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Am I a Writer?

I learned I am not good at essays.

By Rene PetersPublished 2 years ago 3 min read
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Am I a Writer?
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

I would like to preface this with... This article was started during college composition in June 2022 and I am just now finishing. If that doesn't say anything about my writing, then nothing does.

What I wrote in the middle of June: I have never been so disappointed in myself. I learned that I can't write a proper critical analysis essay.

Continuation, at the end of July: My first essay had a lot of critiques from classmates since I volunteered to have the draft read anonymously before we really learned anything about critical thinking. Later in the five-week class, we learned about the difference between editing and revising, leading his comments on the draft to make more sense to me.

This is what his comments say (on my first essay, which I had 24 hours to write, due to his instructions):

*You definitely grasp the concept of the assignment, but you don’t quite have an essay yet. You have your thesis, although it needs to be in your introduction, and I believe you have your points in mind. You just haven’t established them yet clearly on the page. Once you have a point established, you then can present examples from both your text and other sources/associations to develop it, but the point must come first. I’d also like to see less quoting and more justification of the quotes you keep. I don’t think this is going to take a lot of revising, but it is going to need lots of clean up. Be sure to talk with me if you have any questions or wish for further discussion.*

We did not do any editing or revising for another two weeks, we just wrote our other essays. For everyone else, it was two more essays but for me, it was only one more essay. I'll explain that as quickly as I can...

My dad got into a pretty bad motorcycle accident when I was about three weeks into the class. He was driving to work and next thing I know, I hear, from my mom's phone, my dad saying, "I got into an accident." A few days later, he came home from the hospital with a broken right leg in a soft cast, his right hand in a splint, and having to use a walker with some weird arm attachment. He had three surgeries in a week and a half. All of which were on his right leg, as his ankle was shattered. He isn't able to bear weight until about ten weeks after the accident, so I help when my mom is at work with stuff like getting drinks and food.

Since I was already three weeks in, leaving only two more, I wasn't going to withdraw. I got into contact with my professor via email and was having full conversations through email, making sure he was updated every week. When we were at the end of week four, he asked if I wanted to do the third essay. I was concerned about my grade. The breakdown originally was:

Participation 25%

Essay One 25%

Essay Two 25%

Essay Three 25%

I think what he changed mine to was participation, essay one, and essay two all being one-third of my grade.

Participation was super easy for me after the first two days. The class was two hours a day, four days a week. I had panic attacks every day in the first week. What really surprised me was my grade at the end. I imagined I would get a D+, C- if I was lucky. Three days after I turned in my portfolio (the day after grades were due), I checked to see what I got...

My final grade was a B+!

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About the Creator

Rene Peters

I write what I know, usually in the form of poetry. I tend to lean towards mental health, epilepsy, and loss/grieving.

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Nice work

Very well written. Keep up the good work!

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Comments (3)

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  • Mike Singleton - Mikeydred2 years ago

    Thank you for sharing this with us , excellent writing as always

  • Babs Iverson2 years ago

    Do hope your dad healed quickly. Congratulations on the B+!!!

  • Carol Townend2 years ago

    Yes, I had essay difficulties at school when I was going through trauma too so I can relate to this. I wrote a fiction essay, and I thought it was bad My teacher though, thought it was so good, he made me prove I didn't copy it from a book. He also gave me an unexpected grade A+ I was shocked!

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