Journal #2

For my high school experience in writing papers there was a schedule that we had to follow pretty closely. There would be about a week between each draft and for most classes there was a total of three drafts before the final draft. For writing the first draft we would have about a week or two, attending a trade school so most assignments assigned one week were two weeks away, and each draft after that was due by the end of the week until the writing project was completely over. 

The first draft would be peer reviewed in class, unless the teacher just didn’t do any peer review, which was the case for a couple of my english classes in high school. For the classes that did include peer review it was very helpful if done correctly. There was a sheet with a checklist on it for what to look for in the case of mistakes with the paper. And there would be about four people in the group. The only part I hated about doing the peer review process was that we had to read the paper out loud to the people in our group; which totally makes sense because then you can make corrections as you read it out loud, but it is a very difficult thing to do when you are so pressed for time in a group of people. After reading the prompts and answering the questions on the peer review sheet they would ask questions about it or give suggestions to make it better which was very helpful. Then we would take the copy with suggestions on it and go back home and rewrite for the second draft.

After the second draft was due was the point at which the teacher would correct it and do very short conferences where they would go over the mistakes that were made in the second draft of the paper. And after the teacher makes their suggestions you take that draft with even more suggestions on it and work on a third draft. 

The third draft, also known as the final draft was printed out and given to the teacher on the day it was due, some teachers didn’t much off if it was a large essay and took a lot of work to write, but other teachers took off a whole letter grade. This obviously made sense to prepare for deadlines in college.

Overall the writing process in a few of my english classes through high school was very helpful and prepared me for college where I even started writing multiple drafts on my own time.

Journal #1

1. If the author of the article on the Maine Lobster Festival, David Foster Wallace, was able to attend the class discussion of this piece I have a few questions I would like him to answer. One of which is why is the detail on seemingly unimportant information unrelated to the festival itself put more into the spotlight than the festival itself? Although the big idea of the article is the festival there are so many spots sprinkled throughout that just stick out way too much; including the part about lobsters being compared to rats and that it was considered even too disgusting for inmates. Another question I would ask is, why is there an entire recipe on how to boil lobster in this piece? This information although relevant to the topic of lobsters themselves, does not seem important to giving out detailed information on the history of the festival or how it became so popular. Another question I would ask David Foster Wallace is why include pages on the possible abuse of lobsters and PETA’s stance on the subject? This although information that could put the Maine Lobster Festival into jeopardy, seems like too much information or can even come across as against the festival. 
2. Written discussion, at least my experience with reading and writing in that sense, is very flawed because it takes the most important part of a discussion out of the equation. If there is no way for a reader or listener to respond to a discussion or even have other people, there to put in their exact words on the subject then there is really no point to it at all. Although I do have to admit that David Foster Wallace did a fantastic job at answering most questions I may have come up with throughout the piece. Someone reading may be thinking about asking about fun facts or even history of lobster in the area and that is exactly what is done here. The best way to answer those questions while writing a piece such as this is to think about every possible question that could be made in preparation for writing. All of that added information may seem like fluff to someone reading for a class, but in the sense of someone reading it for the first time just for the information then all of that becomes very important and adds a sense of relief that they have less questions to think about after reading. 

Journal #3:

When using quotes in writing, at least in the past for me, has been extremely difficult to do. In chapter three of the book, “They Say I Say,” was really intriguing and important for me to help me get through the writing process, that is on the process of using quotes. I have always had difficulty with writing in the quotes I have and I believe, at least in the writing that I had completed for the “favorite food” assignment, went surprisingly well for the quotes I had to use from the interview. After reading the idea of going into detail before and after is extremely important in making sure that quote is not only placed correctly but also that the quote is analyzed properly afterwards. Just shoving a quote into an essay never has worked and never will work, which is why in all writing the choice of said quote is extremely important. In high school I was talk about doing this properly but this chapter was a really important resource into giving me a heads up on the things I am doing right, but also the things I had been doing wrong. In the future I believe I will continue to go back to this chapter just to make sure that I am doing all of the quoting properly to ensure a good piece of writing.