Writing a Rough Draft (Step Two)

Drafting is the stage when we begin to put our paper in paragraph form. This is where we put our ideas into complete thoughts, such as sentences and paragraphs. We organize our ideas in a way that allows the reader to understand our message. We do this by focusing on which ideas or topics to include in our paper. During drafting, we will compose an introduction to the piece and develop a conclusion for the material.

            A rough drafts is a very important element of the writing process. The better I understand and follow the process, the better my writing becomes. One of the key steps of writing is revision. By writing a rough draft it gives me the chance to see what I wrote, change or add something, or keep what I have.

When I begin to write my draft, I keep in mind four separate writing techniques that I will include in my paper: the thesis statement which I include somewhere in my introduction, topic sentences which I put in the beginning of each paragraph that state the main idea of that paragraph, support for the topic sentences, and coherence. The introduction for me is always one of the hardest parts of writing my paper. I always get so tied up with what I should state and how to write my thesis so it is not so long. I always struggle with making my thesis. Once I start writing and it is something that interests me I can write forever! My conclusions are usually sort since it just puts an end to my writing with a little summary of everything that I stated. I spend quite a lot of time on my rough draft because I always write and then I think of extra things to add. I use to always write my drafts on paper, but now I just use the computer because it is faster to type and it just looks neater, even though our rough draft does not have to be neat.

Pre-Writing (Step One)

When I am assigned a writing assignment in any of my college classes, I honestly sometimes become so stressed. All I end up doing is thinking about that assignment and thoughts for that assignment run through my head.

Pre-writing is the first stage of the writing process typically followed by drafting, revision, editing, and publishing. In high school, I never use to pre-write. All I did was write out a paper and call it my “final draft.” I can admit that my “final drafts” were decent and I still received good grades. Once I got to college, I took writing more seriously and I started doing the whole writing process for my papers. The more time and effort we put into pre-writing, the less time we have to spend on the rest of the writing process. If we develop a plan before you start writing, our writing will start with a purpose and structure. When we pre-write, we can create a projection of our final draft before we even start.

Although the format of an outline is rigid, it shouldn’t make us inflexible about how to write our paper. Often when we start writing, especially about a subject that we don’t know well, the paper takes new directions. If our paper changes direction, or we add new sections, then we feel free to change the outline, just as we would make corrections on a crude map as we become more familiar with the terrain we are exploring. Major reorganizations are not uncommon; our outline will help us stay organized and focused.

When I begin writing, I always first make an outline. In the outline I include the topic of the paper, the main categories (what points I will cover), the first category (the first point that I will cover in my paper), and I have subcategories (points under the main categories that provide support for the main points). My outlines are usually bullet points because it is simple and makes things easier to follow for when I start writing a rough draft. I look over my outline a couple of times and check if I want to add something else or taking something out.

I believe it is very important that we pre-write because it makes life easier. We have something to guide us before we start writing and it gets us through writing easier. Our papers usually turn out better if we pre-write.

Handbook fot Boys: Discussion #4

I cannot believe how the book ended! I was sort of disappointed I hate being left thinking what happened in the future! Kevin ended up going to prison because he got caught with possession of marijuana. I can honestly say I knew Kevin was going to end up doing something wrong with his life. Throughout the book in my opinion he seemed like he didn’t really care about anything and he did not want to take any advise from any of the guys at the barbershop. Jimmy on the other hand listened to the men in the barbershop’s advice and he realized how important it is to have good role models in your life. At the end of the book, he tried to be a mentor to Ernesto, the new guy at the barbershop. I wish the book would have went on to tell us if Kevin ever turned his life around when he gets our of jail and what did Jimmy end up doing with his life.

            In our meeting through text message, we also talked about choices that we make in order to live the life that we want. Sister Smith came to visit Jimmy and talk to him about God and how God is important. I really did not like the role that she played because she was sort of putting Duke’s advice down. She mentioned how Duke never related any of his advice to God and that his advice was sort of not worthy of taking. I do not think that this talk about God is something that will not do any good for Jimmy. The talk about sex and the choices you need to make in life in order to succeed are topics that Jimmy really needs to know about and get advice about since they are things that we need to know about in life.

When I think about God and if God plays a big role in our life and how it turns how, I sort of I agree with it. I believe that God is there for us whenever we need him, but he does not really play a role on how we live our life. We make the decisions and take control of the path that we are going to take in life. Duke and the guys from the barbershop were trying to teach Jimmy and Kevin how to make good decisions in their lives and to take the right path. They gave them examples, and introduced them to people who took the wrong path and people who took the right path so that they know what is to come.

Writing

I have been writing for such a long time and I do not remember when was the first time that I wrote, but I know that the first time I write was most likely out of necessity. I honestly only enjoy writing when it is something that interest me. If I have to write abut a topic that interest me I get excited and sometimes I come to the point during my writing that I cannot stop. I lull myself into the kind of comfort that can only come from having the right words at the right time. One of the memories I have about writing that I really enjoyed was in my High School English class where we had our own journals. I really enjoyed being able to write about what I did that week or something that was important to me that was worth writing down in my journal. I remember after high school when I was going through all my high school materials to see what I should save or throw away, I found that journal. I read a couple of my journal entries and I loved remembering some of the events that had occurred that I wrote about. I think having a journal is fun because it is something that you can look back on and that carries a lot of important memories to you. The desire to write comes from noticing the weight that a flawlessly crafted sentence or topic takes off you and you realize that you could go on about anything.

            Writing is very important. It is the primary basis upon which your work, your leaning, and your intellect will be judged- in college, in the workplace, and in the community. It expresses who you are as a person. Writing is also important because it is communication. We can communicate with other through writing when they are not with us, either through a letter, email, or a text message. It influences the way we think and forces us to confront issues, to define and redefine our own feelings and positions, and enables us to express ourselves to others in more effective ways. On a personal level, writing enables us to reflect deeply on our own experience, to examine critically our most basic assumptions, and to be in touch with our innermost selves. In a way, writing is a self-discovery process.  It would enable us to gain a deeper understanding of society as well as people, life, and ourselves. Writing is an essential job skill. When I become a teacher I will also be doing a lot of writing by writing up lesson plans, emails, and work that my students or me have to do. So I want to make sure that I write more often, not just for school so that I can better my writing. I want to be able to inspire my students.

            As we can see writing is very important and as a future teacher I believe writing is a valuable skill to teach to my students. By teaching my students how to write, they will gain all the skills that I stated in the last paragraph. I want to make sure that they understand that writing is very important. I will make some writing assignments fun for them, like free writing because I know it is something that they will enjoy. I will also have them do some writing assignments that they might not quiet enjoy, but it is for their own good and something that they need to do. By having the free writing it will sort of even it out for them so that they will not be bored with writing. I really want to have a journal for my students where they can write things that they did or events that happened in their life during the week. They will write in their journals once a week. I want to do this because I want them to be able to look back and see what they did and enjoy writing down important events to them.

            

Handbook for Boys: Discussion #3

“Just because we know something is liable to ruin our lives, it doesn’t mean were not going to do it. We have to pay close attention to what we’re doing everyday.” –Duke

            For our third meeting, we talked about how Jimmy is starting to change in a better way, and Kevin on the other hand is not.

            Throughout the book so far we have noticed that Jimmy is starting to change a lot. In the beginning of the story we got the impression that he was a bad kid. He was someone who didn’t care about his life and got in trouble for beating up someone. Now, Jimmy is really looking up to Duke and taking all the advice that he is giving him. Jimmy is starting to change his ways and is becoming a better person. He actually wants to spend more time with Duke and listen to what he has to say unlike Kevin. Although he did not want to go the basketball game with Duke, he forced himself to go and in the end he was happy he went. He got along with Duke and they talked about life like they always do.

            In the book when Jimmy got mad at Kevin when he sort of called him stupid, I remembered the quote that Duke said before that “Just because we know something is liable to ruin our lives, it doesn’t mean were not going to do it. We have to pay close attention to what we’re doing everyday.” Jimmy at this moment paid very close attention to his actions. He was very upset and he wanted to attack Kevin, but instead he held himself back, Duke told him to go home, and he did just that. Once he was home, Duke stopped by to visit him and he apologized for his actions. He is starting to realize how he should and shouldn’t act and taking responsibilities for his actions. He wants to change his life around and is thankful that Duke is there for him and giving him advice to be successful.

            I feel that Kevin is ungrateful and someone who is not going to get anywhere in life. He always has something bad to say and he does not care what Duke or any of the other barbers have to say about life or advice that they give. He proved that he does not really care by not showing up for the basketball game that Duke invited him to.  Kevin told Jimmy “there is no way I am going to go for that I am your substitute daddy thing.” That proves that he is just ungrateful and arrogant. I really want to see what Kevin and Jimmy end up doing with their lives at the end of the book.