Recursive process: Demonstrate the ability to approach writing as a recursive process that require substantial revision of drafts for content, organization, and clarity (global revision), as well as editing and proofreading (local revision).

When I was in high school I always thought revision was only sentence level. I was never taught to look at the big picture ideas. During this class I learned how to move past the little sentence level errors and focus more on the big picture. The thing that helped me the most was learning how to write a shitty first draft. When writing papers I used to edit and revise as I went which made the writing process long and miserable. Now I word vomit onto my word doc and slowly edit from there.

Image 1: Body paragraph Essay 3

This paragraph isn’t quite word vomit but it’s no where near final draft quality. This paragraph was created out of my word vomit. The ideas still aren’t specific and you can only kind of see what I was getting at.

Image 2: Revised body paragraph from essay 3

In the revised paragraph I do a better job of getting my point across. Instead of giving a lot of unneeded detail before bringing in my personal experience, I gave a quick and concise intro to my claim and got right to the point.

I have found that revision is the most important tool a writer can have in their tool box. Being able to write down every idea that comes to mind then just piece them together can help prevent writers block and produce a very quality product. Focusing more on the big picture ideas can also help ensure that your essay doesn’t just flow well, but that it stays on topic.