CM 1145 Collaborative Essay

  So in class this week, we basically finished our collaborative writing assignments. We were put into groups and were tasked with writing the separate paragraphs of an essay while also trying to make it as coherent and unified as possible. I believe that our group achieved this, or at the very least I think that we did a good job. It was a very interesting experience and I did enjoy writing in this way as it requires a lot of communication and cooperation with your group members. Normally I despise group projects since I am just naturally shy and also socially awkward.

  However, this was one of the rare cases where  my shyness didn't get the better of me and I was able to work well with a group. Now, on to the actual essay. Our group decided to do an essay on the novel A Separate Peace by John Knowles. We each wrote a support paragraph on our differing opinions of the novel and paired it with a matching thesis, intro and conclusion. My paragraph was on my neutral view of the novel, I didn't strongly like or dislike the book. I like the plot of the novel and I even liked the protagonist, Gene Forrester, the way the novel was written made me want to believe that he did not cause Finny to fall out of the tree. On the other hand, I did not like that the story is written entirely as a flashback, that all the events that take place in the novel are simply memories irritates me for some reason. My neutrality on the novel is derived from the small likes and dislikes that I have toward different parts of the novel.

  Overall I think we did a pretty good job in writing about our topic, despite using the same examples in our separate paragraphs and I really did enjoy the process of collaborative writing. The assignment has opened me up to other styles of writing as well, the knowledge that there are many ways to write an essay may influence me to write in more creative ways. Should I try a different style for my next essay? I think it could be a good idea.