Perks Of Being A Wallflower

Of all the essays I’ve written so far in the last two academic quarters, three have stood out as what I consider to be my best work. The most recent two are works from my English 109 class, with the first, titled Classroom Wallflower, serving as an analysis of the merits of Stephen Chbosky's Perks of Being a Wallflower as well as a determination of whether or not Perks should be a part of a high school curriculum. The second essay from my English 109 class, simply titled Optimism, is a concept definition essay examining and explaining the concept of optimism in regards to the effects it can have on those ascribing to and maintaining an optimistic mindset. The third and oldest essay, titled Lone Digger: Digging into Escapism, is from my previous

While I am one of the few familiar enough with words that writing comes easily to me, I still find that going through an essay multiple times is an incredibly important part of the essay writing process. This importance was most emphasised in my English 108 class, where my professor made it a requirement to revise every essay twice, setting aside parts of classes to workshop with the class and insisting that we seek help in the University Writing Center around 4 times during the quarter. That, combined with the workshops and peer reviews done in my English 109 class have helped me create a process I can use to better my writing. Starting with an outline, I write a very rough draft before going through two or three revisions with my peers to create a strong argument and ensure the language used lends itself easily to whatever I’m trying to argue or explain. This series of edits and revisions is most noticeable in the thesis of my essays, especially in Lone Digger: Digging Into Escapism, where my thesis is “ Delving further, I would like to propose that Lone Digger is a song about escapism that gives us a deeper look into why some people are so desperate to escape through music and forgo their worries as they sway along to the hypnotic music, mumbling along with gibberish lyrics, and let go of their worries and loneliness, instead letting the song fill the void in their hearts.” (see page 12). At first, this sentence was three points, and it was only after the body paragraphs for said three points were written that the first version of my thesis was even drafted. It was only after reviewing with my classmates, at the writing center, and with an external resource that I was satisfied with the final