The recursive process is extremely important in any project that is created and allows for critical growth in subjects that you may lack in or have trouble developing. The recursive process has helped me to view my work from the readers point of view instead of my own, and it helps me to pick up on the mistakes and sections I can work to improve. I value the recursive process highly because there is never a project that cannot be improved upon initially and having the views of different readers and critics can expand upon my ideas greatly. Some examples in my significant writing project that show my development through the recursive process are shown above and a specific area that I worked on was my introduction paragraph. Initially I wrote:
“Facing and confronting America’s history is uncomfortable and sometimes terrifying for those that have reaped all of the benefits that history has sowed. The idea of reparations is overwhelming because for those that understand that history, how could we ever reconcile what has been done? Does money fix the issue? The systematic racism in this country runs deep and has for generations. We still don’t understand all of the repercussions of the systems white people have built and how they have disproportionately served some communities and extremely disadvantaged others. In his article “The Case for Reparations” Coates discusses the effect that systematic racism has had on America throughout the generations and challenges the leaders of America to question our roots.”
This was a good start to my paper, however, my peers mentioned that I did not have enough introduction to the texts, and I seemed to jump into my topics too quickly with little background. I then revised my introduction paragraph to include the texts that I mentioned in my paper and added paragraphs that went into more detail on the resources that I used. The final version of my introduction paragraph was written as:
“Facing and confronting America’s history is uncomfortable and sometimes terrifying for those that have reaped all of the benefits that history has sowed. The idea of reparations is overwhelming because for those that understand that history, how could we ever reconcile what has been done? Does money fix the issue? The systematic racism in this country runs deep and has for generations. We still don’t understand all of the repercussions of the systems white people have built and how they have disproportionately served some communities and extremely disadvantaged others. In his article “The Case for Reparations” Coates discusses the effect that systematic racism has had on America throughout the generations and challenges the leaders of America to question our roots. Two works that help to draw attention to these issues come from Carol Dweck’s TED talk “The Power of Believing You can Improve,” and Lukianoff and Haidt’s “The Coddling of the American Mind.” I believe that having a growth mindset is a necessity when it comes to dealing with racial issues; this means that it should be required and expected in members of congress and the United States government. We can only improve by recognizing that there is a problem, and even though our roots are infected, we can still approach the problem with a constructive and positive mindset.”
Along with the introduction to my ideas, I added background on the three resources that I used to support my claim.
