Rodrigo Beltran Professor Lewis English 114A Blueprints to an Essay Writing is like building a house.

A writers rough draft is like an architects blueprint, it is where both creators put their ideas down on a piece of paper. A writers tools consist of rhetorical strategies such as examples, compare and contrast, and details. When beginning to work they both start with a strong foundation such as an introduction and thesis. If the foundation is weak then the whole essay will collapse just the way a house with a weak foundation would. The paragraphs supporting the thesis statement would be considered the walls to this house. Lastly the roof of a house which keeps everything together is considered the conclusion. For my first semester in college I had to write three well-constructed essays. My first essay was about an experience that we had with food, my second essay was ethnography, and lastly an argumentation essay taking a stand on a controversial topic. Although English was not my strongest subject I found my final essay the easiest. Considering the page requirement and the expected tools we were encouraged to use, I stumbled across some problems. In high school most essays were a basic format five paragraph essay but by no surprise my first college essay was in MLA format, six paragraphs filled with grammatical errors, run-on sentences, and letting quotes overpower my idea. My first essay was like building a house without proper equipment, but for my second essay I learned how to use tools such as rhetorical strategies. By this point I learned from my previous essay to

check for grammatical errors, and having one clear idea for each sentence. Every essay contained mistakes but it just made my next essay stronger. The pencil was my strongest tool, I was told to write because I have something to say and indeed I did. For the third essay I had to write an argumentative essay based on the issue who to blame for obesity either the fast-food restaurant or the consumer I started with a strong foundation using Although, should, and because to clearly state my idea and points. Using transition words at the start of my paragraphs made my essay flow effortlessly. From my previous essay I learned how to organize my thoughts and to not let quotes overpower my ideas. In this essay the walls of my house included concrete details, examples, and quotes that supported my ideas, which made my walls sturdy. For my conclusion I kept it short and simple but enough to remind the reader about the topic and to hold everything together. I began with a pencil and a voice, now I end my semester with three essays that express what I have to say. I will not argue that Im not the best writer but that I am a better writer than from what I started this semester. One thing that I learned is not to be scared to write, not everyone will like what I write, or how I write it, but there will always be one person that will, and that one person will relate and be inspired just the way of how I was inspired from a couple stories from the book New Voices. I leave this class with an open mind and clear understanding on how to build a well constructive essay.