Writing a persuasive essay is different from writing a creative essay because with a creative essay I can speak freely about something. I don’t have to go into heavy research about anything I write. With a persuasive essay, you need to research because how are you gonna argue your point without any type of evidence. That is why I’m less interested in research essays, also because most research essays have to follow a certain topic instead of being more in a free form. My scientific source doesn’t fuel my thinking as much as creative/narrative non-fiction does. This is because when I write creatively nothing really holds me back from putting what I really feel. Research persuasive essays are harder to write in my opinion because sometimes I agree and disagree with something and I’m forced to choose a side and then regret it halfway.
Writing techniques and rules that remain no matter what essay I write is that everything must flow, make sense and not be irrelevant to your topic. If what you’re getting into doesn’t directly answer your main question it shouldn’t be there. Also, you can’t talk about one thing and then just jump straight into another thing in the next sentence. You need to set up the next sentence or paragraph with a nice introduction. If it doesn’t flow the reader will get thrown off and lose focus.
My research was enhanced midway through the essay and that messed me up a little but I kept going. I had new ideas midway of the essay when I already had an outline on how to do the essay. The outline really never goes according to plan when you’re passionate about what you’re saying but it’s still good to have some type of structure so I knew what I was doing. When I found evidence that’s when my thoughts began to pour out because I had to analyze what I was seeing.
When I look for additional sources sometimes I change my argument. When you’re looking for sources sometimes you stumble upon evidence that is so good to argue and your claim would be better supported with the newly found evidence rather than the old. I sometimes experience this while looking for counter-arguments. This is starting to teach me to look for evidence that’s against your claim so you can have a full idea of what you agree with and which is better to argue.
If I was given a two-week extension there are factors that would make my essay better. If I am all by myself and try to revise my work it still wouldn’t be all that great from the original. Whereas if it was a productive two weeks with my pears editing it or giving me feedback I could integrate that into my work and make it better. Sometimes you may not agree with your peers and keep your work the way it is and in my opinion, that’s when you’ve written a great essay because you feel like it is perfect and others’ ideas aren’t good enough to alter it.
I feel like the most thought-provoking piece we have read is “What Writers Really Do When They Write” by George Saunders. I feel like I related to this piece because it did have reasons why I write in there and it wasn’t reasons I really thought about. I mostly only write because I have to for school but even when you’re forced to write about something and in a certain way, you still have your own style to it. I have seen a style a write like in the reading, I actually related to a few of them. A piece I didn’t find thought-provoking was “How To Break Up With Your Phone” by Catherine Pierce. I didn’t find this thought-provoking at all because I just felt like it was unnecessary. She encourages people to use their phone less but people aren’t on their phones doing nothing at all, they could be trying to entertain themselves or even doing work on it. I wouldn’t really call this an addiction and I don’t see a problem with it.
