Lesson 13

Journal:
Write about your experience consulting with someone about your writing. 500 words

I turned my paper over to a science teacher with a BA in history and science. For our intents and purposes we'll just call her "Miss Smith". She worked at my school as a teacher's aid and often corrected high school students' papers. So I asked if she would be willing to correct my and then I emailed it to her. While I waited I corrected my paper on my own and crossed my fingers. I was hoping that I wouldn't disappoint her. A few days later she called me on the phone so we could discuss the mistakes, strengths, and weaknesses. She seemed very pleased with my work, which was a relief to me, but there were some errors we had to address.
My WC page had some formatting errors, errors that my UAF instructor had tried to point out earlier but I didn't understand. Miss Smith was able to answer my questions and then I was able to understand my formatting errors. She also pointed out that I had some citing issues in the body of the paper. I was citing my sources, but I wasn't explaining what/who my sources were or how they were significant in supporting my thesis. I spent several hours afterward filling in those blanks.
Miss Smith said that my paper had many strengths and that it had good flow. She was pleased with the lack of plagiarism, which she said had been an issue when she was a teacher on the East Coast. She especially liked the hook in the beginning of my paper; she said the statistics were shocking.
My original plan was to submit my paper to the writing center at UAF, but I have a very strict deadline and I wasn't sure how long it would take the center to correct my paper and then get back to me. So I instead chose someone who I knew would be able to do it quickly.
After we had our telephone meeting she sent an email to my instructor and then also sent me a copy so I could produce proof of consultation pertaining to lesson 13. I received a 98% for lesson 13, my highest score yet! And I have submitted my paper for lesson 14; it's THE BIG paper and I'm hoping for the best. I think I did well, I should be getting at least a B, possibly an A, but we'll see; my instructor sees errors that I may not have caught even if I had read the paper ten times over; she's very good at that.
So, I’ll just finish by saying that it is a very good idea to have papers proof read by other people before submitting them. It really helps with catching the little mistakes (and some of the embarrassing big ones). Not only that, but it helps improve flow, style, and voice. My high school teacher always said, “Good writing is good thinking.” And he was right, but I can add to that list. Good writing equals good grade. Note to self:

Have all important papers and assignments proof read by at least one other person before submitting.