Mitran Thakor Ms.

Ingram Section 36 November 26, 2012 Portfolio Essay During my time in English 1103 I have been exposed to language in a way I have never been before. In my previous English classes in high school we would read books and novels and write essays about them, something most people never use in their life. But in English 1103 we learn how to integrate English into our normal, daily routine which will benefit us in the future. We learn the proper techniques and methods to writing effective papers which will help us succeed in the workforce. There are numerous assignments which require my personal thoughts and opinions; this allows me to effectively connect myself to my writing and thus make me a better writer. The What Its Like to Be You essay required me to reflect upon myself and write about my personal experiences and how they shaped me into the person I am. I had to think of specific examples which accurately reflected my character but also relatable to the audience in order to get my point across to the reader. This was also the first time I ever used internal dialogue in an English paper. Most papers that Id written in previous English classes were very formal and structured; I was told not to talk in person let alone use dialogue in a paper. Using dialogue in an essay really opened my eyes to a new type of writing I had never been exposed to. It allowed me to communicate with my audience more effectively and on a more personal level. In my

portfolio I included the first draft of my WILTBY essay which I hand wrote. There were numerous spelling and grammatical errors throughout the essay but more importantly, I dont include information about myself and who I am. The first draft does not include any personal examples nor does it say anything about me. I talk about all the activities I enjoy doing but in a very general and vague sense. This was the first paper I wrote in English 1103 and that can be seen through the essay. However, after we revised the essay as a class during the class workshop, I began learning how to properly write. In the beginning, I did not know how to analyze the prompt and look for what it was asking me to do, but after a few peer workshops, I caught on to the writing process. This can be seen in the final draft of the WILYBY essay; I integrated personal and sentimental examples and experiences that helped shape me into whom I am today. I began to show the reader who I am instead of just telling them. In the argumentative research paper I chose a side of an issue and constructed an argument that supports that side. Even though a research paper usually consists of facts and statistics, I was able to put my voice in the middle of the argument and truly connect with the audience. In fact, this assignment really showed me how to instill my own views, thoughts, and opinions in a paper because I was trying to persuade the reader to take my side. I only had to include four outside sources in my essay because I talked about my take on the subject throughout the assignment. Over the course of the semester, there were a series of blog posts which I had to complete. These posts were informal and allowed me to express my true thoughts without hesitation because they did not have to be structured or correct. The topics of the posts included contemporary assignments at the time and questions on how I felt about them. I was able to write about how I feel like I was doing on the assignment, how I was doing it, and what I was doing wrong so that I could improve it. The blog posts let me reflect on how I was

doing in the class and what my thoughts on the assignments were. Another assignment which allowed me to instill me own thoughts and opinions was the annotated bibliography. I was able to take numerous sources and write a summary about them as it related to my topic. Therefore I could incorporate what I felt was relevant into the summaries as well as what my thoughts and opinions on the matter. All of these assignments were great tools to help integrate my voice and opinion into my writing. Many of the assignments also helped me view English differently. Up until this point, I had only looked at writing though my eyes rather than with a broader, more open mind. The three sided assignment helped me see things in a different perspective which I had seen before. It allowed me to understand the views certain groups of people have and the reasoning behind their opinions. For example, my topic was about the risks and benefits of weightlifting; therefore I wrote about how nutritionists dont recommend weightlifting too often because there are other forms of exercise which are safer while actual weightlifters encourage weightlifting because they feel like it is extremely beneficial. The assignment taught me to take in consideration the many points-of-view present on a topic. I learned not to write only about my own opinion but to incorporate many different perspectives to make my writing more creditable and less bias. However, the three sided assignment also allowed me to insert my own voice into the paper. While writing about the different perspectives on weightlifting of various groups, I was able to elaborate on the view I most support and talk about why I feel like it was the best. As this class went on through the semester, I was able to see the importance of revision in writing. In some of my previous classes, revising an essay meant changing the things the editor had highlighted. But through peer groups and writing workshops, I was able to see major improvements in my papers from draft to draft. Letting another pair of eyes read my paper

helped engender thoughts and ideas which had not occurred to me before. I was thus able to see my own writing from a third person point-of-view and improve it. For example, I did not understand the prompt of the What Its Like to Be You essay. Regardless of how many times Ms Ingram went over what she was looking for in the essay, I could not grasp the idea. I still went ahead and wrote my first draft to the best of my ability and brought it into class. My group and I work shopped the essay and I was able to see how I did not include personal, specific examples which reflect my character and therefore able to fix my mistakes. Due to the revision process, I saw improvement in my writing which I had not seen before. Each draft was better than the last which helped me instill confidence in my writing and made me a better writer. I also incorporated two pieces of daily activities I my portfolio to show how routine class activities helped develop my writing. The shampoo inquiry depicts the process of how to intelligently question the validity of something. Asking skeptical questions helps trigger inspiration for writing which is a vital step in the writing process. The curiosity of wanting to know why something is the way it is helps engender questions which can translate into the basis of a paper. In my example, we looked at a shampoo bottle and tried to create questions about it. All aspects including shape, color, and even size were taken into account. This process helped produce an inquiry question which could be the starting point of an argumentative paper. I also included a warm-up we did about good writing. This was in the middle of the semester so I had a fine understanding of what this class was about. I talked about what good writing really is: the perfect and mutual connection between the writer and the reader. If both parties fully understand what the other is trying to say, then the writing was effective in fulfilling its purpose. This class was all about writing to the audience in a way which is unique to yourself so that the reader recognizes your words, and you, a skill which will benefit me in the future.

At the end of my portfolio, I included two essays I wrote in my engineering class. These works are not similar to the type of writing we do in engineering, but more relevant to what we do in English. In the first paper, I had to write about my passion and how I would use it to make an impact in the world. This required me to insert my own thoughts and values about life, work, and family and illustrate how I will translate them to make an impact on the world. The second part of the paper asked me to talk about my knowledge and skills and how I would apply them. This allowed me to reflect on myself and look at what I have to offer. I had to analyze the things I was good at and the things I need to work on and show how I could use them to be the best engineer I could be. Both of these papers include my honest and sincere thoughts on myself, and the world around me. They are great examples of the work we do in English 1103 because I integrated my own voice into these papers. This class has taught me a great deal about writing. It opened my eyes to different ways of writing and ways to communicate with the reader. I believe I deserve an A in this class because I learned the lessons this class had to offer and got the most out of it as I possibly could. I completed all the assignments and tried to make each draft better than the last by working on improving my writing. I have shown growth both as a writer and a thinker due to work and effort I put into this class. As my e-portfolio stands as of now, I feel like it encompasses all the objectives of the assignments. I have revised all my assignments multiple times and made sure they accurately answered the prompt. The portfolio constitutes work done to the best of my ability and consists of the many lessons I learned in English 1103. I attended almost every class during the semester, completed all the assignments on time, and did all the assigned readings; which is why I believe I deserve and a final grade of an A for this course

My experience with English 1103 has been great and truly helped me understand the proper process of writing better. It has prepared me for the many writing assignments I will have to complete in my future. I have learned a lot in this class which will allow me to communicate more effective and efficiently via writing.