Project 1 Reflection

I decided I would write my first project about music, something for which I have much

passion. It was written with the purpose of informing the everyday person, whose musical

education may be lacking, as to why music is essential to life. Using an academic tone, I

effectively conveyed this purpose by referencing human anatomy, my own life experience, and

others’ opinions on how music affects humanity to support my claims. The rough draft did have

its problems; however, I believe it carried my main point well, stated my thesis clearly, and was

followed up with four paragraphs which effectively explained each point in my thesis. After

meeting with my teacher during the writing conference, I was informed of some of the more

pressing issues which riddled my paper: inconsistencies of tone, misused idiomatic expressions,

and poor interpretations of what others had said. Those issues, however, were redressed shortly

after the conference, and the only other issues that were brought to my attention during my peer

review discussions were about correcting general grammar and punctuation errors. On my own

time, and during my revision log, I corrected transitioning issues that affected the flow of my

paper and rephrased certain parts of my text that put the wrong emphasis on particular words,

phrases, or ideas. After I had completed all of my edits and polished the paper sufficiently, I was

pleased with my final product; there certainly could have been more improvements made had

this been my sole focus for this semester, but the final draft was enough to convey the whole

point of the project. Throughout this first assignment, I learned that for me, as a writer, I start to

list out my thoughts and form them into arguments before I determine the significance of those

arguments to the main point. This often leaves me with fragments of useless subpoints that do

not need defending, and makes the transitions between main thoughts difficult to develop. By

taking the time to evaluate the intentions of making a particular subpoint, I was able to isolate the
frail, misleading arguments and make an more informed decision on whether to keep or abandon

that specific sub-argument. Reflecting on this technique, I believe it not only helped me with this

project, or with the following projects, but will also benefit my general approach when it comes

to framing any kind of paper.