Dear Professor Greg McClure,

            First I would like to thank you for taking all of us step by step through the process of writing our RA Paper. I truly believe that the exercises you provided us with were useful not only to this specific essay, but I feel that I can use the techniques we've used in class to write in the future. The group work, peer reviews, and taking the time out of your day to be available and give each of us feedback has been a big help to me.

             I am proud of my essay, I know that it is lengthy and, I know that there is room for improvement, but I have never known how to analyze text as material quite like this. I think my organization of my essay may have been a bit choppy. It was clear to me that it needed to be fixed when we cut up our paragraphs and shuffled them around and had someone else try to put it together again. I tried to fix my topic sentences as much as possible, but I don't think that they were as clear as they could have been. If I were to do it all over again I would spend more time going through the rubric and making sure my paper met the standards that we are expected to meet. Also I think I should have quoted my sources more throughout the essay, I really like to use the three step method now that I know how, it gives so much more power to the argument, and I think I should have shown more of that in my RA Paper.

             As far as peer reviewing goes, I liked both peer reviewing activities, there were good intentions, maybe too good. I think people are too nice and are afraid to tell you what's really wrong with your paper, that's the only thing I found to be a problem. Both peer reviews I felt like there wasn't enough substance, the things that they told me to improve were very small when I know they could have said more. I know that I'm afraid when it comes time to critique someone else's work and tell them what they need to improve, I feel like they're taking it personally even when I know chances are they aren't. So maybe I could have been a better peer reviewer myself.

            This essay is actually one of the best essays that I've written because in the past I have been really quote heavy and not only that but, I really used to throw the quotes in "like hand grenades" and I've expected them to go off by themselves as you've mentioned in class. I think that now, finally, I know how to properly glue quotes into a paper, and also I now know when it is appropriate to paraphrase versus using a direct quote, no teacher had ever told me when to use what. Writing really doesn't come naturally to me, so sometimes it's difficult to get started, I spend what seems like forever just thinking about what I want to say, and in the past it has been overwhelming to write a good argument and then go about supporting it.

            I think this class so far has been a tremendous learning experience for me, I will use all of these techniques in the future, especially in my upper division Writing classes. Also during the election I decided that as soon as I am 35, in 2032 I am running for president of the United States of America; so I'm sure these techniques will help me write my speeches, and win America's heart.

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