I was surprised as to how some essays seem deceiving. We always seem to want to give more credit for the effort of the author rather than for the work itself. It's difficult to tell someone their essay sucks, and therefore we pin point the good things about their essay first.
I want to rate my most recentest essay, which essay number four, the personal analysis essay. Probably the most difficult part of this essay was choosing a person you could relate to and figuring out the argument of this essay. I finally decided to write a paper on Michael Jackson. Researching him was actually pretty interesting, there wasn't one point where I felt bored writing about him. My purpose for this essay was to tell people that the songs Michael Jackson writes and his personal life are two different things. You have to admit most of his songs are awesome, no matter what.
I felt pretty strong about this essay, but after reading it and re-reading it I came to the conclusion that it is more than likely rated a medium-medium. In between a medium-low and a medium-high. According to the rubric Rachel gave us, I feel like I have a strong argument, and thesis statement. For some reason though, halfway through my essay or near the end I feel like my argument isn't as strong anymore. I also need to cite more, and find more sources as examples.
By the time my portfolio is due I plan to have more credible sources included in my essays and having a clear idea. I am going to re-arrange some paragraphs and add more to the essay itself that way it's more flows more.
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I totally agree with you when you say it is hard to tell someone their essay is bad. No matter how awful it may be you still try to pin point the good stuff in the essay so you don’t make that person feel bad. As much as I like it when people do that it really doesn’t do much good. So far in Rachels class I am beginning to understand that it is ok if your essay is bad because writing is a process and it is all about revision. So, if you have a not so good essay you just have more revising that you can work on.
ReplyDeleteYep, I think choosing the person was so difficult. I don’t know about you but it took me so long to find someone. I finally picked Sheryl Crow, if you were wondering. I think researching about Micheal Jackson would be very interesting. He lived a very unique life. It was also very smart of you to choose a person that you thought was interesting because if you get bored writing about him, chances are your readers will get bored when reading your essay. I will agree with you on the fact that most of his songs are pretty awesome. I really enjoy listening to his stuff.
I liked your grading system of a medium-medium. I think I gave myself an in between grade also. Not having read your essay it’s hard to comment on what you could do to improve it. I think you have some really good ideas on how to make it stronger. For finding credible sources I am sure you can find some really great biographies of Michael Jackson so that shouldn’t be too hard. I also think rearranging paragraphs can be very helpful. My last essay I wrote for Gened was completely changed (in a good way) when I rearranged my paragraphs. Good luck with the revision and I am sure it will turn out great! Sounds like you have a very interesting topic.