Embracing Mistakes

An excerpt of my two theses. (1st vs. 2nd draft).

Why pretend that my first draft was beautifully written? Let me just clarify that it was a “shitty first draft.” Initially, starting the RA essay was dreading and I lacked complete understanding. Instead of creating a clearly written rhetorical analysis on how Artis Henderson employs historical cultural based context throughout her memoir, I wrote a summary. Revision was desperately needed. Receiving feedback from both my professor and peers helped me drastically. Although, I had technical difficulties accessing the feedback from my professor for the second time when implanting revisions on my draft. I even asked my classmate for help and we couldn’t find a way to resolve the issue as much as we tried. This created a barrier for me to fully revise my draft so it can reach its full potential. I simply used my peer’s feedback as a way to help shape my newly written draft, and I remembered reading some of the comments that my professor wrote when I first read the feedback. In my first draft, my peers asked me to interpret more evidence to support my claims, such as adding more quotes from a multitude of sources. I did my best when writing my second draft. They also told me to narrow down my wording when discussing the memoir to avoid summarizing too much. For my second attempt, my primary focus was on the cultural context of the constant stereotypes that military wives frequently face throughout the years. I didn’t remember what my professor commented on my thesis so I couldn’t make drastic improvements, but I’ll make certain to make changes for my final draft and attend office hours.

A working progress: an excerpt of my RA essay.

My peers said my thesis was nicely written, so I just added minor elements to differentiate from my previously written thesis. I asked my friends about my thesis and they said it was concrete and arguable, so I didn’t make any major changes to the main claims. The process of learning how to develop a well written thesis was challenging and I still write vaguely written theses and first drafts, but with time being invested into my writing, I will demonstrate growth as a writer and learn to do well in Writing and English courses which are part of academic discourse communities.