My Writing: Veronica Whelan

This class was amazingly beneficial to me. It allowed me to learn how to actually write a paper in a way that had really never been broken down for me before, and showed me a lot of things that I really needed to learn how to do properly, as well as letting me see what I was already good at. Previous to this class, my abilities to really break down and analyze something were close to nonexistent, and while they are definitely still in need of a lot of work, I have seen an infinite improvement in the way I approach the task of "writing a paper." I have learned how to really divide up my tasks and put an equal effort into every aspect, rather than rather hurriedly trying to shove as much into words as I could, and subsequently losing a lot of meaning and depth in my writing.

While it may not be evident to an outside reader, writing this post really caused a breakthrough for me in terms of creating a solid thesis. Before this specific assignment, I really was at a loss when it came to this basic skill, because I really didn't understand the mechanics of a "thesis." This assignment really forced me to teach myself how to break down an idea and then rebuild it in an exact pattern.

Another assignment that really sparked me was this one. The entire process that we worked through with our W;t essays really had an impact on me. I have to say, this may be one of the very first, proper rough drafts I had ever written in my life. And this is from someone who really, really loves to write. I literally didn't know how to write a draft. This was honestly a huge impact on the way I think about writing papers. It was actually kind of incredible.

Receiving feedback from fellow students as well as our instructor was, while at first a little strange, actually very helpful. It allowed me to see a lot of random perspectives, rather than a single person's. Also, it seemed that every comment had a different suggestion or compliment than the previous one, which helped me to see smaller aspects of my writing that were or were not helping my overall goal.

All in all, I enjoyed this class immensely. I know that I am not supposed to gush too much in my writing (sorry, professor Burton), but this is a response, not an analysis. This is possibly the most useful class, as far as my writing is concerned, that I have ever taken.