PORTFOLIO: FINAL EXAM

As Nora Ephron states, “ I suspect there is just so much you can teach college students about revision;” it looks like she never came across revision. Nora thought that there’s nothing more to writing than just writing. For example, a raft draft and a final draft which is like a developmental stage of a 2-year-old as she has stated. Writing has stages to it and once you have mastered everything about writing, you become good at it. Writing is not an over-night situation that you just get used to and like it right away. It’s a step by step process and as you have come to understand the ups and down of writing, you will become a good writer.

In my situation, I can greatly compare myself to Nora’s situation. In the beginning of Writing 101 I never thought that writing an essay is basically like an argument. You write your own point of view oppose to the “They Say.” Before attending Writing 101, my perspective of writing an essay is to project my own voice to the readers and nothing more. But just like Nora said, " 2-year-old’s sudden ability to place one block on top of another--that comes along somewhat later." College is a much higher education and there's a lot more to learn about writing an essay and revision. There are a lot more teachers teaching in different writing classes and with this, different techniques on writing. Although with their different techniques, it all comes to one good essay. In Writing 101 I came to learn about other methods on writing an essay. For example, the “They Say, I Say” method. With this I came to learn the right way on quoting and how to support my argument with my own voice. The higher level you get, the more you learn and as you come to the end you are finished.

Although, in some of Nora’s situation didn't quite match my experience in Writing 101. In Writing 101, we always had to revise. And instead of just turning in our raft draft to the instructor, we posted them online. With this, the instructor and the students were able to comment on your paper which was good to get both the teacher and the student’s perspective. Having multiple people comment and help you on revising your essay, you become more open minded on what to write. Not only that they (instructor and students) give you ideas but help you with your grammars. English being my second language, I always have grammar error and with them commenting on my work, I learn more.