I was feeling pretty stuck on my evolution essay. It was really evolving the way I was intending. At least not evolving very quickly. So I decided to succumb to Shelley’s suggestion of annotating my own rough draft.
To be honest, I was pretty skeptical going into it. I didn’t really understand the concept at first. I thought it meant creating an annotated bibliography precis of my piece that I was working on. When I did understand that it meant going though and electronically commenting on your own piece, I thought it sounded like unnecessary busy work that wouldn’t get me any closer to a completed essay. I thought I can totally just think those thoughts in my head, why go through and actually type them out that’s pointless. (Sorry Shelley! Sometimes I have a bad attitude).
I started annotating reluctantly, like a pre-teen setting out to clean your bedroom after your mom asked them to, thinking in your head this is so stupid.
But, also similar to a pre-teen who has just finished cleaning your room after your mom asked you to, I realized that it wasn’t really that bad, or that hard, and was actually quiet helpful.
As I started to annotate my own draft, I was able to look upon my essay like a third party. I was detached from the idea that I was writing this paper. Instead, I was critiquing this paper. This gave me a mindset which allowed me to really pick apart what was working, what wasn’t, and where I needed to add/subtract words. Doing this exercise actually gave me a direction- it showed me specific places where I can work on my evolution essay to improve it.
I guess I should have known to trust Shelley’s advice. After all, being in both her Gateway and Capstone, she does feel a bit like my writing mom.