MWA #2 Reflection

Chapter 3 of Changing Writing focuses primarily on effective strategies for responding to writing assignments. The chapter emphasizes the use of PACT, the acronym which stands for "purpose, audience, text, and context" and helps structure essays. A key point in this chapter is reflection on the assignment, the topic ideas, and notes over the chosen topics. They also identify the use of personal memories and stories within writing to allow connection between reader and writer. However, these were all ideas for brainstorming. The step of moving from the ideas to actual drafting involves a lot of planning, and they suggest free writing, "mind maps", and outlines to structure the argument before actually writing everything out. I guess I still need to become comfortable with using PACT because I understood the purpose of the writing and the audience I was approaching, but I did not convey that very strongly in my actual writing. That part of the assignment seemed kind of lost on me when I completed my rough draft. My brainstorming was pretty strong because I am passionate about my topic and had already identified several issues I wanted to address within my argument. However, I also know that I need to work on my organization of ideas. I went to writing services and talked with one of the advisors about my topic and my ideas on how to approach my argument, and he helped me to create a more solid argument that appealed both in factual and ethical senses. This was extremely helpful, but I would have done much better to take both the ideas I brainstormed and the ideas the writing consultant provided and written them down as reference points in my outline. This would have allowed me to collect evidence and see the parts of my argument that needed help with strength, as well as help me keep the audience and purpose in mind when I began to draft the paper. I also would have benefitted from creating an actual outline rather than diving straight into the writing, as this would have led to better argument construction. These are just points to use in the future, ones I will try to implement in further writing assignments.