In high school, daphne excelled in english, earning mostly a’s on her papers. she had a knack for figuring out what teachers wanted to read and knew how to deliver the material in a clean, articulate fashion. so daphne wasn’t all that concerned when she had her first big essay due in her first-year composition class. she chose a topic that was very important to her and started the paper three nights before it was due, finished it the following day, and turned the essay in early. she was confident that she would receive another a. when she got her essay back, however, daphne was dismayed to see that she had earned only a c. her instructor’s comments noted a lack of original thought, disorganized structure, and several typos as the reasons for the lower-than-expected grade. daphne was crushed. why were her usual writing methods failing her now? 1. what was one thing daphne did wrong in writing the first paper? she started and finished the paper very quickly, not allowing much time for following the steps of the writing process. she chose a topic that was important to her. she should have repurposed one of her successful high school papers instead of writing a new one. she let her writing process stretch for more than one day. she should have started and finished the paper in one sitting. 2. what is one thing daphne did right in writing the paper? she wrote about a topic that was important to her. she used the same tried and true writing process that earned her all a’s in high school. she waited until just the right time to start writing, any earlier and the writing process would have dragged on too long probably causing her to lose focus on her thesis. any later and she would have been struggling to get it done on time. she turned the paper in early, showing initiative. 3. if she truly wants to write “a” papers, what is one thing daphne should not do? start preparing to write by filling her mind with information from other sources. seek from the writing center or a librarian early on in the process. spend too much time writing the paper and not allow enough time for revising. master the art of paraphrasing.