Reading and critiquing someone else’s paper was a very reflective experience for me. I learned that as writers we have certain tendencies and patterns that are sometimes good and sometimes aren’t. I also learned that there is a very specific range for the amount of detail necessary when describing research as evidence for your argument. Some people explain every step and figure researchers used while others just summarized their findings without providing any proof. It is important to find that happy medium. Something else I will apply to my own writing as I revise is paragraph organization. As the writer you are an expert so it is easy to understand how everything you are saying relates to your thesis, but the reader doesn’t have the same insight. It is sometimes necessary to explicitly write out how the evidence you just provided shows why your opinion is correct. Overall, I think the experience will help me revise my own writing with a different perspective.
