My Writing: Shelby Dana

This semester was really beneficial for me as a writer and a literary critic.  I learned a lot of different techniques that I had never considered using before!  While some of them I didn’t love, many were really helpful and I’ll definitely use them in the future.

One of my favorite things we did this semester was study the poetry of John Donne and then watch the movie W;t.  It was so good for me to see the difference between a play and film adaptation and all of the different aspects of it  (found here) I found myself not only going deeper into the film itself, but understanding the poem better because of the interpretations of the producers and actors, etc.

Another thing I really loved that we did this semester was working on thesis statements.  (Blog post found here.) This was useful for me because I learned that the type of thesis statement I use can very easily determine the direction that my paper will take.  I liked that there is a formula for us to follow because that helps me to figure things out better and organize them in my mind before I even start writing my paper.  This was a great tip.

Our process in the last paper was perhaps the most helpful for me.  Working with a partner helped me reevaluate my work and clarify my ideas.  I found that when I had to explain what I was thinking about to someone else, I was able to weed out things that were unnecessary, didn’t make sense, or didn’t contribute to the idea of my paper effectively.  Lizzi was an encouraging partner, and that motivation made all the difference!  I also really liked it when Kayla read through my paper and gave me a few ideas for edits that should be made. A fresh pair of eyes makes a world of difference!

While writing the last paper, I discovered a technique that made a semi-intimidating assignment a little easier to handle. At first it was really scary and I didn't do well, but the second time I tried was much better! Here's proof how bad it was.  I decided to just open up a separate Word Doc for each point I planned on making in the paper.  When I looked at it in chunks instead of thinking about the paper as a giant, scary whole, it was easier for me to complete. 

All in all, this was a good class that helped me grow as a writer and I’m glad that I was able to take it!