Beyond Spellcheck: How to Self-Revise a First Draft in a Time Crunch
Hi! My name is Zoë Rein and I’m a junior majoring in English with Teacher Licensure and Math with a minor in TESOL. Outside of The Writing Center, I’m an Honors Fellow doing research on writing and a director of Alternative Breaks!What is the last thing I feel like doing after writing my first draft? Writing the next one. Going through the process of reading confusingly organized paragraphs, half-formulated ideas, and repetitive sentence structures is uncomfortable and painful. Sometimes, I think to myself that the first draft is “good enough,” and I can turn it in as is. Especially during those late nights or last-minute moments where The Writing Center and my friends are all asleep, it becomes easier to turn away and condemn the paper to its unrevised stage. Yet, that early draft stage won’t pack as much of a punch as a well-organized, thought-out, and properly designed paper….
Read MoreOne Writing Center Consultant’s Process for Writing a Literary Analysis Thesis Statement
Cailey Rogers is a class of 2024 Writing Center consultant. She is studying Journalism and English Literature. At Elon, she is a Communications Fellow and is involved in Elon Learning Assistance, Colonnades Literary and Art Journal, and the Pendulum. In my short time at Elon, I have found that the most challenging and rewarding part of writing a long literary analysis paper is the thesis statement. It’s funny how just one small portion of what can become an eight-page essay seems impossible to accomplish. If you feel that way, you are certainly not alone. Even English majors struggle with it – I can say that from personal experience! That is exactly why I decided to share the tips and processes that have helped me the most when writing a literary analysis thesis statement in hopes that it could help others staring at a blank document, not knowing where to start…
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