Writing this Op-Ed was an interesting experience because I had a lot of thoughts and opinions, but putting them into words was a whole different challenge. I am not used to expressing how I feel. You might think I could finally speak up and raise my voice, but when you have the chance to do so, you can feel stuck. I had two options: writing about how immigrants are the key to the United States or whether college should be free. I was like yes the second one is a good topic but will I want to spend a 2 hours writing about it? No. I felt more conected to the immigrants one.

Once I was clear and I knew what I wanted to say, it was just a matter of figuring out how to join it. I started by jotting down my main argument and the key points in class while my profesor was talking. I starting thinking of things I wanted to include. I didn’t outline in the traditional way I wasn’t a fan of outline things into I got to college, but I had a idea of where I wanted to go. When I started writing, I got most of it down in one sitting, but then I had to go back and edit a lot fixing sentences, clarifying my argument, and ensuring I wasn’t just rambling. I will be honest I asked chat gbt to check my grammar since I aways be forgetting things.

One of the things I liked most about my Op-Ed was how direct it was. I feel like my voice was the one talking and not writing. I also appreciated certain sentences where I felt I was being really clear and bold in my argument. Sometimes, I struggle with making my writing sound confident but this time, I think I actually got my point across strongly. If I had to pick one sentence that I really liked, it would be , “I could walk down and see my Dominican food, Ecuadorian food,
Honduran , Chinese, Indian, Arabic and etc. All of these restaurants are just a small example of how immigrants bring cultures with them.” I liked it since it some thing every new yorker could relate.

The peer workshop was helpful because it made me see my writing from someone else’s perspective. My 3 classmates were really nice there help was good. Sometimes, when I write, I assume things make sense because I know what I mean, but after getting feedback, I realized there were parts where I needed to be clearer. One of the biggest changes I made after the workshop was “If you
go on Business insider you will see more information.” They told me to add the link so if someone wants to know more they just go to the link. I didn’t change everything, though, because there were parts where I felt like my voice was strong, and I didn’t want to lose that.

If I had more time, I think I would have worked on making my argument even more refined. Sometimes, I can be a little repetitive without realizing it, so I would have spent more time cutting out unnecessary sentences.

Moving on, I want to work on my editing process. I tend to write everything at once and then go back and fix things, but sometimes that makes it harder to catch all my mistakes or weak points. Maybe next time, I’ll try outlining more or writing in sections so that I can think through each part before moving on.

Overall, I’m proud of this piece, and I feel like I learned a lot from the process. I know my writing can still improve, but I also see how much better I’m getting at making my voice stand out and structuring my arguments. Now let wait for a grade and see what happens. Wish me luck guys

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