June 7, 2021

Dear Ms. Freeburg:

My portfolio includes my two writing projects I have done over the course of this class. My first
writing project includes the translation of an academic article titled “Footprints of Climate
Change in the Arctic Marine Ecosystem,” into a children’s book. I have also included my
analytical essay that describes the steps I took to go about doing this translation. Next, my
portfolio includes my second writing project which is an email to my mom explaining a
conversation I overhead about the importance of descriptive writing and how it can be achieved.
I also included my annotated bibliographies for each of the articles I read on this topic. These
two projects are similar in that they are written very conversationally. However, they are
different in that my first writing project focuses on genre and how I achieved translating a genre,
where my second focuses on conversational inquiry and references. The two projects are also
formatted very differently. I am very happy with how my two writing projects turned out. I
enjoyed the first project more because the academic article was on a topic I am passionate about.
I am an environmental studies major so anything about climate change or saving the planet
intrigues me. The second project used academic articles on writing studies which I do not enjoy
as much. Both of these projects were very out of my comfort zone, and I had never written
anything like them, yet I wrote them successfully. I think the piece of my portfolio I am most
proud of is the children’s book. I thought the idea was pretty unique and the subject was very
important. I think that my website layout is very well done and pleasing to the eye. It is very
simple to navigate and clean looking. One aspect that concerns me is if my revisions were done
well enough. I took time do them and put in good effort, but I found that my writing pieces did
not drastically change.

Through the length of this course, I have definitely grown as a writer. After reading numerous
articles on genre, rhetorical strategies, and much more I have gained a deeper understanding of
writing being a whole process. Further, writing project one helped me understand the importance
of genre and appealing to specific audiences. I also didn’t know how important genre was to
accomplishing an author’s goal. As Kerry Dirk explains, “…genres function as social actions,
you can quite accurately predict how they function rhetorically; your joke should generate a
laugh, your email should elicit a response…” (Dirk 253). I had never gone about writing an
academic article in a different genre, so this was very out of my comfort zone in the beginning,
but I actually ended up enjoying it. Further, one exercise that has definitely impacted my writing
is all the free writes we have done throughout the course. I have learned how to quick write and
write down all my thoughts on paper quickly, which helps me create the base of my papers that I
have had to write. I then am able to branch out from there and create a descriptive, coherent
paper.

The main change in understanding I had about writing is that it is a full process. Previously I
would simply write my papers, check them for grammar errors, and submit them. I never went
about a revision process and didn’t take time to have a perfect final draft. For instance, the book
Writing about Writing mentioned that writing is not just the end result, but writing is the whole
process of creating the final product (Downs 4). I have been able to apply this idea in my own
writing by breaking down my writing for each project into pieces. For example, I did my project
builders before actually beginning to write my full writing projects. I then would make the edits I
received from my peers. Next, I would make the edits and revisions mentioned by my professor
and finally read my paper through one last time to make sure it was perfect. Something else I
learned that I think is very important is a better definition of literacy. Previously I thought
literacy only dealt with the ability to read and write, but now I can see that literacy can actually
influence the way someone writes. The TedTalk we watched in class mentions that it deals with
background and culture and can resonate with specific people that have the same type of literacy.
I will be able to take this knew understanding with me in the future and be able to understand
and relate to cultures and their way of speaking and writing which is an immensely important
skill.

My strengths as a writer include that I always answer the prompt and my style of writing is very
conversational. In each of my writing projects I made sure to answer all the questions to consider
and fully do what was asked of me. I was able to make sure the reader would know exactly what
the point of each of the writing projects was and understand its importance. I also think that my
conversational writing style is definitely a pro because the reader can feel more attracted and
attached to my writing. It is easy to read and flows nicely. On the other hand, a weakness I have
is doing revisions. This is something I have had to work on a lot in this class. I have never had to
go about this process before and it is not my favorite. Yet, revising is extremely important
because it allows the writer to return to their draft “…in order to make your thinking in it more
nuances, precise, suggestive, and interesting” (Harris 98). I feel, however, that I have improved
in this department because of this class and that is exciting. Another weakness I have is that I do
not branch out in my writing very much. For instance, I find that I use a lot of word repetition
and I stick to the basics. By paying attention to this I will be able to elevate my papers even
further in the future.

If I had more time, I think I would spend more time on my children’s book for writing project
one. I feel as though it is good, but the illustrations could have been better. I think that this type
of children’s book could be very important because it allows children to learn about important
topics early on in life. I would also continue working on my website to make it more appealing
to the eyes. By adding more pages to my website, it would have more depth and be more
interactive. I could add in some links to outside sources of websites I like or articles I find
important.

Overall, I think that my final project turned out really good and I am proud of it. I like the photos
that I chose to add, and I think that it is a great display of me and my favorite things. I hope you
enjoy it as much as I do!

Sincerely,

Katie Huston

Katie Huston
 Works Cited

Dirk, Kerry. “Navigating Genres.” Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing, Volume 1, Parlor Press,

249-261.

Downs, Elizabeth Wardle, D. Writing about Writing, University of California Santa Barbara,

Fourth Edition. Macmillan Higher Education, 2020. [VitalSource Bookshelf].

Harris, Joseph. Rewriting: How to Do Things with Texts, Utah State University Press, 2017, pp.

98–122.