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Alyssa Pena

ENC 1101

20 November 2017

Writing Journey

Over the course of this class I have not only learned so much more about what writing

actually is, but I have gained new insight on my own writing. Writing is a process that doesnt

come easy for many. Writing especially did not come easy for me, which is what I learned when

writing my first paper titled Writing About My Writing. Ive found myself struggling with the

writing process for years and it was not until recently that I learned how to just let the words

flow. It began with my first paper which was my literacy narrative and discourse community es-

say titled Shes The First. These were the first papers in which I took the time to outline, draft,

and finalize. Although these papers are very different this extended writing process turned out to

be helpful for both. The writing process I used in these two papers was useful for not only these

two papers, but also future papers.

For my first paper I was told to write a personal narrative about literacy. I could come up

with hundreds of different narratives to piece together events of my past, but my writing narra-

tive is one that was troublesome, influential, yet rewarding process. Writing a narrative about

your own writing seems like a task that is very easy because it is about your own writing jour-

ney, but in fact it was very difficult. Writing about my own literacy was an intricate process. This

literacy narrative required me to look back into history and discover where my writing career be-

gan. This was the brain storming process. I came to the conclusion that it was around kindergar-

ten and first grade that I begun to write for the first time. Although kindergarten and first grade

only taught me simple words, it was a crucial part of my writing process. Those simple words led
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to writing bigger words, that turned into phrases, that turned into sentences, that turned into the

paragraphs I am writing today. Secondly, I evaluated when writing became tough for me. And

thirdly, I had to think to when I felt my writing was at its best. I created an outline on power

point. Each slide represented the paragraphs and the three points I would cover in that paragraph.

With each of my slides I decided I wouldnt go into detail, instead I would list points that I

would then expand on once I began drafting. Following my introduction to the essay I would tell

my readers what made writing so troublesome and how I began to write. Paragraph two would

list specifically what genres I struggled writing such as research papers, works cited, and writing

with guidelines. My third, fourth, and fifth paragraphs went onto discuss the people and things

that had much influence on my writing such as my family, teachers, and texts. I made my literacy

sponsors the main focus in my essay because I believe they had the biggest impact on my writing

process. I concluded my literacy narrative with something uplifting about my writing. I spoke of

when writing became enjoyable. Writing became enjoyable when I felt I was able to express my

feelings freely. I also ended my essay talking about the accomplishments and awards I gained

from writing. Just like in most narratives I decided to have a happy ending.

The drafting of my literacy narrative came easy because my outline was so well put to-

gether. Unlike I had ever done before as part of my writing process, I looked back and fourth at

my outline for guidance during my draft. My draft was about 99% complete before I began to

write the final draft. This time around when drafting I didnt try to make my paper perfect yet. I

let my fingers type ideas that had to do with the topics and bullets from my outline. My draft

ended up with so many ideas that at the end of the draft I ended up deleting sentences and

phrases that were not needed. This draft was such a learning process and greatly helped me learn
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how to draft future papers. Next came the peer review, which tremendously helped me be suc-

cessful in my final draft. As part of the writing process for this paper, three of my fellow class-

mates reviewed and left comments on my paper. I found these comments very helpful. My class-

mates left comments on suggestions how to improve my paper such as new ideas, clarification of

ideas, grammar issues, and positive feedback. I went through each of the comments and changed

my paper accordingly. Issues that all three of the peer reviewers noticed were ideas and concepts

in my essay that definitely needed work, since all of them had noticed and pointed it out. To

form my final draft I did not have to re -write my paper. I simply took into consideration the peer

reviewers comments and then finalized my paper.

My next paper was to analyze a discourse community of my choosing. Picking a dis-

course community to discuss was an easy decision for me because I feel so strongly about this

club. Shes The First is a community whose main goal is to give girls overseas the opportunity to

graduate. Many girls are kept from finishing school because of obstacles like poverty, long dan-

gerous routes to school, and higher costs at higher levels of schooling. Most of these girls will be

the first to graduate high school in their family. Shes the First deserves to be more prominent in

todays society because it is such a controversial issue that not many people act upon. The way in

which this community functions can be very intricate, so it was not hard to begin outlining. I be-

gan discussing equality and education for women in my first paragraph to give readers a back-

ground on what the club fights for. I then gave three examples under this topic. I went on to ex-

plain what the activity theory triangle is and how it works. I also explained the activity theory tri-

angle in relations to Shes The First Club. My third paragraph covers improvements for the dis-

course community, where I brain stormed ideas and theories that I thought would help expand

the club and grow its budget.

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I wrote down a variety of ideas creating my draft for my community discourse. My paper

on Shes The First was based on my very detailed outline. Ideas flowed because of the format of

my outline. My draft consisted of four paragraphs. I left out the conclusion in my draft because

since this club is so important I wanted to make sure I had a good closing paragraph. I left a

comment asking my peer reviewers for advice on writing my conclusion. After this peer review,

I realized there was less comments than the literacy narrative paper I had written beforehand. My

writing had significantly improved without me even realizing it. I noticed myself writing more

for my audience. This time around I received less comments about clarification because I made

sure all my points were clear and precise. After the changes I made based off my peer reviewers

comments, I was able to confidently write my final draft. This paper was my best work yet.

My paper titled Writing About My Writing is very different from my paper Shes The

First. Writing About My Writing is solely based on my experience with writing. It required

me to look back on my life and pin point crucial parts of my writing process. I used background

information, but it was not put into the text at all. My Shes The First essay was based this

time not on myself, but another community. This was a more difficult task because it required

research on my end. This was not a personal narrative and required me to go beyond my prior

knowledge. I researched things such as the clubs exact funding, budget, members, jobs, and roles

within the club. I realized that the writing process for narratives was more easy and enjoyable,

but the outlining and drafting were very similar.

Writing in this class has brought a whole new way of thinking for me. Coming into col-

lege, I thought I understood the writing process and I may have, but not in the way I learned it in

ENC 1101. In ENC 1101 I was taught how to evaluate and analyze my writing, as well as how to

write about my writing. This class taught us to write freely and to make mistakes when writing
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because this is how we learn how to write. Outlining, drafting, and finalizing papers brought con-

fidence to my writing. Outlining has become essential to me when writing papers because I am

able to see my points and topics laid out. Drafting has become easier since Ive learned it is all

about ideas and brainstorming. I learned that drafts are not to be precise. Finalizing papers in this

class was not a daunting task. With peer review and outside help final drafts were easy to make

perfect. The three main steps in the writing process that I learned in ENC 1101 have developed

and made me a strong writer I am today.