Magari 1

Peni Magari

Professor Speiser

Writing 2

5 June 2018

Metacognitive Essay

I do not like writing essays. It takes a long time to write, and the final product is often

unsuccessful. The effort I put in does not always reflect in the grade I receive in the end.

However, when I was a kid, I have once thought of becoming a writer. I enjoyed writing very

much when I was in elementary school because my teachers praised my writing. I gained

confidence and that made me want to write more. However, I lost that sense of joy in writing

when I began doing standardized tests and academic writing. Especially, when I came to the U.S,

I focused on my grammar so much that I got frustrated in writing. I was afraid to write because I

was not confident in my grammar, and I did not want to show my weakness. In addition, to get

higher grades, I was determined to follow the proper format and grading rubrics provided by my

teachers.

Due to my previous experiences, I tend to treat my first draft as the final draft. I thought

doing this can help me finish the paper quickly and receive better grades in both draft and the

final paper. So for each essay, I thoughtfully planned my outline, and directly dived into my

essay writing. Every sentence was formed in my mind before writing them out. After a while, I

found out that was a bad idea. This systematic work made me feel that writing is boring. Because

I strictly followed my outline, my ideas often got lost in the writing process. Many of them never

returned. However, Writing 2 helped me break through this dilemma. I realized the enjoyment of

writing again with the help of class readings and writing projects.
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Influenced by the reading “Shitty First Draft” by Anne Lamott, I tried to write my first

draft differently. I used Lamott’s technique where I just quiet “voices” in my head and let my

fingers move freely (26). I told myself that rough drafts should be rough, and I stopped limiting

what I write down. I still remember how much freedom I felt doing this. I had so many ideas and

thoughts on my topic, and it seemed that I can write forever. That was a time after a long while

that I felt writing is not stressful. This writing technique helped me in each individual writing

project, but its effect was most obvious in writing project 3, where I combined my personal

opinions with previous researches on a topic. In the past, if my writing class does not require my

personal viewpoint, I discarded those thoughts and never came back to it again. This time, I

saved all my writings, including facts I learned from researches and my opinions about the topic,

during the process of writing project 1 and 2. When I started to work on writing project 3, I could

go back and find useful pieces of information in the files and reuse them. Some of the writings

were not used in previous projects, but were very relevant to the last project. After this

experience, I agree with the Tedx video presented by Obert Skye that “good ideas can get lost or

become hidden or never be discovered if they are buried under the laziness and misconception”

(Skye). At first, I thought I prevented losing my ideas by writing a rich rough draft and saving

them until the very end. However, according to Skye, revision is the key to better writing.

For my final project, this writing course gave me an opportunity to revise my paper.

When I heard about revising the essays, I thought it was troublesome because every final product

I turned in, I believed, was written with all the skills and effort I had. So I did not know what I

could do more with this “final product” to make it better. But later I noticed where I could do

better based on the comments from Professor Speiser and feedbacks from peers. In the past, I

used to just focus on the final grade that I received and did not seriously utilize the feedbacks
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from my teachers. By revising my paper this time, I realized that I truly improve my writing skill

by revising. I finally had a breakthrough in writing, and I owe it all to this writing class.

Moreover, from my experience with writing and the writing projects in this class, I

realized that it is true to say “writing is a mirror that helps reflect who they are as students,

allowing them to see themselves in their own words” (Sommers and Saltz). For example, I wrote

about my Japanese-Chinese identity for college applications two years ago. I did not think about

my identity so deeply before writing these application essays. In the process of writing, I was

challenged to reflect on a deeper level, and I was even come to the conclusion that I am both

Japanese and Chinese (Magari). In this class, I chose boarding school as my topic because I spent

10 years at boarding schools and it was a big part of my life. After writing about boarding

schools, I now have a better understanding of myself. My thoughts are more organized and I feel

more at peace with my identity.

Lastly, this course taught me the importance of recognizing the intended audience.

Through researches and writings from different genres, I recognized differences in patterns of

writing. With my new found knowledge, I think I became a more educated writer. As a biology

major, I will be writing in the science field. Therefore, I am glad that I got to familiarize myself

with writing in the genre before I entered the field. Knowing how to write in different genres is

an essential part to being a good writer, and I am grateful that this course prepared me to write

for my future career.

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Works Cited

Lamott, Anne. Bird by Bird : Some Instructions on Writing and Life. 1st ed., Pantheon Books,

1994.

Magari, Peni. Identity. 2016. The Athenian School. Unpublished paper.

Skye, Obert. “The Magic Of Revision.” TedxIdahoFalls, YouTube, 29 Apr. 2016,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqK6-ePxPa8.

Sommers, Nancy, and Saltz, Laura. “The Novice as Expert: Writing the Freshman Year.”

College

Composition and Communication, vol. 56, no. 1, 2004, pp. 124–149. Retrieved from

https://gauchospace.ucsb.edu/courses/pluginfile.php/1865324/mod_resource/content/1/So

mmers%20and%20Saltz_Novice%20as%20Expert.pdf