Almost Final PS -- Please critique! Forum

[onefatbovine]

Removed for editing!

[FishOil]

I like the first two paragraphs and the story/message they tell. At one point you say "the Sergio" instead of Sergio. Also, "I control my destiny." seems unnecessary to me and would just cut it completely.

The time transition in the 3rd paragraph is a little confusing. When you went from "I vowed to apply" to "After I graduated" I thought Peru was before graduation. Not until the end of that paragraph do I realize the timing of everything. (Maybe something more like "When I had first graduated college"?). Also the sentence that starts "at the time, I was interested..." is a bit long and throws a lot of thoughts at me. Consider breaking it up a bit and showing how the whole copyrights/legal issues work into the position (what do you do as a content operations analyst? ).

The next couple of paragraphs seem a little rushed and general ("some of the most innovative"). I would fit your view on innovation and progress specifically into the new responsibilities that you took on.

I like where you are going in the conclusion, but would try to tie everything together a little more.

[kublaikahn]

When innovation loses so does society.

What does this mean? How can innovation lose? Do you mean Society loses when innovation is stifled. The complexity of copyright law limits the development of new platforms and technologies. This paper could be alright, but the writing technique is not ready for prime time.

Despite all of this, the only thing I could focus on was the corner of my tent...As I sat in the tent staring at the corner,...

What's up with the corner of the tent. Do you mean you were missing the moment because you were pissed off at your friend? This is not cute. The way you write confuses the reader and makes her search for where you are going. You should make it more clear.

Exotic means foreign in the context of animals. But when you are in the wild, the fauna of the area are never foreign. You are actually the exotic one in this context.

I was perfectly capable of getting my questions answered on my own. Things could not, and would not, always be handed to me. If I wanted something, I should be able to get it myself without the fear of failure. I control my destiny.

Isn't this a bit of overkill--and overly dramatic? You acknowledged that you ought to assert your independence. If that was an epiphany for you, you should probably explain why.

[onefatbovine]

Thanks for the feedback. I'm working on revising at the moment!

[onefatbovine]

All around us were lush greenery, fresh air, exotic wildlife, and the most picturesque view of the Andes Mountains—truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Any thoughts on using "were" vs. "was" in this sentence? I think "were" is grammatically correct, but it just sounds wrong to me.

[smokemonsterfromLOST]

All around us were lush greenery, fresh air, exotic wildlife, and the most picturesque view of the Andes Mountains—truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Any thoughts on using "were" vs. "was" in this sentence? I think "were" is grammatically correct, but it just sounds wrong to me.

I'd revise the sentence to get around this problem. 'We were surrounded by ...' or 'X, Y, and Z surrounded us...' sound better anyway.