1.) Social media was developed for a reason, it can be advantageous to various aspects of our everyday lives, but only if it is used in moderation. In Chen’s essay, he conveys social media as a tool which proves to be beneficial in maintaining relationships, but Konnikova emphasizes how this connection between people can only go so far without face-to-face interaction.
My thesis statement started as a small idea that was a bullet point in my first set of ideas I developed during my writing process, and after writing an outline, producing a free draft, and receiving critique from peers I decided to run with this one. When I look at the thesis, I can see my own opinion on the matter shadowed by the relation the topic has to the author’s writing being analyzed in the essay. In the second sentence of the statement, I think I could have made the connection between the ideas in Konnikova and Chen’s essay a little stronger. In doing this, I could then change my word choice to make the link between my thoughts and the writer’s thoughts clearly. This would make the overall argument of my essay easier to analyze and allow the reader to think about the topic the way I am explaining it to a further extent.
2.) When I sat down to begin the drafting process for Paper #1, I was reminded of the fact that I procrastinate way too often when it comes to starting my writing process. I was stressed for time when first trying to develop ideas for the essay so my initial thoughts were not very good. Once I forced myself to get into a grove and actually start letting my ideas flow, that’s when I realized the most crucial step for me in my process. In order to think about and find an idea that works for a paper, I just let my thoughts flow onto the paper and go look back over the list later to pick one that I can analyze best. This paper was a good experience for me in the aspect of actually sitting down and thinking about how I can develop a process that helps me get my writing done more efficiently.
3.) When revising my paper, global revisions came up mostly in the form of my voice and my ideas, specifically involving my own analysis of quotes in my writing. I never take my own thoughts into account when I involve the writer’s own words in particular. When I looked at these points where they were pointed out by my peers, I thought about what I was trying to say and took them a little further on paper. I did this in my second paragraph when talking about the Dunbar number, I brought my own ideas into account before introducing Konnikova’s thoughts.
4.) When looking at Paper 2, I am hoping to be able to improve in the first steps of the writing process surrounding the initial analysis of the writing. I read the Chen piece through a few times, but I didn’t understand it as well as I could have. If I had developed my understanding a little further I think it would have strengthened my opinions on the piece. When trying to tie the essays together and comparing their deep analytical meanings, I think I would have had a much easier time if I had a better understanding of the meanings.
