My understanding of the prewriting assignment’s purpose is to help make our essays stronger. One way that is done is by reviewing a sample student’s essay on “The Most Handsome Drowned Man”. Doing this allows us to see what past students did on the assignment, which can paint a clearer outline of what is being looked for versus what is not, while showcasing others’ perspectives on the subject we’ll be writing about. Another way it would help make our essays stronger would be a refresher, or introduction, on the correct usage of different aspects of the essay such as formatting, whether it be paragraph structure or the usage of quotations (shown in their video and PowerPoint, respectively), and how to properly write a thesis and its purpose in the essay (shown in its own PowerPoint). Lastly, the overview helps develop a further understanding of the novel, while also strengthening our use of sample student’s essays by adding more information to work with.