In my revision process I really focused on how my essay flows throughout. While initially writing my essay I treated it as a list separating my 4 claims into their own sections of my essay. I started this off by starting my paragraphs relating it to something that I learned in a previous paragraph to try to integrate some connections. I also improved my structure by rephrasing my introduction to have an overall argument that flows into the rest of my essay.

Learning to Write in My Own Way 

Throughout this first semester at CCNY, I never would have thought that taking English 110 would teach me more than just writing essays. I learned new ways to view language, reflection and tone in order to communicate my thoughts effectively. I also realized how much better my writing can be when I take time to revisit and revise my work, actually thinking about why I wrote what I did. Looking back on this semester I can see the progress I have made, from the first LLN draft to the final submission of the Synthesis Essay, I have learned to take my writing from something simple and bland and change it into something intentional, personal, and purposeful. After taking this course I now understand that writing is not about writing per a set of rules, but making the writing unique and intentional based on audience and purpose. 

One of the most significant things I have learned is the fact that there is no “correct” English, and language is rather connected to identity and culture. Before taking this class, I was under the impression that the only acceptable way to write was “proper” English. Throughout school that was what we were taught and it was instilled in our minds. But we learned in this class through writing such as Amy Tan’s Mother Tongue and Vershawn Young’s Should Writers Use They Own English that this is not true. Tan was able to show this through her experiences where she spoke differently with her mother than in an academic context, yet they were both ways of speaking effectively and meaningfully. Young also makes a claim that forcing “proper” English is limiting cultural and ethnic expression seen in the way people speak. So through these readings I was able to grasp the idea that language does not have to be uniform and should exist with a sense of personality in each person’s use of language. This was evident for me when I wrote my Language and Literary Narrative. In my LLN, I wrote about struggling with writing properly as a kid and how being judged dissuaded me from writing at all. Reflecting on my own experiences made me understand how language ultimately comes down to the person themselves. I started to write more freely and it made me feel more connected to my writing. Instead of trying to write for a grade and writing like a robot, I would start writing to express my thoughts and emotions. 

After learning to write freely in my own voice, I realized that I had to write differently based on who the audience was. At the start of the semester, I would write in a context that felt right to me. I never considered that the tone and audience could really play a part in the foundation of my writing. But with assignments like the Rhetoric and Rhetorical Situations Worksheet I started to think about the intended audience, context, and purpose when writing. I started using this in my LLN and the Synthesis Essay. When writing my LLN I would think about who would actually connect with my story and it would help the structure of my writing to be relatable and interesting to who I was writing to. I also had to think about this in the Synthesis Essay when I needed to decide who I was addressing my issue to. Having this thought in the back of my mind helped me find sources and synthesize information in a way that my audience needed to understand my claims. This was meaningful for me because it was the start of a shift of my writing from just writing the first thing that came to me into something that had clear intentions from the beginning. 

Once I learned to think about the audience, I knew that I had to start revising.  I was able to understand how important revising was when reflecting on my LLN with my cover letter. I started to realize how much my essay needed to be changed based on the feedback I was able to get. The feedback from the peer reviews and the instructor 1on1’s really helped me a lot by giving me different perspectives of my writing that I would have never considered. For example, in the Writing Center visit, the tutor was able to give me ideas on how to reflect and conclude my essay by “zooming out” and connecting my experience to a larger message that the reader should come away with. Through these multiple drafts I was able to realize that it wasn’t just about fixing the tiny mistakes like commas but it was how I could reshape what I originally wrote into something that aligned with my true intentions when writing each piece. So this lesson of relying on multiple attempts and learning that it does not come on the first try, will stick with me for the future when writing.

Changing how I thought about writing made learning how to properly use sources, evidence and synthesize difficult. All throughout high school, when wanting to add sources, it was simply finding a source and adding it into my essay with a brief explanation. However in this class I learned that it was much more than that. We spent multiple days learning about 2-sentence summaries so that we can learn to introduce our idea, quote effectively with proper MLA format, and also how to connect sources together throughout the essay in order to make the claim clear. I was able to put this all together in my final draft of my Synthesis Essay where I was able to clearly connect all my ideas with strong quotes and present a strong argument with that. Without practicing these things in class, my synthesis could never be so strong and effective in putting my thoughts into words.

Looking back at this semester, I have grown in so many ways but overall I have learned to have a purpose behind my words. I was able to understand how language is connected to identity, how the audience structures a narrative, that revision is one of the most important things to finalize my work and that strong evidence can elevate an argument. I can now take these skills with me for the future for any work that I may have to do, whether just a simple email or a lab report. I can use intention to elevate my words.