To revise my draft paper I used a lot of the feedback I received from peer review. I originally submitted my draft without a conclusion because I wasn’t sure how I was going to make changes or if I would add more. I included in my conclusion a summary of the paper, and my final opinion on how UNE could be more of a liberal arts school. My peers liked my introduction and said I had a clear thesis/idea for my paper. Kayla Midolo said, “you have a strong thesis and your paragraphs are set up well.” I was working the best with Scheuer in my second paragraph, where I set up his ideas of liberal arts and how they connect with liberal arts. Although, Meg Cutter suggested I reword or rearrange part of the paragraph to make it flow better. Kayla Midolo suggested I use different quotes to better strengthen my ideas. So, taking these comments into account I did reword a lot of the sentences, and changed the layout for the paragraph. Meg Cutter suggested that “if I were you I would consider either defining the UNE core themes before hand or completely getting rid of the opening sentence in the paragraph.” She is suggesting that I provide more context on the core themes at UNE.

DRAFT PARAGRAPH

One of the four core themes that UNE claims to provide their students is directly related to Scheuer’s idea that a true liberal arts experience should provide a student with a holistic view of citizenship. Scheuer’s forms his idea of citizenship into a three dimensional model. His model begins with the “traditional civic dimension” which should provide the student with traditional civic duties, like voting, jury duty, etc. As well as economic citizenship which includes being a contributing member of society, through helping yourself and others in the community.  The last form of citizenship is cultural citizenship, where you should engage with people and have fun within the community. The core theme at UNE, citizenship and civic engagement, “directs the student’s attention both outward with a civic contribution and inward with reflection on their connection and commitment to the larger community,” (4). This theme shows that UNE is trying to promote civic engagement from the students, as well as economic citizenship since there’s the promotion of contribution for yourself and the community. 

FINAL REVISED PARAGRAPH

The idea of liberal arts according to the UNE handbook is most closely related to Scheuer’s first generalized American conception of liberal arts. Scheuer’s first conception states the idea that liberal arts “embraces the ideal of the integrated curriculum … from the natural and social sciences to the humanities and performing arts … this comprehensive vision recognizes … the consequent need for interdisciplinary learning,” (Scheuer 2).  This first conception of the liberal arts predominantly showcases that there are no rigidly defined boundaries. Moreover, this conception of the liberal arts proposes that all academic disciplines have their own individual values and focuses, but are all connected through universal approaches, investigation, and especially critical thinking. UNE mentions how interdisciplinary learning is required by every student, and is an important characteristic of their educational goals for their students.  “Core requirements introduce students to disciplines as ways of knowing, provide interdisciplinary and multi- disciplinary perspectives, and instill advanced understanding of disciplines outside a student’s major,” (UNE Handbook 4). All liberal arts possess similar origins, so all disciplines are connected, and interdisciplinary collaboration should be seen. Some of UNE’s basic core themes, including critical thinking and citizenship and civic engagement, provide a strong basis in liberal arts and prepare its students to become proficient intellectual thinkers and problem solvers. In order to produce these adaptive and successful students the university utilizes interdisciplinary studies that are similar to Scheuer’s definition of a complete liberal arts education. Since UNE stresses promoting integrative study in the liberal arts, then all students should be receiving a more authentic liberal arts degree than schools without this.

The biggest challenge in my essay according to multiple peers is that my quote explanations are weak. What I did was rewrote my explanations for quotes to make them stronger. Some quotes in my draft didn’t have any explanation after them at all. I ended up adding explanations to all my quotes so it is easier to understand what I’m saying.

This example is from my Project 2 draft. The end of the example was the end of a paragraph. There was initially no explanation for the quote. UNE seems to believe that liberal arts will offer students a better way to strengthen their thinking. The handbook also specifically states that undergraduates “will develop foundational knowledge and critical thinking skills that are necessary for understanding and assuming their roles in natural, social, humanistic, and other environments,” (2).

This next example is the revised version from my final paper. The handbook also specifically states that undergraduates “will develop foundational knowledge and critical thinking skills that are necessary for understanding and assuming their roles in natural, social, humanistic, and other environments,” (2). Without specifically mentioning liberal arts in this quote, these are all key characteristics to any authentic liberal arts education. UNE’s desire to foster critical thinking amongst students is a strong indication of a liberal arts mindset. Developing critical thinking skills is an excellent example of an advantage of liberal arts over other education styles, because these skills can be transferred and are valuable among nearly all  jobs today. 

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