After having written the rough draft of my research essay, editing my ideas and refining my thought process would be the next step in developing my essay. Working in groups with other students who had similar topics as I was extremely help in gathering thoughts and ideas to help add on to what I had already written. As I presented my initial rough draft to my group, I was able to gain valuable feedback as to what they saw as strengths and weaknesses of my paper, thus far. Personally, getting an outside perspective allowed me to better understand how others were able to perceive my ideas versus how I perceived them.

In addition, as other students presented their papers, I was also able to give them feedback on their drafts. Just as they were able to help me, I was also able to give them some advice on what improvements they needed to make and what they were doing well. The exchange of ideas between students was very useful in generating more ideas as I moved forward with the essay.