Overview of Recursive Process: In the beginning of the term my revision process was more or less similar to the revision process I have now.  For my drafts I generally kept them shorter, adding most of the information needed and built on that information in my later/final drafts.  I made sure to have a starting introduction in all drafts, starting body paragraphs and a rough conclusion or idea of one.  From there I did a tremendous amount of reorganization based on peer feedback and what I thought suited my paper best.

Showcase Project Revisions: 

There was a substantial amount of work done in my revision process for my showcase project.  The draft of my Literacy Narrative Analysis paper didn’t have much of the elements needed for the final draft so consequently I had to do a lot of reorganization as well as adding additional body paragraphs containing evidence for my claim.  In addition, I rewrote my Introduction and added a conclusion paragraph that suited my paper way better than the original.  For instance my original draft introduction read,

“Literacy narratives are stories told by individuals about their early experiences with literacy i.e. writing and reading. These stories can range from influential endings to depressing ones. Through the writings of Kara Poe Alexander we also know that there are different types of literacy narratives: Success, Victim, Hero, Child Prodigy, Literacy Winner, Rebel, Outsider, and Other. She notes that while students tend to follow a specific guideline to writing literacy narratives (the most common being the master narratives), that students also follow the eight themes when reminiscing on personal stories revolving around literacy. It is also important to take note that a lot of these narratives coincide with one another. For instance, victim and or outsider narratives that develop into success stories. Which then begs the question, how did an individual who once viewed his or her reading and or writing abilities as a hopeless cause become successful? What factors played a role in changing that individuals mind?”.

In contrast my introduction to my final paper read,

“Literacy narratives are stories told by individuals about their early experiences with writing and reading or as Kara Poe Alexander in her article, “Successes, Victims, and Prodigies: “Master” and “Little” Cultural Narratives in the Literacy Narrative Genre”, puts it, “such narratives reveal about student identities, schooling and literacy” (Alexander 609). A significant amount of research has been done to focus on the different challenges students face when having to write their own literacy narratives. These challenges range in a variety of hardships and complexity. Author Kara Poe Alexander explores further in her article ideas focusing around literacy narratives in modern time and discusses eight main themes students tend to gravitate towards in their narratives; Success, Victim, Hero, Child Prodigy, Literacy Winner, Rebel, Outsider and Other (Alexander 615). It is also important to take note that these themes can often coincide with one another. Author Bronwyn T. Williams in “Heroes, rebels, and victims: Student identities in literacy narratives”, discusses an important factor of literacy narratives when he talks about his point of view on “identity shifts”; when students change their frame of mind in concern to literacy (Williams 343). Lastly, in an article titled, “Sponsors of Literacy”, Deborah Brandt talks about her developed idea of “Sponsorship” and how one’s negative or positive influence can affect the academic work of a student. This paper draws from different literacy narratives such as Jimmy Elser’s “Literacy Narrative”, “How I Graduated Study Skills” by Aidan Shaw-Pigeon, “How I reset my life by reading” by Ally Karriker, and “Acceptance of Change” by Katherine Parker, from the online Rising Cairn archive of narratives to examine how Alexander’s idea of Victim and Outsider narratives can develop into Success stories while also discussing important factors found in Williams and Brandt’s texts that influence these stories.”

It is clearly evident that from both of these paragraphs I did a lot of revising and adding of information.