1. What was your final thesis statement? Paste, then analyze its strengths & weaknesses in a focused paragraph (considering specificity, taking a stance, narrow focus, needing evidence to defend).

“Despite its purposeful design, the internet has become a wilderness. Its boundaries are unknown, unknowable and new platforms and apps continue to draw us in deeper and take us away from genuine interactions. I believe that social media is crucial for making and maintaining long distance relationships but can be detrimental to your more personal relationships if you let it be.”  

I feel that my thesis statement was a little too broad before I put in the last sentence “I believe that social media is crucial for making and maintaining long distance relationships but can be detrimental to your more personal relationships if you let it be.” making it more specific and clear to the reader what aspects of social media I will be focusing on.    

2. In a separate paragraph, describe what you learned or were reminded of about your own writing process, from completing Paper #1. 

I was reminded of how hard writing an essay is for me. Sometimes when I’m writing it comes very easy and very natural to me but this paper was not at all like that for me. Everytime i sat down to try to work on the paper I just sat there and stared at the blank screen for a while and couldn’t think of anything to say and then when I finally did think of something I would write it down and just hate how it sounded. 

3. In another paragraph: Which aspect of revision did you focus on most? What changes or adjustments made your essay stronger? Be specific. 

In my revision I focused mostly on elaborating and providing evidence for the points that I was trying to make. In multiple sections of the essay I stated my opinion but didn’t give much detail of why I have those opinions. So I elaborated on that and went back to the texts and tried to find quotes from the text that support what I was trying to say. Another thing that I focused on was sharpening my thesis and making my stance more clear for the reader. I also went back and properly quoted everything. 

4. How might you approach Paper #2 differently, from pre-reading and annotating, all the way through completion of your final draft? 

I’m going to go to SASC next time because I really struggled with getting started on this paper. After I saw what my classmates had done with the assignment after peer review it was much more clear to me what I needed to be doing. But it will be really helpful next time to have that push in the right direction and have someone go through the directions with me. Also I might go to your office hours to discuss the texts more so I can get a different perspective and understanding of them.