Lodh 1

Kriti Lodh
Ms. Thompson
AP Lang, Block 2 Skinny A
May 18, 2015
Through the Looking Glass of My Writing
Like life, the writing process is a never ending cycle, continuing on because a piece is
never truly complete as there is always room for enhancement. Personally, this is one of the
greatest attributes that I have acquired throughout the course of this year, and I am confident in
saying that is has undoubtedly improved, augmented, and surpassed boundaries I wasnt sure it
would substantially. From poetry to papers, there is always a necessity to go back and revise in
order to enrich diction, utilize intriguing rhetoric, and improve the clarity so that the audience
can appreciate from the perspective of the writer. Throughout the year, I implemented these
strategies I learned, and I believe that it can be duly noted through the development of my pieces.
Peering into the window of the past, I can recall thinking how simple it would be to
formulate our first paper which was introduced on the first day of class called Item That
Represents Me. Soon enough, I was rudely awakened with the gruesome editing process.
However, it is safe to say that I am thankful for the constructive criticism as it aided me in
growing as a writer. Changing words like warm to genial and bright to phosphorescent
and happiness to euphoria, I believe I was able to appeal to the audience is a more personal
manner because the vocabulary became more enticing. In addition, my sense of showing and not
telling has definitely amplified as I now find it trivial to encase sentiments of mystery and
perception rather than directly stating what I wish to be understood. For example, You see that
trickle of illumination, providing some clarity compared to the despondency that has been

Lodh 2
encasing you, swallowing you whole. Rather than merely stating that light shows the way when
there is darkness I used complex vocabulary and a descriptive style to engage the reader and
create emotion that otherwise he or she could not have experience. Hence, I am appreciative of
the several editing sessions that were a blessing in disguise.
Comparing my writing from the beginning of the year to the end, there is a dramatic
difference which can be seen with the assessment of my topic sentences in Item That Represents
Me and my end of the year term paper. In the beginning of the year I tried to hook my audience
with a sentence like this: Brightness... It is that genial glow that creates a sense of joy in us all.
As the year came to a close, my introduction involved something more like this: Honored
author, Rachel Caine once said, Dont play his game. Play yours. Clearly the latter is more
effective is conjuring a sense of intuition that will pull the reader in causing them to be engrossed
in what the paper is about. This semester I learned that it is most effective to begin a paper with a
quote, statistic, or rhetorical question which is what I applied in my term paper.
Furthermore, I was unacquainted with the use of rhetoric until I was familiarized with the
rhetorical triangle. I was then educated with the appeals of ethos, pathos, and logos. After
learning about them, I put them to practice. For example, by quoting Thoreau in my I Just
Wanna Be Average essay, I evoked a sense of ethos as it gave credibility to the message I was
attempting the impart on my targeted audience. With these appeals, I believe my writing has
fortified, making my thesis, purpose, and style superior.
Through the journey of the rigorous writing process, attainment of new vocabulary,
learning new rhetorical strategies, showing not telling, and many more writing tactics, I believe
this class has helped me in transcending in moving my writing from parchment to paper.