Writing Process

I guess I started by making a bulleted list of the pros and cons of keeping Johnathan Kozol’s writing in the Humanities Based Text. I figured that if the pros outweighed the cons then I had a valid argument to put forth. I also used more opinionated points in the argumentative paper, so it was easy to gather thoughts and type them out. I feel that when I can use my opinions in a piece of writing my ideas flow better even if others do not agree with the points that I am trying to make.
I feel that the literary analysis paper is very different from my argumentative assignment. In today’s free-write, I stated that I had never used the web form of brainstorming besides on standardized testing because of the time restraint. However, I tried using it today with my literary analysis paper and it worked very well. Not only are the assignments completely different, but instead of using one of the lengthy stories in the Humanities Based Text, I used Langston Hughes’ poem “A Dream Deferred.” I found that I have to break apart the poem and analyze each line, which takes time, but I think will prove to be beneficial when I complete my paper. I am planning on using each one of the senses in each paragraph and explaining how I came to the conclusions that I did.
I think my writing process was fine with my argumentative assignment, but if I would have spent more time on my thesis it would have flowed better. I decided not to revise the argumentative assignment because I figured I would have trouble with the papers to come and would be able to receive better advice.
In the future I will definitely stick with the web diagram form of brainstorming. I do not think it is easy to formulate a draft of a paper if you do not know what you want to write about. The web diagrams help complete thoughts and are easy to compile, and anything that is missing is easily able to be added at a later time. I also think the web diagrams help with characters and sequences of events. I could list all the characteristics and attributes certain characters with a story had, which would make writing easier when writing about them. Chronological order of events is also important and the web diagram is a really easy way to put things in a certain order.
I am glad you introduced the web diagram today in class, and I plan to use it in the future.