Post Draft Outline and Self-Reflection and Revision Plan (Essay 1)

Once you’ve downloaded this document, resave it using your last name and then “fill in the blanks” in the outline and type your responses (3 paragraphs) on the following page. Once you’re finished, save it again and upload it to the HW 3 Dropbox.

This post-draft outline can help you to see how your paper is currently organized and developing. Once you identify how your paper is organized, you can

  • Move paragraphs around to make the argument stronger or more effective.
  • Sharpen you topic sentences by clearly identifying the central argument and goal of each paragraph.
  • Identify relationships between paragraphs so that you can create more effective “bridges” between paragraphs.
  • Note: The first sentence of each paragraph should always show the connection between that paragraph and the preceding one. The development of each paragraph should feel “natural” to the reader.

I think of the post-draft outline as analogous to “checking your work” in a math class. It allows you to see what is working and identify places where the connections have broken down.

In your reflection, you will check to make sure that each “topic” or “bridge” sentence does two things:

a)Each bridge sentence should be connected to the thesis and

b)Each bridge sentence should create a clear connection (or “bridge”) between the focus of the current paragraph and the focus of the paragraph that precedes it.

Steps:To fill out this outline, look at your own essay and follow these steps:

  1. Type (or copy and paste) your thesis into the first blank.
  2. Read through your first paragraph and identify the primary focus or goal. What unifies this paragraph? What is its purpose? Summarize the focus of the first body paragraph in slot II.a
  3. Copy and paste the topic (bridge) sentence of the first paragraph into II.b
  4. Keep repeating these steps until you have a Post-Draft Outline of the Essay. Then proceed to the “Self Reflection and Revision Plan” on the next page.
  1. Introduction
  2. Thesis ______
  1. Paragraph
  2. Primary Focus of Paragraph (summarizebriefly)

______

  1. Topic Sentence/Argument Sentence (the first sentence of the paragraph. Make sure to tie this sentence back to the thesis.)

______

  1. Paragraph
  2. Primary Focus of Paragraph (summarizebriefly)

______

  1. Topic Sentence/Argument Sentence (the first sentence of the paragraph. Make sure to tie this sentence back to the thesis and to paragraph II.)

______

IV. Paragraph

a. Primary Focus of Paragraph (summarizebriefly)

______

b. Topic Sentence/Argument Sentence (the first sentence of the paragraph. Make sure to tie this sentence back to the thesis and to paragraph III.)

______

  1. Paragraph
  2. Primary Focus of Paragraph (summarizebriefly)

______

  1. Topic Sentence/Argument Sentence (the first sentence of the paragraph. Make sure to tie this sentence back to the thesis and to paragraph IV.)

______

  1. Paragraph
  2. Primary Focus of Paragraph (summarizebriefly)

______

  1. Topic Sentence/Argument Sentence (the first sentence of the paragraph. Make sure to tie this sentence back to the thesis and to paragraph V.)

______

V. Conclusion

a. How has the thesis evolved?

______

Self-Reflection and Revision Plan

At this point, you have received two peer review responses and you have your post-draft outline. It’s important to reflect on what changes you want to make and whyyou want to make them to insure that this work is actually useful to you!

Respond to each of the following questions in a full paragraph using the PIE structure. In this case, the “Illustrations” will be sentences from your own essay that you plan to revise. The “Explanation” will discuss how you plan to revise them or why such a revision is significant. You will write a total of 3 paragraphs below.

Responding to the Post-Draft Outline:

  1. As you look back over the Post-Draft outline, you will want to make sure that each topic or bridge sentence (the first sentence of every paragraph) is a) connected to the thesis and b) creates a clear connection (or “bridge”) between the focus of the current paragraph and the focus of the paragraph that precedes it. Find one bridge sentence that could be usefully revised. Why does it need to be revised and how can you revise it? (NOTE: Here, you only need to discuss one revision, but you may find multiple bridge sentences that need to be revised. Spending time on these sentences is a great use of your time because they help to guide your reader through your essay!)

Responding to Peer Review:

  1. Write two paragraphs responding to two different peer review comments that you found useful or that have compelled you to see your essay in a new light. How have these comments helped you to re-envision your own essay? What kinds of revisions are you going to make in response to these Peer Reviews? (NOTE: This is your essay, so you don’t have to revise your sentences in the ways suggested by the peer reviewer! However, peer responses often give us insight into our writing style and places where we might be less clear or convincing, and that insight is usually useful. Therefore, you can disagree with a Peer Review—or “agree with a difference—but that dialogue should be useful.)

a.

b.