Last RR

It seems that the main point Ballenger is trying to make is that we should not be afraid to “attack” our draft. To many people, including myself, are afraid to make drastic changes to their essay; for me I think it is because I feel like I have spent days assembling my thoughts and am unwilling to undo all that hard work. But it will be imperative for me revise my paper, so that my ideas and sources flow. Making sure that I am “surrounding” my “sources” with my “own prose and purposes” is something that must be done (Ballenger).
When I recently went back and read my ethnography, first draft, I realized that it could use a lot of changes. It seemed that when I was first writing I was happy with all my hard work and how could I possibly change it for the better. According to Ballenger I was in to tight a relationship with my first draft and that it was time to take a step back.
I really like the idea of using two different highlighters; to highlight my purposes with one color and someone else’s idea with a different color. I am definitely curious as to how much of my paper is just facts or someone else’s idea’s.
Knowing how my leading question changed, from my first writings to present thinking, will give me an ability to begin honing in on revisions and even some rewriting of certain areas. I will have to reread my first draft, now that it has been a while it should be easier to see the actual theme and thesis that is presented. It may be easier as well to see it through the readers eye rather than the writers eye now. Ballenger suggests now is a good time to “get more specific about exactly what you're saying”. This will help me in my revision as it will bring to light what it is that I am actually saying.
I took Ballenger’s advice and had some friends read my paper, it was very helpful because they wrote down on the drafts that I gave them what they thought I was trying to say. I realized that what I meant to say, in some paragraphs, was totally obscure and would need some further explanation to get the point across.