Learning Outcome 1: Demonstrate the ability to approach writing as a recursive process that requires substantial revision of drafts for content, organization, and clarity (global revision), as well as editing and proofreading (local revision).  

The transformation from the rough draft of my showcase writing project to the final draft shows a dramatic shift in the content within each of my body paragraphs, organization of the best way to represent my ideas, and overall clarity of each sentence in order to support my claims. The global revisions in my essay were crucial to creating a cohesive and clear piece of writing. Without the global revisions that were made, the essay would have lacked important information in order to thoroughly support my thesis. My first task in the global revision process was to focus on the order in which I wanted to address each point of my thesis statement. I looked for the best possible arrangement to effectively catch the reader’s attention and create an arc to my story. Once I found a successful arrangement of ideas, I dissected each individual body paragraph and looked to make each sentence within meaningful. Each sentence needed to drive the overall message forward. Once I found a flow and directness within my essay, it was time for the local revisions to take place. Correcting spelling, punctuation, and other grammatical errors took place in order to make my writing as professional and academic as possible.

My understanding of learning outcome 1 has dramatically shifted within my time in English 110. Where revision used to simply mean finding those local revision errors, I now understand that the more important step among the two is indeed the global revisions. Without global revisions, a paper would lack depth and meaning. A paper full of grammatical errors is a bother to read however, a paper lacking substance is a waste of time. The process of revision is not simply a one-time spell check system. It takes time. Rereading papers over and over again in search of ways to better organize, clarify, or explain the ideas is key to creating a successful piece of writing. Once all of those ideas are on paper, the local revisions add the finishing touches to a great piece of work.