Lucie Berjoan - Blog Post 10

The first thing that comes to mind is the recent document review that I did for the writing center. An undergraduate senior submitted their personal statement for an application to a Biology (I think?) graduate program. The bulk of the statement was explaining the research she had done but despite this (or perhaps because of this..) it felt easy to help advise her on how to turn in into a stronger piece of writing. While I couldn't possibly have helped her with the parts that were about her research, it felt obvious that it was lacking a clear narrative. It made me feel confident that I kinda know what I'm doing when it comes to essays or writing in general and was honestly quite an enjoyable experience. I also am reminded of a side job I've been doing for some time as a freelance editor for a Portuguese fashion-blogger based in Amsterdam (I know, I know). I have a feeling that he uses Google Translate to get the English draft to send me, meaning that oftentimes they are in pretty rough shape. While the content of the blog posts are fairly mind-numbing to me, it can be a fun activity to try to cobble it into a piece of more coherent writing. It becomes less about the content and more about what components make a piece of text enjoyable or even accessible. I suppose this is all to say that while the content of a text might make it less enjoyable to read, it doesn't really effect the ability to give feedback or advice on it.

Comments

  1. Dylan NiceNovember 10, 2020 at 4:29 PM

    I've had similar experiences, Lucie. Content aside, there are rhetorical moves like clear transitions that go a long way toward making meaning. These tools can be applied to just about any piece of writing to make it cohere more strongly. Of course, the Bedford guide points out that a convention of lab reports is to describe actions in the passive voice, so I suppose our strongest instincts will sometimes be incorrect.

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  2. TatianaNovember 11, 2020 at 12:10 AM

    Hi Lucie, this sounds similar to me helping my student with her med school application. I was lost on a lot of the med school terms and references, but I was able to overlook the field-specific stuff and help her streamline the narrative and connect her personal experiences to her desire to attend the medical program she was applying to.

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