about what a thesis statement is supposed to be and what it is supposed to do for a paper. Granted, I still have a lot of work to do there (my theses are interesting to me but I still have to work to take them in a more controversial direction so my paper has more umph), but now I can recognize a good thesis. Overall, I am still not an outstanding literary critic, but I am better than I was (sometimes I focus too much on the style and research and lose the importance of the primary text).

On that note, I loved doing research! I learned a lot about effective ways to research and I loved getting into the library! Too often I find myself doing all my research online; I forgot the allure and beauty of the library (which sounds weird but is real!). My research really improved as I explored more methods of gaining insight.

But what I improved the most in was learning creativity and drafting skills. I loved in class assignments with partners (I loved getting feedback and learning different styles of doing things) and I loved all the different ways we attacked the drafting process. In other areas of my schoolwork I have applied some of the different methods we used (stickies, drawing pictures, handwriting) and it has made a big difference in the caliber of my ideas and brainstorming. 

I really enjoyed this class and learned a lot! I'm glad I got to know all the other students and learn so much about my own writing process and how to improve it! In the future I plan on getting feedback from a peer (especially in the drafting stages) to get ideas and focus my paper down. I also plan on continuing to give myself more than a night to write a paper; taking the time to write, wait, and fix my essays made a huge difference in the quality of my writing and in my enjoyment of it.

Thanks so much Dr. Burton!