Senior Writing Goals
Senior Writing Goal #1: Thesis Writing and Development: Writing a thesis that is strong and sets my leading argument up for success has always been a challenge for me. In my Tocqueville essay, I struggled especially hard with this skill. In my essay, I waited until the penultimate paragraph to really strongly address my thesis, which was, bluntly put, an error. My thesis for the essay was “I do not think it is noble nor wise to resist the majority, because in the end, majority rule has brought some of the greatest revolutions the U.S. has ever seen.” While this thesis accurately depicts the argument I tried to make in and throughout my essay (more or less anyways), it does not fit at this point considering I’d spent the rest of the essay explaining the ideas of Tocqueville’s “majority authority” and not developing an argument of my own. In the future, I think that I could circumvent this problem by establishing an outline that includes my thesis before beginning a draft. This way, I could develop my ideas in a logical manner and then construct them according to the outline so I would not have a weak thesis and/or argument.
Senior Writing Goal #2: Paragraph Ordering and Construction: This was another skill that I struggled with in my Tocqueville essay as well as in my supplemental college essays. Generally when I am writing, in a similar fashion to when I construct my thesis statements, I mostly free write and hope that I can bring my words together into logical and cohesive pieces at the end. In my Tocqueville essay, I struggled in the ordering of my paragraphs in a way that made my main argument confusing. The example for this would be my critique from Lori, which read “ - - - “. Seeing this feedback from another perspective confirmed my suspicion that I ordered my paragraphs in an illogical way, and I hope to avoid this error in the future. Again, I feel that I could strengthen myself in this area by writing a solid outline for my essay, and even draft my topic sentences for each paragraph so I would have a good idea of what evidence and analysis I would need before writing.
Senior Writing Goal #3: Setting up In-Text Citations and other Minutia: In my Tocqueville essay, it seems that I had trouble setting up quotes and in-text citations correctly. For example, the first quote I used was “‘But obviously without such common belief no society can prosper; say, rather, no society can exist; for without ideas held in common there is no common action, and without common action there may still be men, but there is no social body (Tocqueville 711).’” Although this quote was almost cited perfectly, I put the quote marks outside of the parentheses, which is not the MLA standard for in-text citations. Although this is super nitpicky, it seems that I’ve never mastered the MLA Standard writing guidelines, and these are something that I would like to work on considering I will be writing a lot of formal essays in college. To reach this goal, I would like to work with a variety of sources in my texts so that I can master the different citation styles and guidelines for all the different forms of media.
College Essay Revisions: These three elements were very important in the writing of my supplemental college essays. Although I didn’t necessarily write a “thesis” for my Chapman University essays, I still had to present a main point of view or perspective. This sometimes proved to be more challenging than I’d originally thought. The development of a “personal statement” for each of these supplemental essays also needed to be cohesive and portray a quality or accomplishment of mine in some way. I think that I achieved this task in my revised version of my “What Makes Me Chapman Essay”, in which I stated, “My hometown has given me an unparalleled appreciation for importance of the environment in our lives, but I feed off an almost indescribable energy when I’m in an urban environment. The people, places, and ideas in the city inspire me to pursue my interests in the arts as well as business, and I know that I would find a diversity of opinions and opportunities at Chapman.” This quote very eloquently outlined my interest in Chapman, and I feel that it shows a lot of growth from previous drafts. In my first draft of this passage, I wrote, “My surroundings have given me an unparalleled appreciation for the environment and its importance in our lives. Being able to enjoy top-tier bike trails and the crisp air of alpine skiing environments is not a privilege that many can enjoy, and this understanding makes me grateful for those experiences.” Although this passage demonstrated the same appreciation for my outdoor-upbringing, it doesn’t acknowledge my desire to live in the city, which is a crucial component of my interest in Chapman University, which is located very near Los Angeles. The final version of this passage allowed me to enforce my desire to live in the city much more clearly, and shows clear growth from my previous draft.
Senior Writing Goal #2: Paragraph Ordering and Construction: This was another skill that I struggled with in my Tocqueville essay as well as in my supplemental college essays. Generally when I am writing, in a similar fashion to when I construct my thesis statements, I mostly free write and hope that I can bring my words together into logical and cohesive pieces at the end. In my Tocqueville essay, I struggled in the ordering of my paragraphs in a way that made my main argument confusing. The example for this would be my critique from Lori, which read “ - - - “. Seeing this feedback from another perspective confirmed my suspicion that I ordered my paragraphs in an illogical way, and I hope to avoid this error in the future. Again, I feel that I could strengthen myself in this area by writing a solid outline for my essay, and even draft my topic sentences for each paragraph so I would have a good idea of what evidence and analysis I would need before writing.
Senior Writing Goal #3: Setting up In-Text Citations and other Minutia: In my Tocqueville essay, it seems that I had trouble setting up quotes and in-text citations correctly. For example, the first quote I used was “‘But obviously without such common belief no society can prosper; say, rather, no society can exist; for without ideas held in common there is no common action, and without common action there may still be men, but there is no social body (Tocqueville 711).’” Although this quote was almost cited perfectly, I put the quote marks outside of the parentheses, which is not the MLA standard for in-text citations. Although this is super nitpicky, it seems that I’ve never mastered the MLA Standard writing guidelines, and these are something that I would like to work on considering I will be writing a lot of formal essays in college. To reach this goal, I would like to work with a variety of sources in my texts so that I can master the different citation styles and guidelines for all the different forms of media.
College Essay Revisions: These three elements were very important in the writing of my supplemental college essays. Although I didn’t necessarily write a “thesis” for my Chapman University essays, I still had to present a main point of view or perspective. This sometimes proved to be more challenging than I’d originally thought. The development of a “personal statement” for each of these supplemental essays also needed to be cohesive and portray a quality or accomplishment of mine in some way. I think that I achieved this task in my revised version of my “What Makes Me Chapman Essay”, in which I stated, “My hometown has given me an unparalleled appreciation for importance of the environment in our lives, but I feed off an almost indescribable energy when I’m in an urban environment. The people, places, and ideas in the city inspire me to pursue my interests in the arts as well as business, and I know that I would find a diversity of opinions and opportunities at Chapman.” This quote very eloquently outlined my interest in Chapman, and I feel that it shows a lot of growth from previous drafts. In my first draft of this passage, I wrote, “My surroundings have given me an unparalleled appreciation for the environment and its importance in our lives. Being able to enjoy top-tier bike trails and the crisp air of alpine skiing environments is not a privilege that many can enjoy, and this understanding makes me grateful for those experiences.” Although this passage demonstrated the same appreciation for my outdoor-upbringing, it doesn’t acknowledge my desire to live in the city, which is a crucial component of my interest in Chapman University, which is located very near Los Angeles. The final version of this passage allowed me to enforce my desire to live in the city much more clearly, and shows clear growth from my previous draft.