I found the reverse outline class very helpful for my essay drafting process. Initially, I was having a lot of trouble actually writing the essay because my topic had become so narrow, that there was only so much I could write about. That is why I started to doubt the first draft of my essay. However, once a reliable peer reviewed my writing, I was assured that it was not so bad after all. One thing that I thought was strong in my essay was the flow of my essay. Each paragraph flowed from one to the next by connecting ideas to support my argument. However, one weakness I would have to say was that I had trouble in developing the ideas that I am presenting in my essay in order to advance a complex discussion.
Some helpful ideas my peers gave me was that I should use more textual citations in order to support my arguments. If I am just arguing something and talking about a part in the book about something that happened that supports this argument, it would be nothing without evidence. I have to clearly show the readers the exact moment in which the book relates to my arguments for it to be convincing. Another thing that I thought was very helpful was telling me to create a bigger picture for my conclusion. One thing I struggle with is writing a good conclusion. Usually, I just wrap up and say what I said in the introduction, but in a different way. To some extent, I think that is okay, however, the conclusion should also leave the reader pondering upon a new idea that comes from the ideas that you have just presented. Therefore, something that I would have to work on is closing off my essay in a way that the readers would be curious as to what should come next. One last advice I found useful was the suggestion to stay on focus. Often times, I may stray away from my main idea and go on some kind of tangent without realizing. These are the times when I need to tell myself to get back on focus. If I am focused, I am less redundant and in making an effort to remain focused, I can cut out all the unnecessary things that I have written in the essay.
Some things that I will be revising for this paper would probably be the development of my thesis. I have a thesis that seems pretty detailed and one that another can argue against, but I am not sure if it completely fulfills the task requirements. While I am comparing and contrasting two different ideas, I feel that this effort to compare and contrast can be made clearer. On that note, I will also have to develop more on my thesis since I feel like I have given multiple examples, but not enough close reading was going on and not enough analysis. Structure wise, I feel that I will have to move a couple of paragraphs around and change some sentences in order for my paper to flow more. While it did have a good flow, I too, along with my peers, believe that it can have even better flow.
