My writing process for this assignment was very straightforward. I did not do any outlining for the initial draft, but I brainstormed ideas during class with my peers. I then wrote a short rough draft that was then peer edited by a classmate. In this case, the peer editing did not help very much because our class was confused with the idea of peer editing and was not being critical enough.
This assignment actually taught me a lot about how to write this type of essay, and other types of essays. I had not done this kind of writing since Junior year of high school so it was a little difficult to get back into the habit of writing. A lot of what I learned was actually re-learning material I had already known, such as staying in the correct tense and restricting the use of phrases like "I think" and "I believe".
One of the more difficult aspects of this assignment was finding sources that were relevant to my topic. I was very used to relying solely on the internet for sources, and found it hard to get out of that habit. This will be helpful though because I am not allowed to use internet sources at all for the essays in my Honors 1000 course. I dealt with this problem by using sources that I could find on the internet, but originated from newspaper or television. The sources I used in my paper were mostly for emphasizing an example with authentic information, therefore strengthening that example.
Some knowledge that I can use on future writing assignments is to find sources and cite them as I write the paper, rather than write a draft without citing, and try to squeeze quotes in at the end due to lack of sources. I also learned more about staying on the correct topic that is stated in the thesis, which will help in future papers.
