Writing Goals for Senior Thesis
Goal 1 - Using Active Voice
I will make sure to use more active voice in my essays instead of passive voice before turning them in. In my most recent college essay on overcoming a struggle or challenge I wrote a lot of sentences that incorporated passive voice such as saying, “I was standing over my bike,” and “I had messed up.” I thought that these were good at the time, but after reading it over a few times they seemed very boring and made the essay lose its flow. In future writing, I can do a number of things to correct my use of passive voice. I can read over my essays and change sentences that use ‘was’ and change it to a sentence that is in the present. An example of this would be to change, “I was standing over my bike,” to “Standing over my bike…,” which makes it the subject come into the present instead of the past. I can also change some of my words so that it creates a strong link to the topic. I can do this by using more active verbs that help to describe the current mood. Finally, I can look at the paragraphs before and after to make sure that they all use the same type of voice and don’t jump from the past to the present.
Goal 2 - Sentence Structure / Logical Flow
I will check all of my sentences and paragraphs to make sure that the story flows from one to the next. In the in-class essay that I wrote for my humanities class, the first paragraph was about failure and how it relates to the learning zone whereas the second paragraph was about giving students spaces where they can fail. While the two are related, I was unable to make it clear and it ended up sounding like they were unrelated. Because I was unable to connect the two smoothly, I could do a number of things to change this. First, I could make sure that my ending sentence of one paragraph connects to the topic sentence of the next. Doing this would make the essay feel as if it was one cohesive idea. I can refine my initial outlines so that I can see how the paragraphs flow together and if they need to be rearranged. If I did this, it would allow me to create an essay that is fluid between transitions. Finally, I can make sure that the evidence I use is related to the topic so that it connects the paragraphs and strengthens my overall argument.
Goal 3 - Deeper Analysis
I will carefully read all of the evidence that I use to make sure that I can correctly analyze the subject and create a strong argument for or against it. In previous essays such as my in-class essay, I tend to do a very brief analysis of the evidence, which leads to a very weak argument for the thesis of the essay. In the essay, I quoted Eduardo on his definition of the learning zone, but I then failed to relate it back to my thesis sentence through my analysis. To combat this I will read through the evidence so I know that I understand it and then write detailed sentences that compare and contrast that evidence to my thesis. Next, I will make sure that the evidence I am using relates back to my thesis so that when I do analyze it, I am able to use the knowledge I have to turn it towards my side of the argument. Finally, I need to make sure that my analysis strengthens my arguments instead of just summarizing the evidence. By doing all of this I believe that I can write essays that not only support my thesis but defend it from rebuttals.
I will make sure to use more active voice in my essays instead of passive voice before turning them in. In my most recent college essay on overcoming a struggle or challenge I wrote a lot of sentences that incorporated passive voice such as saying, “I was standing over my bike,” and “I had messed up.” I thought that these were good at the time, but after reading it over a few times they seemed very boring and made the essay lose its flow. In future writing, I can do a number of things to correct my use of passive voice. I can read over my essays and change sentences that use ‘was’ and change it to a sentence that is in the present. An example of this would be to change, “I was standing over my bike,” to “Standing over my bike…,” which makes it the subject come into the present instead of the past. I can also change some of my words so that it creates a strong link to the topic. I can do this by using more active verbs that help to describe the current mood. Finally, I can look at the paragraphs before and after to make sure that they all use the same type of voice and don’t jump from the past to the present.
Goal 2 - Sentence Structure / Logical Flow
I will check all of my sentences and paragraphs to make sure that the story flows from one to the next. In the in-class essay that I wrote for my humanities class, the first paragraph was about failure and how it relates to the learning zone whereas the second paragraph was about giving students spaces where they can fail. While the two are related, I was unable to make it clear and it ended up sounding like they were unrelated. Because I was unable to connect the two smoothly, I could do a number of things to change this. First, I could make sure that my ending sentence of one paragraph connects to the topic sentence of the next. Doing this would make the essay feel as if it was one cohesive idea. I can refine my initial outlines so that I can see how the paragraphs flow together and if they need to be rearranged. If I did this, it would allow me to create an essay that is fluid between transitions. Finally, I can make sure that the evidence I use is related to the topic so that it connects the paragraphs and strengthens my overall argument.
Goal 3 - Deeper Analysis
I will carefully read all of the evidence that I use to make sure that I can correctly analyze the subject and create a strong argument for or against it. In previous essays such as my in-class essay, I tend to do a very brief analysis of the evidence, which leads to a very weak argument for the thesis of the essay. In the essay, I quoted Eduardo on his definition of the learning zone, but I then failed to relate it back to my thesis sentence through my analysis. To combat this I will read through the evidence so I know that I understand it and then write detailed sentences that compare and contrast that evidence to my thesis. Next, I will make sure that the evidence I am using relates back to my thesis so that when I do analyze it, I am able to use the knowledge I have to turn it towards my side of the argument. Finally, I need to make sure that my analysis strengthens my arguments instead of just summarizing the evidence. By doing all of this I believe that I can write essays that not only support my thesis but defend it from rebuttals.