There are two main affects that this course had on me as a student. First, which isn't exactly specific to this course, writing hard and writing often naturally is going to make you a better writer. In my revisions that I did I found significant themes in my writing that now I can look for while I write. After a first draft generally nothing is missing from my writing as far as conclusions that can be made go, but I don't use other sources as well as I could fist time around. Also usually everything I process in a paper is useful in my work but maybe not in the place where I put it the first time.
I have adopted the Malcom Gladwell mentality as a student this quarter. I am not an inherently exceptional writer or student in general. But because I want to be exceptional in both of those things I have used all the will-power I have to continually take the time to try and become an expert off of hard work and dedication. This class has helped me do that because of the revision process, where often times I would spend more time revising than I did creating the first draft.
The last thing pertains to research. I found that instead of trying to manipulate other people's work to fit your argument you will have the best results if you take their argument and aplpy it to yours even if it doesn't quite fit or challenges parts of it. Finding the middle-ground between two arguments creates a more dynamic argument than keeping your argument linear as possible with sources.
Sometimes real writing doesn't happen until revision. I really appreciated the comment on research and allowing sources to challenge your writing. I think that perspective will serve you quite well in your courses, because that's an honest use of sources to try to learn and write something new.
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