To begin each paper, I write down a single paragraph to outline the main concept and points that will be included in my paper. This paragraph is reviewed by my professor and she provides feedback and revises the paragraph for grammatical errors. The following is the starting paragraph:

After the critiquing of the paragraph, I begin an a full-scale draft of the paper. The draft is structured and written in a way that adheres to the guidelines. In the draft, I write down the main thoughts and points that I would like to make. This is not the final draft, so more revisions will be made. The following is the draft:

As you can see, the draft was not very long and only had my main ideas in the paper. It was somewhat scattered, but the overall concepts were there. I expanded those concepts and added details to finish the paper. The following is the final draft that was turned into my professor:

As you can see, my final draft was a complete mess. I didn't have the appropriate MLA format, my essay was contradictory, and it was riddled with grammatical errors. I had to improve the paper further. I could not settle for this type of final product. I decided to bring my focus in and tell more about Eric and I. I felt that this was the best way to get my message across, instead of rambling for paragraphs at a time about the social environment in America. Note the comments that my professor made and my responses. The revised final will include the corrections and suggestions that she made. The following is my response to her critique:

The following shows the revisions that I made to the final draft. My revisions include the suggestions made by my professor. Like my response to her critique said, I felt like I was rambling more than anything else in my paper. I basically rebuilt my entire paper and ommitted several paragraphs. I also added the appropriate MLA formatting to the paper. The following is the revised final:

As you can see, and judging from my professor's response, my revised final was exponentially better than my final paper. I added the appropriate MLA headings and page numbering. I reeled my thoughts in and focused more directly on the personal story.

When looking back on forming and creating this work, I feel that the evolution of my writing skill set is shown clearly. It is a very good representation of the transition from high school writing to college-level writing. The paper that I produced up to the final was nothing more than me rambling and attempting to form a paper out of merely my own opinions on the subbject without much backing or clarification for what I was actually advocating. My main theme was lost in my own writing. The final was extremely disorganized and there were too many points that I brought up that I didn't explain thoroughly. I feel that having written this paper and from receiving the critiques from my professor, I have grown as a writer. This paper alone contributed greatly to expanding my knowledge on how to write and plan essays.