Why the Unexamined Essay is Not Worth Submitting

	Socrates once said “the unexamined life is not worth living” and that we must reflect on ourselves constantly to improve. If life is a journey full of challenges and improvements, you better believe writing is too.  My English Composition course showed me that you learn something new every time you write something new and while there are many rhetorical concepts to consider when writing, arguably the most important is making sure that whoever reads it can understand it. My efforts towards bringing the purpose and meaning of my writing to the audience hit quite a few bumps over this course, but learning from my shortcomings has only made me stronger. From confusing comparisons and drawn out fluff writing, to methodical wording at every point, I have discovered a lot about using phrasing, context, and organization to consider my audience.
	I've always considered myself a creative, but sometimes you can be a little too creative. In my forum post which asked about my strengths as a writer at the start of the year, I mentioned being influenced by film and using that knowledge to create scenes and comparisons. While I sincerely thought it would only help me, especially for the initial personal reflection paper, in the end I was only half correct. Although my essay did start with strong imagery like “the hum of my engine disappeared” while talking about my car breaking down, my creativity led me off track as I explored concepts and comparisons rather than continuing the story I was meant to be forming. Even in my rewrite, references that I thought were clever like readying a cigarette and blindfold in preparation of parental punishment (an homage to the classic Tom and Jerry gag) only served to dilute the meaning and confuse my readers. It was a striking revelation to see how often I write as if I were the audience, and how my purpose can be completely obscured behind figurative language. I learned that you and the people in your life aren't always indicative of the average person reading. Not everyone is going to be able to recognize your references and metaphors, much less make the intended connection. The criticism I received went a long way in helping me understand the need for proper context with figurative language and reigning in my style in respect to the audience or genre.
	Confident in my newfound wisdom, I was all but prepared for the following book analysis essay. I understood the content, I knew what I wanted to say, and finding relevant evidence was my specialty. What could go wrong? Despite a strong overall understanding, my desire to say as much as possible led to the emphasis of my ideas being out of balance and in the wrong places. For example even though I thoroughly explained the author's techniques of tension and overall culmination towards the climax, I forgot to mention what the climax actually was! This lapse of ignorance to my audience proved how easy it is to get misguided and say too much about some things and too little about others. Again confidence got the best of me as I failed to fully reflect on what ideas I was conveying and the overall purpose of my writing. This time the comments revealed how often I repeat myself, add extra ideas and evidence from the text while never expanding on them, and waste potential for new ideas by focusing on the same ones. It can be really easy for me to stray off track and I had to internalize that sometimes less really is more. I realized that I had to understand the assignments and the evidence I was using in relation to them more clearly because I wasn't properly connecting my purpose with my readers.
	Third time's the charm, I was certain the next paper regarding concepts would be the one I found success with. I kept my wording simple and figurative speech to a minimum, I made sure every sentence had it's purpose, and I followed the prompt religiously. On the workshop day, my instructor showed me that even though my paper as a whole (which only I could truly see) made sense, she was completely lost because of the organization of my ideas. Specifically, the comparisons I was making had their own separate paragraphs and so it was hard to see the connections. Even though every word had its use, I was only looking from my own holistic view. You can word individual ideas simply and brilliantly but they will lose their strength just the same if they're not properly organized or cohesive with each other. I had a real talent for finding new ways to overlook my audience. I was too determined to get despondent though so I went back to present my thoughts simultaneously instead of one at a time so the readers could more clearly see the links between ideas. My final grade reflected that I was learning the importance of the arrangement of ideas along with all the various other ways the audience and purpose of your writing can be lost.
	As it normally goes, once you think you've grasped an idea, something else comes along to show you how wrong you are. The fourth and final paper (excluding this one) that was based in research and adhering to a strict outline and checklist, would prove to be difficult. I already knew my tendency to forsake the prompt and stray off-track, so I paid extra attention towards satisfying every condition. My paper was filled with evidence and research, every requirement was developed and in place, again I was confident. However in my efforts to stay on track with the prompt, I forgot the earlier lessons of careful wording and organization. In collaboration with my peers, they joked around reading my paper saying “I'm not smart enough to read this!” and calling attention to how long and dense it was. They joked but they had no idea just how right they were. My quotes were long and verbose (one taking up half the page!) and I repeated myself constantly. There was a total overload of information and I really underestimated how many things you need to balance to write a good paper. You can be too wordy and confuse your readers, weaken your point with too much evidence, or simply lose the audiences' interest by dragging on too long. I learned that my tendency wasn't just to go off-track, but to hyper focus certain details rather than create something well rounded. There was a lot of work to be done but what I will say about revising, is that its easier to get rid of excess than build up what isn't there. In no time I had shortened and paraphrased many quotes, cut out over two pages of useless or repetitive ideas, and ended up with a much more organized and easier to parse product. From then on I had taken to heart the value of consistency. What good is going through the learning process if you immediately lose sight of the lessons you learned?
	My experiences throughout this course showed me how even your best skills can be turned against you if you don't have the proper perspective. Whether you're being overtly creative or verbose, not balancing the substance of your content and evidence, or forgetting to organize the flowing of ideas properly, there are many ways to lose sight of the audience or the context of your writing's purpose. Sometimes simply knowing what to do or what not to do isn't good enough, you have to know yourself as a writer and your own weaknesses as an individual in order to spot mistakes before they ever happen. Every time you finish a paper, no matter how good it is you memorialize the spaces where you can improve and that, is why the unexamined essay is not worth submitting.