The theme and learning point of this project was the truth of war for a soldier. The class read “Slaughterhouse 5” and “All is Quiet on the Western Front” in preparation for this project, these books helped the class members chose a point of view on the subject. I, however, did not end up reading either book, as I had joined the class late. Luckily, I have some background knowledge in war, so when the rest of the class was using the assigned books, I used books that I had previously read. After both books were read, we all created thesis statements that made our point of view clear, and edited them. Next, we began the process of writing the six paragraph rough draft of the essay, in which we explained our thesis completely. Meanwhile, I began to work on my project, a collage. I chose that form because my thesis shows two different truths of war, and in a collage you can show many things mashed up together. I generally worked on my project in class and my essay at home, and, fortunately, I finished both early.
Paragraph 2: Project
The habit of heart and mind that I used most in the process of creating my project was perseverance. That one thing quite simply made my entire project possible. When working on an intensive writing project, such as this essay, I have a tendency to procrastinate. This tendency, combined with the common distraction that I end up feeling when I’ve been working on something for a large period of time, make it so I have to work at an essay for even longer than I would have originally had to. Because of this, perseverance is absolutely necessary for me to get anything done. For, when I’m having a hard time writing I have to absolutely force myself to get the essay and project done. This happened on the Sunday before the rough draft was due, where I found myself having to write the entire thing, with no breaks, in just a few hours, something that was both a difficult and tiresome task. All in all, when I force myself to finish an essay, I am, by definition, persevering though the difficulty of writing an essay.
Paragraph 3: Essay
In the process of revising my essay I made several important and helpful changes, but two of these changes were head and shoulders above the rest in the issue of importance. The first of these was that in my first draft I made several statements that had no backing to them; they were things that I had simply decided to say, but that I had no evidence supporting them. Later on, during the editing of my essay I took all of my unsupported evidence and either found evidence to support it online, or if I couldn’t find anything to support it then I just cut it out. This action improved my essay a huge amount, for after I made that change, there is less conjecture and more fact for the reader. Another change that I made to my essay during the process of revision was to tie all of my main point’s right back to my thesis statement. This is something that was very beneficial to my readers, as it will connect the ideas for them and help them understand the big picture that I am making in my essay.
Paragraph 4: Extension
If I had another week to improve upon my essay and project, I wouldn’t make any really big changes to either of them. I finished both early and am very happy with both of them. However, for my essay, if I had more time, I would have rewritten my last three paragraphs. I had to add a lot of things in and take a lot of things out, and the flow would have been better if I had been able to rewrite those paragraphs. There really isn’t a realistic change that I could make to my collage; the only thing that I don’t like is that some of the pictures are wavy in the way that they are glued on. I have no idea how I would go about changing this without completely redoing the entire collage. I suppose if I had an extra week, (and I lived in some magical world where you can reverse the power of glue,) I would redo it so there wouldn’t be any wavy and wrinkly paper. However, all in all, I am very happy with the end results of my project.
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