Retrospective on Spelling Paper

Having completed my final paper on spelling, I wanted to reflect a bit on my experience writing and polishing it.

Draft. Spelling and Renaissance

So I made some changes after today. Thanks for your help, especially Morgan.
I got some mixed feed back on how well I support my thesis. Your feedback on that and the flow would be appreciated

Standardization of Spelling correlated with increased literacy

Ok so here is the topic I am interested in but I need you guys' help with a compelling thesis. I'm having trouble because the two events do seem to be correlated and I want to argue for causation but at best any evidence is circumstantial and the arguments rather circular.
How can I improve this statement?
The increase of literacy during the Renaissance made greater standardization of written language necessary to preserve meaning and understanding.

Ah my old nemesis...Spelling

All my life I have been a horrible speller. Going to bed early on Christmas eve was never a problem because my family would always have a giant family Scrabble competition into the wee hours of the morning (thought still retiring before St Nick made an appearance). Who wants to be awake for that? When I learned that spelling and punctuation were not standardized in the distant past, I thought it was the most brilliant idea ever. But, like many of you, when I try to read old documents I shake my fists and shout to the heavens "had these people no sense of language?" Standardization is important for more universal understanding and this standardization has been facilitated and fostered by print and publishing.

I have compiled an annotated bibliography of useful sources on the standardization of spelling. I hope you find it informative.