Through this course, I was able to revise and rework my works multiple times before completion. The recursive process applied to my writing allowed me to take new angles and see my work in a different light, allowing for constructive revisions; an important skill to practice as a writer. Through advice and criticism from the course instructor Professor Oliver, as well as my classmates, I was able to shape my essay regarding the lobstering industry into a completed piece that I can be proud of.

Examining the first draft of ”The Wrong Trail to Helping the Right Whales,” it is missing key body paragraphs and a counterargument, has a lackluster conclusion, and is sprinkled with grammatical errors and unrefined thoughts. At this point in my writing, I was focused on solidifying the outline and major points that I could present, as well as seeing what would strengthen/weaken my argument. Through experience, I found that to be a successful student writer, setting the foundational ground work for an essay helps me tie the whole essay together in a rough draft, from there I can hone in on details for the final piece. Additionally, it is noticeable that this draft does not include in text citations, I prefer to go back and add these in the terminal steps of revision.

During the process of revising this particular piece from the rough draft, I gained a piece of advice from one of my peers, in which they suggested that I work on paraphrasing, instead of just planting a quote from a source to convey information. This can be seen in paragraph three of the rough draft, where I add: “more traps to be strung together per line.” This was eventually paraphrased into “current requirements call for multiple traps to be secured on one line.” While the first rendition was acceptable, I adhered to their advice and worked on paraphrasing information from sources for the finished product. For the final draft, I also added more key points and evidence to support my arguments, cleaned up grammatical errors, add worked on more effective word choice.