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Mandeep Kaur
Professor Melton
English 5
February 26, 2016
Writers Narrative
Senior project had to be the biggest project I have done in high school. Our task was to
pick a controversial issue that we can closely relate to or a topic that we found to be important.
Our goal was to inspire people to bring change upon these controversial issues. Throughout the
year our teachers required us to do a significant amount of research, take part in community
service that related to our topic, and write a research paper on why our topic is such a big issue.
My topic was female discrimination. It covered a variety of areas where females are looked
down upon. I received a C on this paper because I had presented the information in an
unprofessional style. Most of the information I provided was my opinion instead of researched
facts. The most difficult part of the senior project was putting together all my research into a well
organized research paper. Following the steps of the writing process such as creating an outline,
writing a draft and revising helped me write an effective essay.
The first step of the writing process is to pre-write. Pre-writing helps me think of my
main points, as well as my thesis. With pre-writing, I am able to figure out what my essay will be
about. For my senior project, I chose discrimination against females because I have a great
passion for it. Right when I had gotten the prompt for the research paper, I immediately created
an outline in my head because the strong passion I had for my topic gave me the incentive to
quickly prepare this essay. Donald M. Murrays Write Before Writing states, The writer
becomes a magnet for specific details, insights, anecdotes, statistics, connecting thoughts,

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references. The subject itself seems to take a hold of the writers experience. And this inventory
of information creates pressure that moves the writer forward towards the first draft (Murray
376). In other words, Murray is saying that when a writer pre-writes, they are looking for big
things that may make their essays stronger. Whether it is details, anecdotes, or references, a
writer is quick to gather that information so they can strongly support their main points in an
essay. In relation to Murrays point, in order to be successful in my research paper, I too did my
best to research on my essay topic so I can find surprising facts, personal stories, and interesting
theories to make my writing sound more creative and interesting to read.
After pre-writing and creating an outline, I was able to write a first draft of my essay.
The first draft to me, seemed decent, but I knew it was not as great as it could be. The first draft
of my essay was created by me putting my outline into full, complete sentences. While I typed it,
I added explanations and details into every area that needed clarifications. Ann Lamotts Shitty
First Drafts states, The first draft is the childs draft, where you let it all pour out and then let it
romp all over the place. You just let this childlike part of you channel whatever voices and
visions come through and onto the page (Lamott 22-23). Basically, Lamott is saying that the
first drafts are weak. They lack organization and structure. While I wrote my first draft of this
really big research paper, that would be at least one third of my grade, I began to lose confidence
in my writing because it was lacking a strong organization structure. It was difficult for me to
group information under one broad topic because the research information was massive. I
relaxed myself because I knew this was only my first draft of the many to be written. Just like
Lamott said, I was just pouring out information into paragraph structures. I also relaxed myself
because I knew I would be getting a peer edit as well as a teacher revision on this rough draft
essay.

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In the third part of the writing process, I had my essay revised so that changes that are
necessary can be made to enhance my writing. Usually in high school, peer edits were more
preferred by teacher because it made their jobs easier, but for the senior project research essay,
our advisory teachers revised them because they wanted us to get the best revision advice
possible. According to Donald M. Murrays The Makers Eye: Revising Your Own
Manuscript, Writers must learn to be their own best enemy. They must accept the criticism of
others and be suspicious of it; they must accept the praise of others and be even more suspicious
of it. They must detach themselves from their own pages so that they can apply birth their caring
and their craft to their own work (Murray 57). In other words, Murray is saying that a writer
should get his or her writing revised. They have to be strong and accept the criticism they
receive. They must also accept the praise they get. But the writer must always question the
criticism and praise because it may or may not be beneficial to them. The writer themselves must
apply the feedback to their writing because only they will know what will enhance their writing
and what will not. For my research paper, the revisions my teacher gave me were very helpful.
She helped me rephrase awkward sentences, fix minor grammar errors, and she told me to cite
my sources correctly. Following the revising, my essay had room for fixing. I used the criticism
to make my essay the best possible. After receiving the feedback, I completed my final draft.
The senior project research paper was a difficult task because I was overwhelmed with
facts and knowledge on the topic, which made it hard for me to structure the essay. I was mostly
stating my opinion, rather than listing out researched facts. By following the writing process of
pre-writing, writing a first draft, revising, then writing a final draft I was able to produce an essay
that was both informative and interesting. My final draft did result in a C, but looking back I am
able to identify what I could have done better to produce a stronger research paper.

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Works Cited
Lamott, Ann. Shitty First Drafts. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. New
York: Pantheon, 1994. 21-27.
Murray, Donald M. The Makers Eye: Revising Your Own Manuscript. The McGraw- Hill
Reader: Issues Across the Disciplines. Ed. Gilbert H. Muller. New York: CUNY, 2002.
56-60.
Murray, Donald M. Write before Writing College Composition and Communication, Vol. 29,
No 4. (1978): 375-381.