The chapter I chose to reread is chapter 8. While perusing through the book, this chapter seemed the most beneficial to me to read for my final paper. And since I didn’t realize until halfway through the chapter that we had already been over this chapter as part of another blog assignment, it seemed fitting that I read it again as clearly I didn’t retain any of the information from my last read. This chapter addresses a big problem to me that I feel has been a challenge for all three of my essays: connecting my ideas. It’s been brought up in all of my peer reviews “maybe try connecting your ideas some more?” “I’m having trouble following your essay.” It’s all about connecting your precious sentences with your next sentences. I don’t know why but it seems to be one of the things I struggle with the most. I think it’s because I lack repetition in my writing, because I don’t want to sound too tedious. Thankfully, chapter 8 had a whole section on how to restate your points in varied and interesting enough ways so that you don’t sound tedious. There was also a quote among that section that really showed me how important repetition can be, “writers would never make an impact on readers if they didn’t repeat their points often enough to reinforce those points and make them stand out above subordinate points.” In all of my essays I’ve had my main points, my thesis, but I have also included several sub-points to support my argument more. It never occurred to me that I’ve needed to remind readers of my main point more than my sub-points so they aren’t so confused as to the point I’m really trying to make.

In my essay I changed basically all of my sentences to fit better together. Now that I had all of my ideas down on paper, it made it easier to identify the main points I talk about, and how to connect most of my sentences so that they support my points. From doing this, I found that my paper is a much easier read and I can fully establish what I am arguing. Doing this has also clarified some points that I could take out, making my essay flow that much better. Furthermore, it made me think of better points to express to keep the conversation going. While I haven’t written about these points yet I can feel that they are going to strengthen my thesis and also provide more opportunity for multimodal elements.