Peer editing taught me that the writing process is not a easy process. It takes a lot of time and energy out of an individual. It’s constant criticism on yourself and holding back on what you have to say. Often times people feel that the readers will react a certain way based on how they phrased something in their paper. Feeling this way leaves your paper not as strong as you imagined it would be. Not saying that you should insult someone, but just get your opinion out in an mannerly way. Editing in general is a hard job, you never want to seem mean or rude, but you do want to have some type of backbone. Its a thin line between giving advice and actually telling someone what to do. You want to be conscience of how you phrase your words because the writer can take it the wrong way. To me it seems like some emotion is tied into editing, having sympathy on the other writer’s work.
Peer editing the 101 essays was a good experience for me, I have edited other people papers in the past but each time is always different. The one essay that I read was a good start for an 101 student on their first draft, she had a lot of supporting details and good points. I felt she was a better writing than I was, that made me look at myself and question “What can I do to make my research paper better?”. The essay contained great organization, something that I need to work on more. One thing that I loved was here conclusion, she compared having a healthy relationship to a house, if you don’t have a strong foundation it will crumble. I agree with this one hundred percent, everything needs a strong foundation in order to stand. Not only can this be applied to a healthy relationship, but this can go for anything in general. For example, my research paper needs a strong foundation. If I map out exactly what I want to include in the paper and organize it well enough then it can make my paper even more stronger in the end.
This whole editing experience has made me look at myself as a writer. I know I am not as strong of a writer that I would like to be and by criticising my own work I can acknowledge my flaws. I have noticed that I often struggle with opening and closing a paper. I never know where to start and how to close in on my ideas. Another flaw is expanding my ideas, I want to include more information but without sounding like I’m repeating myself. I don’t want my reader’s attention to drift off after a while. I have a lot of revising to put into my paper. In the end I hope to have a well thought out research paper with little to no flaws. :-)
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