I began this essay like any other paper, I created a rough outline. The goal of my outline was to focus my writing and create a structure for the information I’d gathered to fit into. The structure enhances my writing by connecting gathered information in a way that highlights and supports the point I’m trying to make. The annotated bibliography helped me start because I knew what information I had to build off of and was able to find secondary sources that would complement what I was required to cite. I don’t like my draft much aside from my introduction. I’m only happy with that because the elements of an introduction are consistent for the most part no matter the type of writing. Introduce your topic and give background information or a brief summary of what will be discussed. Aside from my intro, I can honestly say I like the rest of my essay, mostly because I’m still unsure about how to write a literary narrative.

I keep going back and forth, I’m unsure whether or not this essay itself should be more relaxed or academic. I don’t want my essay to feel unfocused but I don’t want to come off “too academic” or impersonal. Are there different steps for proving an argument depending on the style? I know every argument can’t be held to the same level of scrutiny but I’m unsure which persuasive method I should use, or how to integrate pieces of all them into my writing without a sacrificing structure of fluidity.

I’m not sure what to take away from this project. On one hand, it reinforced what I already knew and even introduced me to a few new ways to structure my academic writing.  On the other, I’m still extremely unsure of how to write a literary Narrative.The peer review was interesting because you get to see how other people read your writing, but I would have preferred a guided class session focused on structure and how to introduce key elements of a Literacy Narratives into our writing. I think the point of this project to help students understand that in college you have to take initiative and figure out how to be successful with the resources you have outside the classroom.

Aside from grammatical errors, I’m going to try and work in more of a personal tone. This is difficult because I don’t want to compromise the integrity of my essay. I also want to give my essay a bit more flow, in its current state it’s choppy. The essay also needs a conclusion that highlights the essays points and ties everything together.