Assignment Two Drafts
First Draft (No bibliography)
Second Draft ("Official Draft")
Formatted with cover page and bibliography
Third Draft (Peer Commented)
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Final Revised Copy
Assignment Two Workshop
As with the first workshop, time was an issue. There was more to read and to understand about each other's papers before we could provide useful remarks and suggestions. My paper was especially abstruse for my group to get through, and that sort of left me to do the bulk of the comments and revisions myself. Similarly, I wished I had more time to read and critique my group members' papers in more detail. This was an issue because I spent more time understanding their topics before being able to look at the mechanics, organization, and other components. One striking observation I had was just how different everyone's writing style was (my paper was definitely the most formal of the four). Overall, this experience taught me that quality workshopping takes time and active participation.
Assignment Two Revisions
This was a bit of a nightmare given the length of my paper. Whereas the first assignment's revisions were about getting the details right, this assignment's revisions was about omitting extraneous details and striving to find clear ways to explain abstract concepts. I ended up rereading my paper at least three times (one times backwards) to find “awkward” phrasing and wordy sentences that further obfuscated my point. From there, I worked on connecting each section together under the common theme of “believing” in Sherlock Holmes. I tweaked my introduction and conclusion for this purpose, and I elaborated more on my solution since my first draft ended my thoughts abruptly. I was meticulous in my citations, so that was never an issue, and while formatting was somewhat tedious, it also wasn't much of an issue because I had the perfect format from the start. Overall, this assignment's revisions felt like being a sculptor, whittling away at the imperfections and excess material until what's left is a refined work.