Richi Barua

Professor Ewan

FIQWS

15 April 2019

My Journey on Writing the Expository Essay

The expository essay is something that I was initially scared about. It is an essay that requires to be written in an objective voice. All the other assignments prior to this essay were written in subjective voices, and so, writing this essay was a bit more intimidating. I planned to write the essay about the effects of puppetry on therapies for children and I thought that the topic was going to be hard to write about, and it was. The Expository Essay was difficult but while writing it, I overcame challenges and I was able to learn many aspects of academic writing and gain various knowledge which will benefit me in the future with my upcoming assignments.

In order to write the essay, I utilized past approaches. I gathered and organized evidence first, and then I assembled the essay. This approach was beneficial because  I was able to determine what was necessary for the essay. This approach was also helpful because organizing is something that I struggle with, and by focusing on it, I was able to invest time on what is necessary and I was able to learn how certain things are done in academic writing.

Prioritizing parts of the essay was an important thing to do. I thought that prioritizing parts that I usually struggle with will help me, and it did just that. I focused on trying to find evidence since it is something that I struggle with. The library visit definitely helped me because it taught me how to look for sources. From then on, I tried to look for sources every day using keywords related to my topic. Eventually, I was successful in finding various sources because I learned to use CUNY databases. By practicing and by using CUNY databases, I acquired new knowledge that goes beyond what was taught in Ms. Adam’s class, Mr. Ewan’s class, and in the library visit. Prioritizing the hunt for evidence was worth it because I learned how to use the databases, which will help me in the future especially since I am in an early college program.

The sources which were acquired for this essay were all related to the main thesis. The purpose of each evidence was to show the effects of puppetry in therapies for children. I tried to analyze and connect each piece of evidence to the main idea in each paragraph, and then, in the conclusion, I summarized a couple of the strongest evidence using signal phrases. I actually struggled with the conclusion at first because it was required that you summarize the most important sources using signal phrases in this part. I didn’t know how I was going to proceed with that, and so,  I practiced using signal phrases a little more before diving into the conclusion. I picked two to three of the strongest evidence, and I tried to summarize those points in the simplest way. It was hard at first, but I was able to get the gist of it. Understanding how to write a conclusion is very important and I am happy that I was able to focus on it because I learned how academic writing works and I learned how I should proceed with future assignments.

Something else that I had to focus on while writing is MLA formatting. MLA “code” is something that I was actually very unaware of before writing this assignment. I knew basic rules of MLA format but I didn’t know the crucial parts of it. Throughout the course of writing the essay, I definitely acquired much knowledge on MLA formatting. I learned how to cite, how to integrate source, and how to introduce sources. Learning these made me understand how  MLA works and it made me push myself to follow the guidelines.

Before any sort of quotes or evidence were used, I had to use full source introduction. I stated the text’s name, the author, and gave a short summary about it. After the evidence was presented, I used in-text citations. I did not understand in-text citation at first. I did not know when to use what. I tried to use packets and the Norton Field Guide in order to help myself. As I did more practice on in-text citations along with the help of the book and articles, I felt more confident in terms of writing my paper. I was happy that I finally understood MLA formatting because I will continue to use it when it is necessary and whenever it is required. Using it more often will make me learn how to do everything much better because everything requires practice.

At the end of my first draft, peer review is something that tremendously helped me improve my paper. My peer helped me point out minor mistakes that I made in my paper. She aided me because I was able to take her advice and proofread my paper. The suggestions that my peer gave me was mostly small suggestions such as grammar mistakes. I kept her suggestions in mind and proofread my paper while checking for all the elements at the same time. I read my several times just in case I missed any element. This was actually the first time I used this method of proofreading and I will be continuing to use it since I saw more mistakes this way and I was able to create a final copy of the paper much more efficiently this way.

The Expository Essay was written over the course of three weeks and I spent an average of fifty hours on it. When writing the final draft, my grandma was hospitalized, which put strains on my schedule. Despite that, I tried to utilize as much time as I can on the paper. Regardless of all the difficulties that I faced, the Expository Essay actually helped me learn how to find evidence, how to write conclusions, and it helped me to be organized. These lessons will help me in the future and, therefore, writing the essay was a worthwhile experience.