# 🏆 Capstone: Draft, Critique, Revise, Reflect

By Better Wise

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Last lesson you drew the line between helpful assistance and outsourcing the thinking. This lesson is where that line stops being a concept and becomes a submission. You will produce one short argument, and you will produce the paper trail around it: the draft you wrote before asking anything, the critique you collected, the notes on what you verified, and a reflection on what stayed yours.

The argument is not the whole artifact. The trail is.

## What You Are Building

Pick a question you can actually argue about from your own experience or reading, something local and concrete: should your school library open an hour later, is a four-day work week realistic for a small business, does a daily walk improve focus more than a third coffee. Skip anything you would need a research team to settle.

Then build this pipeline:

```mermaid
flowchart TD
    FW["✍️<br/>Freewrite"] --> OL["🧠<br/>Memory outline"]
    OL --> TH["🎯<br/>Thesis"]
    TH --> D1["📄<br/>Draft 1"]
    D1 --> CR["🤖<br/>AI critique"]
    CR --> VF["🔍<br/>Verification ledger"]
    VF --> D2["📝<br/>Revised draft"]
    D2 --> RF["🪞<br/>Reflection"]
```

Notice that the AI critique sits in the middle, not at the start. Nothing enters the pipeline before your own draft does.

## The Deliverables and Their Specs

| Deliverable | Spec | What it proves |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Draft trail | 5-minute freewrite, a memory outline with two marked gaps, one thesis line | You thought before you asked |
| Draft 1 | 350 to 450 words: claim, 2 to 3 reasons, at least 2 pieces of evidence with source type noted | You can build an argument unaided |
| Critique packet | Your prompt in 2 to 4 sentences, the AI response as received, and a verification ledger of 3 to 5 rows | You can direct and test critique |
| Revised draft | 350 to 500 words plus a 3 to 5 line change log | You can revise without losing authorship |
| Reflection | 150 to 250 words | You can name your own decisions |

## In this lesson

- The Order of Work for the Next Hour
- How You Know You Are Done
- Twelve Cards to Carry Into the Checkpoint
- What You Walk Away With


---

## Contents

Part of [✍️ Think Before You Prompt: Develop Independent Writing and Original Thought](https://everwise.study/courses/think-before-you-prompt-develop-independent-writing-and-original-thought.md)

- **🧠 Think First: Draft Before You Ask AI**
  - [💭 Freewriting: Dump First, Judge Later](https://everwise.study/courses/think-before-you-prompt-develop-independent-writing-and-original-thought/freewriting-dump-first-judge-later.md)
  - [🗺️ Outlining From Memory and Naming Your Knowledge Gaps](https://everwise.study/courses/think-before-you-prompt-develop-independent-writing-and-original-thought/outline-from-memory-and-knowledge-gaps.md) (sign-in required)
  - [🎯 Thesis Development: From Topic to Defensible Claim](https://everwise.study/courses/think-before-you-prompt-develop-independent-writing-and-original-thought/thesis-development-defensible-claim.md)
  - [✅ Checkpoint: Thinking-First Foundations](https://everwise.study/courses/think-before-you-prompt-develop-independent-writing-and-original-thought/checkpoint-thinking-first-foundations.md)
- **⚖️ Argue, Critique, Verify**
  - [🧩 Argument Construction: Claims, Reasons, Assumptions](https://everwise.study/courses/think-before-you-prompt-develop-independent-writing-and-original-thought/argument-construction-claims-reasons-assumptions.md)
  - [🔍 Evidence Selection and Stress-Testing Sources](https://everwise.study/courses/think-before-you-prompt-develop-independent-writing-and-original-thought/evidence-selection-and-stress-testing.md)
  - [🤖 AI as Critic: Prompts That Earn Real Pushback](https://everwise.study/courses/think-before-you-prompt-develop-independent-writing-and-original-thought/ai-as-critic-prompts-for-pushback.md)
  - [✅ Checkpoint: Argument and AI Critique](https://everwise.study/courses/think-before-you-prompt-develop-independent-writing-and-original-thought/checkpoint-argument-and-ai-critique.md)
- **🛠️ Verify, Revise, Own It**
  - [🔎 Verifying AI Suggestions Before They Enter Your Draft](https://everwise.study/courses/think-before-you-prompt-develop-independent-writing-and-original-thought/verifying-ai-suggestions.md)
  - [🚧 Helpful Assistance vs Outsourcing the Thinking](https://everwise.study/courses/think-before-you-prompt-develop-independent-writing-and-original-thought/assistance-vs-outsourcing-thinking.md)
  - [🏆 Capstone: Draft, Critique, Revise, Reflect](https://everwise.study/courses/think-before-you-prompt-develop-independent-writing-and-original-thought/capstone-draft-critique-revise-reflect.md) (premium content) — this lesson
  - [✅ Checkpoint: Ownership and Revision](https://everwise.study/courses/think-before-you-prompt-develop-independent-writing-and-original-thought/checkpoint-ownership-and-revision.md) (premium content)
- [Course cheatsheet](https://everwise.study/courses/think-before-you-prompt-develop-independent-writing-and-original-thought/cheatsheet.md) (premium content)