Rowen's Academic Writing Self-Assessment

In my English 251 class last semester, we were assigned a reaction paper in which we discussed one of the readings for the section. I chose Stanley Fish's "How to Recognize a Poem When You See One." I feel this assignment was well-organized. After discussing Fish's conclusions within the context of the paper itself, I expanded those conclusions to include moments in recent cultural history when individuals saw "poetry" (or, in the case of the evidence, visual art) where poetry did not initially exist. I further demonstrated Fish's beliefs in the opposite direction, demonstrating that pieces meant as art by one person could be quite literally perceived as trash by anyone other than the intended audience.
While I am confident in my ability to arrange ideas on a macro level, so that each piece of an argument works well with the other pieces, I am less confident in my capacity to arrange an organize those individual pieces. Many have said that my work is "too wordy" and that is something I struggle with constantly.