On this page, I will be sharing my journey of creating an analysis essay and what I have learned through these 10 weeks. I chose to focus on how Disney has redefined the gender roles represented by its princesses. Using this angle, I expanded the ideas and thoroughly answered the course question, which is how Disney films contributed to the construction of society's values and norms about gender roles.
Planning and Exploratory Writing
This is the film assignment of week 5, which is about Disney superheroes. Here I included the annotation of Hope Van Dyne, a female hero in the film. Although she was not the chosen character for my essay, she has a close tie to princesses in later eras as she taught me how to perceive female roles more autonomously. After weeks of practicing these annotating skills, I think I learned how to develop habits for engaged reading. When I reread my work, I would strive to find connections between different films or different topics, and this method has helped me tremendously in expanding my point of view.
This excerpt is from my exploratory writing post of week 4. I believe this was the most challenging week for me as I encountered a film that was never on my list of interests. However, I was able to learn a lot from the characters through openness. I learned to overcome my fear of trying new things, and I actually enjoyed writing about the progressive role of this particular female lead. She emphasized that women also have the potential to acquire outstanding achievements.
Peer Review
These are the comments I received from my peers. By reviewing what they wrote, I realized that I tend to stray away from the main topic, which weakens the connections between excerpts. I find that this skill is essential for me to become a better writer: Improve your ability to write prose that is readable, focused, and full of details. Not only did I learn my weaknesses, but I also figured out my strengths according to the scores I got. Knowing what I am good at will also be a great help to perfect my writing skills.
Here are a few comments and ratings I noted down for my peer. Through this activity, I had the chance to improve my communication skills overall. I think peer review is a valuable aspect to help each other improve in the class. From reading what my friend composed, I understood the course question from a different angle, which is very interesting.
Self Review
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These are my top priorities for revision. As mentioned earlier, I will need to change and reconstruct the supporting ideas to not get off topic. I also need to take in consideration the secondary sources, as I did not fully introduce them in the paragraphs. Overall, I developed metacognition and focused on the vague parts that deserve more attention.
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I noticed that having a strong topic sentence is crucial in making the theme stand out, and I need more practice on that. One habit that I have developed is taking responsibility for my writing. In order to create a good essay, it is important to review my old work. I learned to assess mistakes in my essay and change the paragraph structure to make my ideas more coherent.
Revision
Before
After
This section is within the second paragraph of my essay. I reviewed the topic sentence and made changes to the small details. This version is more effective than my original one since it clearly states out what my paragraph conveys and how it adheres to the course question. Through the reflection of my work, I have learned to understand the importance of having a process when I am composing a sophisticated text. I had to research, outline ideas, and come up with a draft, and I find these steps incredibly helpful towards completing my final essay.
Before
After
This section is from my first body paragraph. Here I have revised my writing and developed a new habit, which is engagement. In the first draft, I only implemented sources but did not analyze them. With the new adjustment, I found a connection between the secondary source and Disney’s contribution to our perceptions of the world. After all, I found the ideas more engaged and also more effective in delivering my message.
Check out my final essay!
