Dear Neil,

Welcome to Sophia Mendoza’s Writing Portfolio! This is a compilation of different

pieces of writing that has been completed in your Writing 2 class. This portfolio contains Writing

Projects One and Two, which have been revised and improved to the state at which they are

presented to you today. Both of these projects have changed greatly since the start of the first

draft to the end of the third draft. I learned many new tips and skills throughout this quarter and I

would like to show you this improvement through my projects.

In Writing Project 1, I translated an academic article, “Strengthening College Students’

Mental Health Knowledge, Awareness, and Helping Behaviors: The Impact of Active Minds, a

Peer Mental Health Organization” into a podcast which was called “Your Older Sis.” This

podcast explained that many college students struggle with their mental health and how

influential and impactful certain clubs or groups have helped students. It brings more awareness

to students with these struggles and encourages them to reach out. A substantive thing I have

changed in my final draft is why I chose to talk about mental health on a podcast about college

life. I needed to explain why I needed to write about this topic and how it affects students.

In Writing Project 2, I translated multiple academic articles to create a reddit post that

would transcribe how each one related to one another. The reddit thread gave the struggles and

strategies of how to overcome writer's block. I had to thoroughly research and understand each

point of view of the different authors and effectively outline the four different perspectives. I was

able to clearly speak to the subject of writer's block while also summarizing the information into

a conversation.

Overall this quarter has morphed me into a better writer. Through the ups and downs of

trying to correlate new inventions into my writing projects for this class has taught me that being
a good writer does not always mean that my first draft needs to be perfect and that good writers

get stuck when trying to create a great piece of writing. In the writing, “People tend to look at

successful writers, writers who are getting their books published and maybe even doing well

financially, and think that they sit down at their desks every morning feeling like a million

dollars, feeling great about who they are and how much talent they have and what a great story

they have to tell; that they take in a few deep breaths, push back their sleeves, roll their necks a

few times to get all the cricks out, and dive in, typing fully formed passages as fast as a court

reporter. But this is just the fantasy of the uninitiated… not one of them sits down routinely

feeling widely enthusiastic and confident.” When I first read this I didn’t believe it but as I went

through this class I finally was able to understand this is the truth and after I rewrote my essays a

couple of times they finally came out as good as I thought they could be. I really loved how I

was able to choose a topic that I knew I could expand on and be able to adjust my writing style

and skills with this topic. And I felt that this helped me improve a lot because I wasn’t forced to

write about a topic I had no interest in. Also translating a writing piece into a different type of

genre was so intriguing to me that it made me want to write more and improve my writing so it

was as if my chosen genre was coming to life or in a sense a real podcast.

I have applied Aristotle’s 3 concepts in his explanation of rhetoric in both of my essays.

I’ve used ethos in my first essay by seeking out a certain audience and making them put their

trust in me like an older sister. I use logos in my second audience by drawing logical statistics,

facts, and scientific studies that help improve your writing. I believe that my strengths as a writer

are clearly stating my thesis and being able to give the reader thorough information explaining

the importance of the topic while also being creative with how I write. In the writing, “Teaching

Two Kinds of Thinking by Teaching Writing”, it emphasizes, “First order thinking is intuitive
and creative and does not strive for conscious direction or control. We use it when we get

hunches or see gestalts, when we sense analogies or ride on metaphors or arrange the pieces in a

collage. We use it when we write fast without censoring and let the words lead us to associations

and intuitions we had not foreseen. Second order thinking is conscious, directed, controlled

thinking.” This explains that when writing, writers are able to incorporate our sense of

conversation into our writing and make it sound like it is a conversation while also making it

sound a bit professional by it being directed and controlled.

In both of my essays I was pretty straight forward and was able to make it easy for the

reader to determine what the entire essay was going to be about while also giving background

information as well. I would say a weakness of mine in both essays was transitioning smoothly. I

had trouble making it less harsh whenever it was switching between whoever was speaking onto

the next person. Both of these assignments did help me improve this issue and I feel like I have a

better understanding of how to fix it. I worked with these difficult areas in my writing by acting

like I am having a conversation with one of my friends.

My sense of my own abilities as a writer have changed since I wrote my in-class piece

the first day of class by being able to discuss a topic as if I am having a conversation with a peer

and I have learned to write an outline before writing a piece and that has helped me write more. I

would work on being able to understand how to write different types of genres. I had a lot of fun

doing that and I wanted to expand my horizon by writing more genres that are chosen by

someone else rather than me so it is not easy for me to do. For example in the reading

“Navigating Genres” it asserts, “My purposes are to expand your definition of genre (or to

introduce you to a definition for the first time) and to help you start thinking about how genres

might apply to your own writing endeavors. But above all, I hope to give you an awareness of
how genres function by taking what is often quite theoretical in the field of rhetoric and

composition and making it a bit more tangible.” This reading helped me expand my knowledge

on this topic but I would like to be able to write about a genre that is very rarely talked about so I

can see what functions best for that type of genre.

Entirely, this class has truly helped me improve my style and delicacy of my writing.

From my first essay to my last essay in this class, I truly see growth and I know I have learned a

lot, considering I have been incorporating this knowledge into other courses I am taking

currently, and will proceed to use it in the future. I am more confident at taking on blank pages

and focusing on what I need to aim to get better each and every day. Thank you for your

guidance and knowledge in this class!

Sincerely,

Sophia Mendoza
 Works Cited

Elbow, Peter. Teaching Two Kinds of Thinking by Teaching Writing. 1994.

Lamott, Anne. Shitty First Drafts. Some Instructions on Writing and Life, New York:

Pantheon, 1994. Print.

Lowe, Charles, et al. Writing Spaces. Readings on Writing. Parlor Press, 2010.