Cover Letter

As a student taking UWP1Y, I was able to advance as a writer and develop a more
efficient writing and revision process for myself, practice better organization skills, and learn
how to utilize and search for credible resources for research. All of these aspects I learned about
and developed as I worked on three challenging projects: a Living Picture Narrative, Wikipedia
Entry and a Podcast Project. Throughout my letter I will discuss how all three of these projects
allowed for me to improve as a writer as I constantly changed my writing and revision process
before and during each project, and how I strengthened a specific skill each time. I will also
compare my feelings and thoughts about writing before taking UWP1Y and after.

My Writing Process For:

The Living Picture Narrative

A depiction of how I felt writing first drafts before UWP1Y. (1)

Before the Living Picture Narrative project, my writing process consisted of trying to
make the perfect first draft. I never wanted to have to put in a lot of work in creating a
completely new or different draft the after my very first draft so I would always try to make my
first one as perfect as I could. However, after reading Lamotts piece called Shitty First
Drafts I changed my perspective on first drafts and just started to write all that came to my mind
my very first draft, worrying less about it sounding perfect. My writing process at the time
generally involved starting fresh with a blank piece of paper and creating an outline that would
consist of a set of maybe 3 or 4 main topics that branch out into subtopics and details. After I
would make an outline, I would then begin writing my draft and try to take ideas off of my
outline to structure my paper off of it as well as just writing down all my thoughts and ideas.
Although I didnt take much time getting ideas flowing, I still spent a large amount of time on
each individual paragraph trying to make it the best I could. This I found to be very hard to
avoid, but this project enabled me to create a more efficient writing process as I tried to use less
time trying to revise everything the very first draft and just spend more time writing.

The Wikipedia Entry

Portrayal of what it feels like to do a large amount of research. (2)

My writing process for writing the Wikipedia Entry was similar to my writing process for
My Living Picture Narrative, but there are also certain aspects of my writing process that
changed. Before starting with a fresh blank paper, I first decided to look for information about
the topic I chose and tried to determine whether or not I would be able to write about it which I
wasnt used to. Usually I already utilize my previous knowledge and dont look for information
before creating an outline. The more I looked for sources and found more information, the more I
was able to develop specific subsections that I could include in my outline. After gathering
information, I took the sections I created and summarized my sources and created an
outline. With the Wikipedia Entry I wasnt able to just jot down a bunch of thoughts as I did with
the Living Picture Narrative as I had to do extensive research and take information from credible
sources. I was able to strengthen my research as a result as I learned how to cite and evaluate
information from different sources that I had found online. I was also able to learn how to search
for and utilize credible sources that I could apply to my writing to convey more research and
information to others. By learning how to do research and utilize different sources, I was able to
further improve my skills as a writer as I was able to apply and utilize what I learned into my
writing. By creating summarizing sources and creating sections before my outline, I was also
able to improve my organization skills and develop a more effective writing process.
The Podcast Project
 A person observing a classroom similar to how I observed the people and
environment for the Podcast Project. (3)

The Podcast Project proved to be a different challenge for me and my usual writing
process as I had to include my own observations and thoughts that I gathered first hand. My
writing process began with coming up with a research question that I was going to revolve my
paper around. After I had developed my own research question, I took down notes and wrote
down what I was seeing, smelling, hearing, and feeling on a piece of paper. After I gathered my
observations, I wrote down my thoughts that reflected upon my observations. Rather than
creating the outline first and then my thesis, I created my thesis first which began my outline as I
then included details from my observations that were able to provide some sort of answer to the
research question I had developed. This process of creating the thesis and a question before my
outline worked better than creating the outline first for me. If I created my outline first, I
wouldnt know exactly how to organize my observations as well as what purpose they would
have in being included in my paper. As I knew what my main idea and thesis was, I was able to
branch off of that and easily flow through writing without the need to stop and worry about what
to put. My writing process at this point not only became more efficient but it also became easier
for me to grasp ideas and organize them into a matter easier for me to understand. My ability to
research information also improved as I learned how to also collect primary research.
My Revision Process For:
The Living Picture Narrative
For my revision process for the living picture narrative, I first looked at the feedback
provided towards my paper and observed which comments are the most common or the same.
After I gathered the comments that critique a similar idea in my paper, I reread over what I
originally put and tried to develop an understanding behind the criticism and eliminate certain
aspects that I feel are unnecessary After I eliminated a specific part, I would try to replace what I
originally put or include a new idea that was based off of the advice that was given to me. A lot
of what I revised and changed in my paper took into account the feedback and critique I received
from my peers as it provided a different perspective besides my own on what needed to be done
to improve and what needed to be changed. My revision process before this project didnt
include that much work as I used to only change grammatical errors and never really had other
students critique or look at my paper so this was all new to me but helped fix more of my writing
approach and research as they provided with me advice and help.

Bart Simpson being forced to rewrite I will revise my work is how I felt about
having to revise my drafts. (4)

The Wikipedia Entry

The way I began to revise my Wikipedia Entry was similar to how I began to revise my
living picture narrative but I took a rather different approach. After collecting the common issues
within my entry and re reading over my wikipedia entry, I instead summarized each individual
sections within. After I summarize the individual sections, I created my own new sections to
organize my entry in a different manner. One of the problems noticed in my Wikipedia Entry was
leading into a new section without a transition or not placing information where it should best be
found. I organized my new sections into my Wikipedia Entry and then re-read over it again
searching for any grammatical and content errors. After finding any errors, I again tried to
eliminate what wasnt necessary in the article or should be deleted. After deleting and revising
the grammatical and content errors I then looked over my paper again to search for any final
mistakes and revisions. This process forced me to practice my organization skills more as I had
to learn how to better transition common summaries and revise my paper in a manner that didnt
jump to different topics out of nowhere which ultimately helped me improve my perspective as
the author and organizing research I found.
The Podcast Project
For my Podcast Project, my revision process didnt necessarily change that much as I
continued to take into account the comments and advice from my peers and grouping them
together. However, I spent more time revising and rewriting than how much time I spent on my
Living Picture Narrative and Wikipedia Entry after practicing revising a couple of times. I
learned how to better fix small grammatical errors that were sometimes missed since a lot of
what I usually revised was my content. In this process I revised any common errors that may
have made my podcast script sound illiterate or confusing since I had to ultimately record myself
speaking it. A lot of my focus on this revision process was making sure I was answering the
research question I presented and edit common mistakes I made in my previous projects. As
revision process improved as I continued to transform my process and incorporate different
aspects of peer review and utilize them in my writing, so did my writing.

Strengthening Skill Sets

The two skill sets I was able to strengthen throughout these projects were Research and
Metacognition. I was able to strengthen my research ability as I learned how to look for more
sources beyond google and Wikipedia, how to cite any sources, and how to utilize and apply it to
my papers. I was also able to merge previous knowledge that I acquired and merge it with new
information I had found through research in order to provide the information with new meaning
and worth. I was able to strengthen Metacognition as I created multiple reflections on my writing
process throughout these projects. Before this class, I never reflected upon my work or what it
took for me to finish something and in this class I was able to learn how think about my own self
processes and reflect on how it affected me. The reflections on each piece of writing I did helped
me to critically think about myself as a writer and reflect on what it took for me to get to a
certain point and how I was able to succeed past any obstacles. Although these are the two skill
sets that I feel I mainly strengthened, I feel as though I also strengthened other skill sets through
these projects and that they all play a role in how I advanced as a writer.

The feeling of being proud of your writing (5)

Writing after UWP1Y

I will continue to improve as a writer with the skills I strengthened as I continue to
practice new methods revolving around research and editing my own work in future classes that
involve writing. As I move onto other classes, I hope to utilize the new methods for citations and
how to gather credible sources that I discovered in order to conduct research in any class that
requires of me to search on a topic. I will also take my newly strengthened skill in processes to
further revise and edit any papers that a class requires of me since some classes generally require
for only 1 final draft, but I will make sure I do multiple.
In my first week of UWP1Y, I believed the idea of writing was boring and required too
much work for me. I also thought that I could easily get by with one draft that I spend a large
amount of time on but this course proved me wrong and changed my mind through the multiple
concepts we learned about writing and revision. Now as I am finishing UWP1Y, I still think it
requires a large amount of work, but it is more enjoyable for me as I better understand my
writing process and what works well for me and what doesnt. The more I strengthened my skill
as a writer through a different writing and revision process and the more I was able to improve
skills such as organization and research, the more writing became an enjoyable experience for
me. The better I became as a writer, the more enjoyable writing became to me and now I enjoy
writing just as much as my favorite subject in school.

Citations:
(1) Even Published Authors Get Stuck: Writer's Block. N.d. Web.
<http://www.hmhco.com/~/media/sites/home/media-center/weblog/spark-a-story/writers-
block/writers-block-image-472jpg.jpg?h=267&w=400&la=en>.
(2) Woman with Pile of Papers. N.d. Web. <http://www.simplyproductive.com/wp-
content/uploads/2011/12/woman-with-piles-of-papers.jpg>.
(3) Observing a Class in Action. N.d. Web.
<https://oupeltglobal.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/observing-a-class-in-action.png?w=400>.
(4) Revise My Essay. n.d. Web. <https://essayshark.com/blog/wp-
content/uploads/2014/06/566338writing.gif>.
(5) Essay Contest. n.d. Web. <http://www.mpi.nl/news/essaycontest.gif>.