Throughout my entire high school career, I would write my papers one or two nights before the deadline, never write a rough draft, and bullshit everything I wrote. For high school, this worked out fine. My teachers never really cared about what anyone had to say in their papers, so they just made sure it was long enough and you didn’t plagiarize but never read the actual papers. I would get A’s and B’s on papers where I said the same thing just in a hundred different ways.

I planned to continue this strategy when I signed up for ENC1101 over the summer. I thought that it’d be an easy class and I’d have more time to party if I took it since I never really had to do anything. On the first day of ENC1101 my teacher said to forget everything from high school since college English was going the completely different. Of course I thought she was bluffing so I wrote the first draft the night before like I had planned. It came out beautiful. I had written eight pages which was the max and didn’t even have to worry about plagiarizing since it was my life.

The next day we got our papers back from review and mine had marks all over it. There were at least five mistakes per crot and that wasn’t even counting grammar and at the end of my paper the biggest complaint was that I rambled too much and some parts didn’t make any since. I probably would’ve gotten a C at best if that were the final draft.

I struck me at that moment that she didn’t bluff and I was actually going to have to try. I went back to my dorm the same day and corrected every part of my paper for the final draft and for the first time I felt like I had actually written something that was actually good. I got my paper back the next Monday and got an A on the paper.

If it wasn’t for drafts I wouldn’t have gotten through that class. I could never have gotten the A’s that I needed without any peer review and the only reason I got my grade in that class to doing three drafts per paper. They helped me get from C worthy papers to A papers.

hahaha second draft?

I have always been praised for being a strong writer throughout my school career, however, my writing style is more of a diamond in the rough. I often just write and don’t really know where I’m going with it all. For instance, right now I have no idea what I will talk about in the next sentence. But now that I have stared at the wall for a minute I can formulate an idea of what I want to talk about. It seems every elementary school teacher had some corny way of helping us prewrite out essays. From the hurricane like funnels to the F.O.I.L method they always urged that we have some plan before writing our name on our paper. I agree that this does help but I feel like I express more of how exactly I feel when I “ramble” in my papers. Maybe that is what I have been lacking as a writer? Who knows! I tend to mix things up in my narratives, and sometimes they don’t always make sense. Heck, I probably should have prewritten this entry so you don’t think I am a total ‘tard.

As for a second draft… I think the only second draft I have ever considered was another beer at a bar! Just kidding I am only 18 and enjoying a frosty draft would be both legally and morally askew. In middle school I had the pleasure of being lecture by Mrs. Weirsema, whose reputation as a teacher was one of strict revisions. So I guess I have had practice in second, third, and even fourth drafts. It always seemed however I was always trying to put more into my essay and give it more gist – in retrospect it was just adding more B.S. to dumb papers about “how my summer went.” I also agree that producing revisions of one’s work will ultimately aid in a more substantial paper, both in bulk and in intellect. Can’t you tell that I revised that last sentence? Yeah it does work.

It was a godsend when my peers graded papers. To me I thought that the teacher was trying to give themselves a break by having the students grade papers. It was always a joke to me. Yeah sure there would be some red marks on my page but at the end of the paper sat a big ole’ 95 percent and that was always good enough for me. Nobody wanted to be the guy who really went in depth critiquing his buddy’s essay, cause that would just be wrong to give your friend less than an “A.”

You may have been able to tell, or you might not have, but I am more or less of a sporadic writer. I think of an idea and just kind of stumble all over it. So know you know where I stand on the grounds of writing habits, and in the words of Forest Gump “That’s all I have to say about that!”

2nd draft = 1st draft - 10%

I recently read “On Writing” by Stephen King to find inspiration, advice, and to be honest, a step-by-step instruction manual on how to produce an influential, distinguished piece of contemporary fiction with has the potential to be adapted for an award-winning Hollywood film. Of course, greatness can’t be achieved in one fell swoop, but I never hesitated to try.

Since the dawning of my high school career, I became an expert at improvising in research papers, final exams, and every other assignment that teachers didn’t care for any more than I did. I have even written papers for others, never as a business, but because I was just so darn good at it. I was proud of my work; it was an ingenious masterpiece directly from my brain to the paper. After all, wasn’t every notable author born with grammar chiseled to perfection and a captivating imagination?

In my third year I had a teacher who has always believed that the journey is just as important than the destination. She stressed planning to the point that she graded every step, but regardless, I wrote the five page research paper in the span of two days with only a few minor alterations, and turned it in without a second thought. Not my most noble work but adequate enough. Unfortunately, not as good as I thought. I received the lowest passing grade, and there wasn't anything I could do about it. Discouraged, I stopped writing altogether. My ideas for poetry, songwriting, and short stories gradually faded, and writer’s block ensued for any attempt thereafter.

Throughout King’s novel, he basically restated everything I’ve learned in a lifetime, but this experience alone taught me the importance of it all. I developed an uneasy relationship with drafts and planning, but soon enough I became fond of the luxuries of going to sleep early and spending my free time to do as I wish. In these drafts I always write more than I should, because it’s easier to cut things out than it is to add. I have always preferred writing by hand, but since technology is a lot less time consuming, I print my papers and do all the editing and adding by hand. King also does something that I like to do, which is pick an I.R., or Ideal Reader, to catch your mistakes and give input when it’s needed. I’ve chosen one, my sister, who I strive to impress through all of my work. She’s a mathematician at heart, though, so her least favorite thing to do is read, but that’s exactly why I’ve chosen her: it’s a lot more of a challenge and when I do succeed it’s even more rewarding. Lately, I’ve even become the I.R. for others, and peers now confide in me to give them guidance and improve their papers as opposed to doing it for them. Whenever I can't write, I take long breaks that vary from minutes to days, depending on how much the work in progress affects me emotionally. Many times writing a paper is the source of my frustration, but more often than not it's a release that allows me to express myself how I want.

Now that my writing seemed to have matured and I regained my pride for my work, I can safely assume these newly acquired techniques paid off. Literally too, after I won the $500 FSU Mores essay contest with only 250 words that I edited using this simple procedure. I've accepted the fact that recklessness and procrastination are not viable options, and that practice is key, not false hope or chance. Rough drafts have shown me how little I really do know, yet have proven to me that there’s a lot I already know. Writing is an art that requires skill rather than mere talent, and when you take the time to finish your artwork, you’ll always find it to have been worthwhile in the end.

second draft, yayyyy....

The first thing that comes to mind when I sit or lay down to write something is the topic. In my experience finding a topic to write about, or finding where to start on a given topic has had me wasting hours of valuable time. So I don’t anymore, I just write, whatever comes to mind at the moment when pen strikes paper. I start myself off by picking something else up and that usually sends me in a trance of thoughts which helps me write. There’s been a few times when I have written subconsciously, a definite truth when it involves lyrics or poetry. Sometimes I sing what I write, it may sound weird but it helps me a lot, it helps me see the ideas are there, just need to be expressed somehow. In my experience ideas can come from experiences good and bad, and are reflected on your feelings towards those experiences.
On the subject of when I write papers, I design the ideas early, since the date it is assigned. What I did in High School was write the wrong due date, such as one two to three days before the assignment is due and somehow pretend that the date written down IS the actual due date. The reason for this is I find it much easier to write when I am anxious, tired and nervous, ideas come a lot faster, and I am able to express myself with more freedom. As the night fades and the sun rises, the day knocks on my door, of course the assignment is not due. I just pretended it was, but now I have many ideas to elaborate on, ideas which only come when I am under that stressful situation. I believe that creativity comes when you are not focusing on one thing, but living your life as a smooth stream, and letting everything flow in your head. I think writing comes out best when it is impromptu.
The reason drafts are made, is revision. Whether it is by the writer, or a peer, or a professor, even include a toddler for all I care. Everyone can revise a paper and give their likes and dislikes on the topic. If you are writing a paper on Biology, ask you English teacher to review it, and vice-versa. The point I am attempting to get across is that writing, is really what you collected from the contribution of others. I enjoy being told that someone doesn’t like my writing, then it comes to why, and I try to make it more appealing to a wider spectrum of people. However, the idea of being told what to write, something in the lines of, “Oh, you should write this instead!”, nah. I don’t mind being told what’s wrong, but being told what to write I am not a fan of. I like writing and there is always drafts, second, third, thousandth in some cases. And I did write this the day before :).

“What do you mean second draft?”

Oh boy high school. It all began when I step foot as fresh meat at Lyman High School, English I Honors and ended at AP Literature my senior year. I actually enjoy writing, especially when I am interested in the topic. But personally, I don’t think I am good at. I never really had a “writing process.” I kind of just brainstormed a few things here and there on a paper then off I write. As hard as I try, there stamped a measly three or if I am lucky or if my teacher is feeling nice that day, a four.

Writing has never really been my strongest point. Coming from a public school I feel like I was never really taught the fundamentals of good writing. Generally we never had take home writing assignments which I felt never gave us the ability think the topic through and really add creativity. We were always given a short amount time to come up with a mind blowing paper. Otherwise known as, “timed write,” we were given roughly around thirty to forty-five minutes to write.

I am the type of person who likes to think a topic thoroughly before hand and I can personally say I struggled during these timed writes. I struggled getting the bare minimums down for my paper because I can never decide on what to write about and by the time I do, there is five minutes on the clock and I find myself rambling to the end; rushing to finish.

After the miserable fail we eventually get our papers back and our teachers put us into groups for peer reviewing. But no one really contributed helpful comments. Now that I am in college I hope to enhance my writing skill, not only it is important to have but from experience in summer c semester I noticed that I find myself writing papers left and right for almost every class!

What do you mean second draft?

In all honesty, my writing process had a pretty bad decline throughout my four years of high school. Going into my freshman year I felt as though I had a lot to prove after elementary school writing proved to be very remedial. So in my first writing assignment of my first high school semester I remember putting together a pretty good body of pre-writing. I had brainstormed topics and formed character maps and after those were done I wrote my first draft. This hard-working habit was relatively short-lived as most of my voluntary pre-writing was forgotten about from my second semester throughout graduation. For the bulk of my high school career I was writing my papers within a school week of the due date and didn't put too much effort into my later drafts. Unless we were peer editing, my revisions were not very good with the exception of catching my own typos or maybe re-wording something I thought looked awkward on the page. I am an firm believer of peer editing, it always helps to have a second perspective on an idea. Here and there I got a head start on some papers. My research paper during the fourth quarter of Junior year was definitely my pride and joy. I must have had 3-5 drafts of that paper and it paid off with a 96 for my final grade.

The use of crots is definitely something I have not experienced. Most of the time, my teachers would ask us to read the assigned book or passage and then form our drafts from there, citing the text as evidence and backup to our thesis. I didn’t have the opportunity to do much creative writing, research papers were a big portion of my high school writing assignments. I like using the crots as a base to our writing because it is just a free write of what we have as memories and it makes everyones’ writing full of detail. Instead of having to rely on exterior sources, the crots allow me to recall a particular memory and retell the situation or happening in my own words.

what do you mean, second draft?

Whenever I start writing an essay or a story, I generally keep a notebook handy. I have learned the hard way that it is difficult to write a well realized paper the night before it is due; sleep deprivation and hurried thinking can mean the difference between a painting and a piece of cardboard. When keeping a notebook in your backpack or purse, you can transpose any random memory or realization to paper for future reference. This has become particularly useful in the formation of crots, as many memories are recollected through related experiences in the present. Another bonus of a paper first draft is the ability to scratch out unwanted ideas while still maintaining a version of them for future reference and reconstruction.

After I have a rough notebook version, I type out what I have and fill in any skeletal areas. Sometimes I don’t notice how bare some of my passages are until I see them in print. I then lend a copy to the fresh eyes of a trusted friend and see what they think is lacking. Based on their comments, I begin my final draft. Before printing, I read through the draft several times.

Most of my high school classes only required two drafts of one paper. Several of my classes used peer review as an editing exercise. My peers generally rated papers on the story content, rather than spelling, grammar or rhetoric. In some degree, the students calculated what they thought the teacher wanted to hear from them when forming their responses. In retrospect, however, I think peer review was helpful for many students who hadn’t been required to actually create an entire document drawn from personal experience or imagination since the fifth grade. Grammar and literary devices were dismally absent in their first drafts, but a few drafts and workshops later, their skills had drastically improved.

When I heard we would be completing five drafts of each paper, I was a little amazed. When thinking about drafts of previous papers, however, I realize that even when I had completed what I thought was my final draft, my instructors usually had more ideas for improvement. Five drafts is a lot, but I am not one to say too many.

really...a second draft???

In high school, our English department has never been a strong point. Writing research papers and papers over books we had read was about all we did. However, they did teach us to write more than one draft, only because it was usually for a grade. We would hand them in and get them back the next day with red marks all over them. She would want us to go home and make the corrections to our papers and then bring in the final copy. We would never go over the mistakes one on one so I always kept making them. This is how I was taught up until my senior year. It was not until I was in dual enrollment at our local community college that I learned more about writing and drafting.

In class we would read other students papers and correct the errors and then give the papers back to the student. I never liked it because someone else saw your mistakes but it did help me fix my own. Proofreading another’s paper did help me in the long run. Our teacher would let us take the paper home and the next class the final paper was due. In some cases, we would do three drafts instead of two to make the paper be the best it could be. The papers that I wrote in my college class were different than those that I have done in high school. I felt that I was learning how to actually write a good paper. I have always put off writing my papers until the night before. It is a bad habit that I need to get rid of, especially now that I am in college. Writing has never been a favorite of mine. Maybe because the lack of teaching through the years or maybe its just not my thing, but I am willing to try anything new to better my writing.

Must I really? :D

Whenever I have been assigned a paper, I read the topic and wait. I let the topic sink in, which helps me analyze and determine how I want to go about the assignment.
Imagine that cartoon character you used to watch Saturday mornings as a kid. Remember how they would just be walking and a light bulb would just materialize out of nowhere? Well, the same process applies to me, except the light bulb fails to appear (imagine all the money I would have saved in buying light bulbs!). Ideas start to parade in my brain and I write. I snatch the ones which make sense and continue from there. It turns into multiple scraps of paper with different "mini drafts", where I tie loose ends, edit here and there, and finally produce the final paper. Those drafts are decorated with scribbles, cross outs, arrows and the occasional doodle (drawing sometimes helps me with writing.) I like puzzles, so I guess in a way I develop my own puzzle when writing a paper.
I prefer to writing rather than typing my papers. It is a weird preference especially in these times. When I am typing a paper and coming up with the draft I feel that I lose certain freedoms. Such freedoms would be the ability to write little notes on the side of the page, and not losing words, sentences and ideas that would have gone to oblivion with the infamous delete button.
I have pulled off those late night last minute papers. They were disasters. Half conscience writings are not my forte. Never have I attempted writing a paper on the way to school. Mainly because I knew deep down inside I did not have the gift of producing a well written paper in such a time crunch.
I feel a bit more comfortable writing a paper I know only the teacher will read. I guess I have a little phobia of writing for others. It makes my writing more reserved, and makes it a bit more difficult since I tend to omit more sentences and ideas and voice, especially if someone is to respond to the writing. Peer editing always sent shivers down my spine, but when it has to be done, it has to be done.

I have to write more than one draft?

I don’t like writing or pretty much any work I have to do outside of the classroom, so for almost every paper assignment I’ve received in college, I begin it the same day. I’d rather write six or seven pages in one sitting than have to think about when I’d be able to commit the time to it. I don’t think of a paper as being broken up into drafts, I see it as one paper. If I can fill up the required word or page count, even if the ideas of the paper aren’t so good or completely thought out, it gives me a place to go from, making writing the rest of the paper nothing. The hardest part is definitely starting the paper. Getting at least a page or so written makes it seem like you don’t have that much to do when you are thinking about finishing it.
When I write, I never draw a web or make an outline. I’ve never had problems writing for specific prompt or topic, so I loathed all the occasions in elementary and middle school where the teachers forced you to plan your ideas out. My way is looked at as the lazy way but to me it just seems more natural. That is, I skip the introductory paragraph and go right on into the paper typing out whatever I’m thinking about at the moment as if I were talking aloud. No matter how bad, dumb, or off-topic some of the thought trains can be, I’ll stick with them just so I get over the page requirement. I like to throw in stories in my papers because not only do they offer a change of pace from just pure narration, but they can help benefit you on proving your thesis. I’ve never formally had to write CROTS, but from the homework I’ve been working on, it’s pretty much the same thing.
After the page requirement (word count for this home work) is plowed through, I’ll wait until the night before or two the assignment’s due, and re read it. This is almost as good as a friend reviewing it, because by the time I’m finally reading over my work, I have forgotten what I previously wrote letting myself catch mistakes better. Most importantly though, as you’re reading over your work again, you get fresh ideas, ideas that are even better than what you previously wrote and can replace or make your paper better.

Second Draft?

To be perfectly honest, writing was never one of my strong points in high school. I always dreaded the days that a paper was assigned. I can’t think of a paper that I’ve written that I’ve been satisfied with. I think this is because I never developed a good writing process.

When a topic is assigned, I usually wait until the day before it is due to start working on it. This usually causes me to panic and rush through the paper without doing any kind of planning before I start writing. My papers typically start off fairly strong, but depending on the prompt, I sometimes grow bored and just try to wrap up the paper as quickly as possible. This results in a noticeably rushed or incomplete second half of the paper.

In high school, I was rarely required to write multiple drafts for assignments, but when I was, I made very minimal changes between the draft and the final paper. This can be attributed partially to laziness and partially to simple ignorance. I was never entirely sure how to go about revising a paper. We occasionally did peer editing in class, but everybody just exchanged their papers with friends and rarely made any corrections.

I am trying to alter my writing process as I work on the crots assignment. Rather than waiting until the day it is due, I’ve been working on the crots a little bit every day. This is easy to do with this assignment because it is broken up into segments, so there are plenty of good stopping points and I don’t have to worry about losing my train of thought when I come back to write after a break. Also, because we will be turning in several drafts, I am hoping to improve my revising process.

Second Draft?

Back in high school, there really never was a “writing process” for me. Creating a rough draft was out of the question and my proofreading consisted of Microsoft Word’s spell check. When I had to write a paper in high school, I had one thing on my mind: to get the assignment done as quickly as possible. Sure, sometimes we were required to bring our “first draft” to class in order to peer edit but my classmates never took the revising process seriously and I always ended up leaving the room with my paper looking the exact same way as it did when I entered. Because of me and my fellow classmates’ lack of editing, I would turn in my first draft as my final copy without any corrections or revisions being made. However, although I never did any serious revising or changes to my papers, I always received a letter grade of an A or B. I think my ability to still make a decent grade on a paper without putting much effort into it led me to believe that revision was an unnecessary step and was only there to waste time.

Fortunately, I enrolled in Florida State for Summer C, and I finally realized how important the editing process was. My ENC1101 teacher set aside certain days specifically for peer editing. Now, when I looked at the class syllabus and saw that these days were just for revising, I immediately thought back to high school and how no changes would be made on my papers and I couldn’t help but think that I would be wasting my time again. So, when the first peer editing day rolled around, let’s just say I was anything but enthusiastic. As I traded papers with a fellow student, all I could think about was how disappointed I would be when I received my essay back from her with no corrections at all and just a ‘good job!’ written across the top. However, that was not the case. My classmate tore my paper to pieces. Her blue pen was everywhere on the pages and I don’t think I have ever been that happy for someone to criticize my work. Her revisions and notes she made in the margins really helped me expand and add detail to my essay. She helped point out the flaws in my paper that I normally would have overlooked. Thankfully, I have now realized that peer review is a lot more important than I first thought and I hope to better my own revising skills so I can aid my classmates.

Second Draft?

At the beginning of high-school, during freshman and sophomore year, I did not even consider writing a "rough" draft, brainstorming, or any other pre-writing exercises as an option for turning in essays. When big papers were assigned, the burden weighed on my mind until I started work on it the night before the paper was due. However, this seemed to be working at the time because I ended up making decent grades on the papers and had plenty of other points here and there for various homework and quizzes to bring up my average to an "A" or a "B" for the semester.

Then, junior year rolled around and I was taking AP English Language and Composition with Mr. Thomas. He stressed the creation of rough drafts and the usage of many different brainstorming techniques such as asking "Who,What,When,Where,How" about the topic you were writing about, or listing all your ideas on the topic for 5 - 10 minutes. We were forced to create Introductory paragraphs and rough drafts, bring them in, and have them peer edited by one or more fellow students. Missing one of these deadlines would not be too detrimental to one's grade, however, we were taught the importance of planning out our papers and putting more time into writing in order to increase the quality of our essays.

Finally, after going through the first three years of highschool, I was going into senior year AP English Literature with Mr. James. He gave us the option to turn in a rough draft to him, have him give grade it as if it were the final draft, and then turn it back to us for revision for the final deadline. This motivated me to create a rough draft for every paper we turned in and throughout senior year, I created rough drafts and turned them early, in order to make the whole writing process easier and get an "A".

As I progressed through my years of high-school, my teachers taught me the importance of pre-writing exercises, brainstorming, and outlining my papers. I hope to see more drafting, like we are doing now with crots, and peer editing, because having a fellow student read and help revise your paper is very insightful and helps you become a better writer, over the course of this semester.

What do you mean second draft?

In high school, I’ll admit that I didn’t have the best writing process and that was mainly due to the fact that I didn’t really take my assignments as serious as I should have. In high school, I procrastinated a lot and whenever I had a writing assignment, I would usually do the assignment the day before it was due. Mainly my writing assignments in high school were your standard 5 paragraph persuasive essays. I usually didn’t have much of an interest in doing the assignment but knew that I had to do it or I would fail. I would wait the day before the assignment is due and sit down, put some thoughts together, and come up with an idea of what to write about. If I knew exactly what I was going to write about, the assignment wouldn’t usually take me very long to complete. After I would complete the assignment, I would read it over and search only for grammatical errors. Since I didn’t usually care too much about the assignment as a whole, I just wanted to make sure it sounded good and didn’t really care if I had enough information that was necessary. I just wanted to do the least amount of work possible for a passing grade.

As for doing peer reviews, I didn’t have any experience with peer reviews in high school at all. All of the writing assignments I did in high school were only meant to be completed and turned in to the teacher for a grade. In my ENC 1101 class that I took during the summer here at Florida State, we were required to bring in our first draft of the assignment and do what’s called a “workshop”. In the “workshop”, we would read other classmates papers and write notes on them to give our personal thoughts and tips. I personally feel that helped me a lot on my assignments because I think it’s always good to get someone else’s opinion on your writing, especially a fellow classmate. I hope that we will be able to do something similar to that during this semester because I really do think that it helps you improve your writing.

Second Draft?!?

From my freshman year to junior year I wrote papers the night before it was due. I don’t know why I fell into the habit of doing this, maybe because it was the easy way out? But I thought I was good, cause when my teacher returned the papers back I would always get a B or higher. So life was good in the world of procrastination, until my senior year. My English teacher, Ms. Krugman, changed my life forever. I remember writing my last “night before it was due paper” and I remember getting a 67 on it. Senior year was my first year of Honors English. Prior to that, all my guidance counselors told me that I wouldn’t be able to handle honors so they put my in regular (maybe that’s why I did so well on those papers). But I guess honors English class was a whole another ballpark.

So after the first paper I wrote for Ms. Krugman was a total fail due to procrastination. My life changed, draft after draft after draft, and suddenly I don’t write any papers the night before. And I can honestly say that by drafting, writing for English was a lot easier. Each draft you write and then edit helps you build a better final paper. I just think it is so cool just to see what your first draft looks like compared to your final draft.

Peer editing is my favorite thing to do. I didn’t do too much of that in high school but coming for Summer C and taking Enc 1101, I learned that peer editing is one of the best things you can do. It allows for another set of eyes to give you ideas or tell you about those mistakes you might have skipped. So after drafting and peer editing the last year, I need to work on how to make my paper have “voice” and how to make it pop out, that’s what I am looking to the most during this semester in Enc 1102.

Huh....Second Draft?!

In high school, I was a part of the International Baccalaureate (IB) program. As a part of the IB program curriculum, there were many critical papers that were assigned to everyone on a regular basis. As a result, most of us usually waited until the day before the assignment was due to begin even to attempt writing. Most times whichever paper I was most interested in would be the paper I would take more time on, and thus it would be of higher quality than the one I neglected. Usually, when writing the paper, I would just write it all in one sitting, then right after I finished, I would proofread and print. There was usually no second draft involved. This was the typical routine for all subjects during both my freshman and sophomore years. My junior year however, things changed dramatically. In IB, junior year is the most important year of all because it is the year that sets you up for college admissions and it is a stepping-stone towards gaining your IB diploma. For that year, whenever I would have to write a major paper, I would usually create an outline of all the major points I wanted to address in the paper. Afterwards, I would try and write it bit by bit about a week before it was due, and then the night before it was due, I would have one of my friends proofread and edit it for me. It worked quite well for me because on each paper, I always received a B+ or higher. However, this only lasted for the first semester. After the first semester, I began to get worn out from all the stress of IB, and as a result became a little bit lazy. I then reverted back to my old ways of writing each paper the night before it was due. On one occasion, I skipped both first and second periods to write a paper in the media center because I forgot that even had a paper to write in the first place.

When writing for different assignments, my writing usually keeps the same style and tone. This was a major issue for me during high school as well. I would always get marked off on English assignments for not having enough “voice” in my works. I was never really taught how to put your own voice into papers. Therefore, when writing papers using various formats, such as crots, my paper tends to seem a little bit formal and dry. As of right now, I have the main points I want to address in my crots, but I do not have any voice in them as of yet. I hope to develop them as times goes on.

Second Draft??

To be honest, my writing process for school really depends on how much I like the topic I am writing on. If it is a subject that I love, such as history, or if it for a teacher that I am trying to impress, like my history teacher, I will write and revise. Also, if it is an assignment that I will enjoy or am excited to write about, like a poem that we wrote for the last day of high school, I wanted it to be special and memorable. I revised it and reread it until I was happy with the finished product. But to tell the whole truth I like to write anything that has to do with me. :)

Unfortunately though, more often than not, I will write an essay or journal entry the night before it is due. I have this terrible habit of beginning my work at nine at night, just so I would feel the pressure to get it done. The problem is that I usually got tired and started to loose my focus around eleven. Then the assignment would turn out rushed and unrevised. This was usually for really big assignments that I put off until the last minute or for busywork assignments that really had no clear benefit. If the assignment has a clear purpose I will give it my all.

Usually for a long essay on a book or when I have to choose one writing prompt out of several, I will a web to organize my thoughts. I want to choose the subject that I know most about so that the essay can be as focused as possible. but if it a response paper, a journal entry, or strictly my opinion on one topic, I will just start writing.

My junior ans senior year of high school we did a lot of peer reviewing and it honestly helped. The reviews helped me clarify otherwise cloudy areas in my writing that were not focused. Overall, they helped me become a better writer. I learned to zero in on those spots in my writing where I what I wrote became hazy and unorganized. Sometimes though, when people didn't take peer reviewing seriously, they would tell you that your writing is fine when in reality it was not. So I think that peer reviewing is definitely beneficial, but only if the assignment is taken seriously.

Writing crots is different because other assignments usually have set rules, like a 500 word essay on masculinity in such and such book. With crots I can write about anything at all in all of my different communities so it is definitely more challenging.

Drafting?

Honestly, who has the time? I'm not saying that I don't edit, I most certainly do. But I typically do not save my work as separate 'drafts.' Instead, I choose to write a 'draft' two days or so before an assignment must be completed. Then, the day before d-day (due day), I go back, skim through, and fix what ought to be or not be. How? I read it out loud. It's the simplest method for correcting unnatural-sounding sentences. If they don't sound right when you say them, they probably won't sound right when someone else reads them. Tiny errors such as spelling or extra spaces are typically corrected by Spell Check (although, I don't honestly find the thing to be completely reliable...). Other things like sentence structure and fluidity are left up to the writer, as they should be, in my humble opinion. In instances of extreme late-ness (not a word, but still fun to say/write), I hand write. For example, if the day before a paper is due falls, I will hand write a paper. This, sadly, is a very common trend because, unfortunately, I forget A LOT of papers until the day before they're due. I find hand-writing tedious. It's a way to punish myself.

I do have experience with peer review. In fact, my high school AP Literature class included a peer review for every essay that we wrote. While I have never been on Blogger, I most certainly have had my papers reviewed by others. I rather like peer review. It allows for you to see things that your eyes might be trained not to see (subconsciously, of course) It helps one to understand if their paper makes sense, or if it's full of childish nothings, which it could possibly be. My only qualm with peer review is that it is also entirely possible that the person who is looking over your paper either A: doesn't care so doesn't try or B: doesn't know the first thing about reviewing ANYTHING let alone a fully developed piece of work. The latter irks me to no end.