This semester of english has provided me with much more efficient revision methods. In the first draft of my first paper, I wrote in the style that I was taught in high school because that’s what I was used to. The problem I encountered was that I tended to write claim sentences that were more summary statements than arguments, such as “A specific location where metaphor has an impact on mental health is at a hospital.” I also used the claim sentences as transitions which I learned was not how claims are supposed to be used, such as when I wrote “The literal future of humankind is children.” These were just some issues among others like no cohesion or adhesion, long paragraphs, weak thesis, etc. I learned enough in class about the recursive writing process to revise my paper using a series of global edits. In my final draft, I was able to make my paragraphs connect back to my thesis, which I re-worked. I did this through specific claims such as “As children grow older, it is important for them to understand how the world works, and doing so can create a more positive frame of mind” compared to the old one: “The literal future of humankind is children.” This helped my global revisions because the overall content of my paper became clearer and clearer as I continued to revise. I realized how helpful global edits were. I also was able to split a paragraph into two distinct arguments. I would have never been able to do this without looking for global issues with my paper. By the end of the paper, I felt confident that it was much better than my first draft because of using this method. I then polished everything up so that there were not many, if any, local issues. By my third paper, I feel as though I have gotten very skilled with looking at my paper with a global scope first, and then polishing. I believe I will only improve more from this point on using this method.
