Peter Emanuel

ENG181

Project 3

April 18, 2016

Cover Letter

The two main patterns of revision that ran through my project

this time around were that I made sure to include specific phrases and
transitions into forwarding and countering (thereby making it more
apparent that my paper is less about coming to terms this time
around) and that I made my thesis longer which caused me to have to
re-check my entire essay in a way opposite to how I checked it over in
Project 2. This time around I added much more than I cut to reflect and
tie back to a longer, more complex thesis than in Project 2 where I cut
much more than I added to reflect and tie back to a shorter thesis.
When a peer looked at my presentation and saw that my thesis was in
three parts, she asked why my papers thesis was only one part. She
was correct to ask this because I had unintentionally cut out 2/3rds of
my entire project. I think I had done this because of Dr. Suhr-Sytsmas
comments on my Powerpoint tentative thesis. She said that I should
revise how I approach 2/3rds of my thesis (the prophecy skepticism
part and the connection between the 7th Generation and the book
part). When I created my draft, instead of revising these two parts and
tackling the problem, I subconsciously got rid of them all together.
However, I did tackle this problem in my final draft by including Great

Bear and the implications surrounding the two different viewpoints of

the sacrifice (with my own forwarding and countering added too),
clarifying the nuances of the 7th Generation prophecy which I didnt
articulate as well as I could have in my presentation, and making sure
to address the question of how the prophecy motivates Mona
specifically (not just all youth in general). While I checked over my
essay for grammar, continuity, and clarity, I used comments on my
Project 2 paper to edit my Project 3 paper MUCH more so than I used
comments on my Project 1 paper to edit my Project 2 paper. For
example, I cited paraphrases and not just quotations this time around
whereas in Project 2 I did not do this. If I had more time, I would have
read Wabanaki Blues over again entirely because the last time we read
it in full was over a month ago. Furthermore, I would have delved into
specific examples and stories of Native youth (Maria, Timothy, etc) in
Bergstroms work but unfortunately doing this would have made my
essay far exceed the word limit so doing this would extend beyond the
scope of the project. For the next major essay I write, whether it be for
the portfolio committee, my CL102 final in the near future, or for my
continued writing course that I am taking next fall at Emory or
elsewhere, I would like to spend more time developing a strong thesis
from the get go so that the time I spent shortening for Project 2 or
lengthening for Project 3 can be better used on even more clarity and
development of forwarding and countering.