Jeanna Williams Professor Ingram English 1102 December 4 , 2012

An Independent Thinking Women: Portfolio Essay The famous philosopher People are like dirt. They can either nourish you or help you

grow as a person or they can stunt your growth and make you wilt and die. There are cretin things one can do to nourish their growth. While in my English 1102 I have done many new things that have enabled me to grow, as a writer. In English 1101 I was introduced to a new kind of informal writing, but in English 1102 I have had to learn how to write independently. I realized that going to college I will be faced with new challenges, that will test and improve me academically. During 1101 I was nervous that I had to change my writing skills, but after the semester was over I realized that I enjoyed writing transactional. Now I am forced to once again change something about me as a writer. During 1102 I had to become more of an independent writer. During the whole semester I had to make executive decisions on all the essays I wrote. I did not have my teacher holding my hand telling me exactly what to do. Whether it is me from me coming up with my own inquiry question, to truly defining me, I had to do it all by myself.

My Growth
The only way to show someone you have truly grown would be to actually show them . Throughout English 1102 I have grown so much as a writer, and I think my final work exemplifies that growth. When looking back at my writing I have noticed that I am one of those writers who need clear directions. If I do not have clear direction or a prompt, I will be very lost, and in the end that hinders my

overall writing. I am not one of those people who can just go in and write a creative piece right off the top of their heads. I need to be told exactly what I am expected to write. Dont get me wrong I CAN write a paper without a prompt, but I have just noticed that my writing is better when I have a clear understanding of what I should write about. Being in this class, I am able to change into a more self sufficient writer. This new outlook kind of reminds me of how 1101 writing was very expressive; thus one would have to be very independent to express themselves. No one can tell you how you feel, or what is it like to be you. I decided to organize my writing by when all the papers were assigned in class,

and coincidently my favorite papers as well. When I first got the prompt for the WILTBY essay I was very lost. I felt as though I had no direction. I remember sitting and thinking to myself How can I write a paper about me when I do not even know who Me is? Although I repeatedly bothered my teacher with questions for this essay, this was my first taste of independent thinking. Ever since I have been writing I have been told exactly what to write, and not having that comfort was hard adjusting to during this semester, but I think it made me a better writer. I thought it very wise to add all of my final drafts of the essays we did in class. This will include my Portfolio Essay, WILTBY Essay, Annotated Bibliography, Three Sided Essay, and my Argumentative Research Essay. Even though these essays are included in the Required Work portion, I would have added them anyway. The whole point of the portfolio is to show how I have grown over this semester, and I could not do such a thing without my final work. Looking back I have worked very hard to turn all my drafts into presentable final drafts, and want people to see that when they go through my portfolio. By adding all of my finished drafts, me teacher and my peers can see all of my hard work and growth.

Process Work

Having an opportunity to write multiple drafts has contributed dramatically to my writing. I have known for some time that I am one of those writers who will probably have a shifty first draft. I just cant help it no matter how much planning or editing I do there will always be something I have missed. I have decided to add almost all of my second drafts to my portfolio because I feel it will help others see the overall growth in my writing. I would have added my first drafts, but I believe that would have been point less, as I made minors mistakes that have very little to do not show my growth as a writer. Some essays were easy to revise, such as my Annotated Bibliography others took a lot of time to make them the best they could be. I decided to add my argumentative essay because it is a prime example of how I had to come up with a topic of my own, and think independently. At first I thought his essay was going to be hard to write, but after we did the annotated bibliography and the three sided essay, it was surprisingly easy. Looking at my final draft of my argumentative paper I noticed I am one of those people who truly value peer editing. All throughout the semester my peers expressed that I should try to work on my organization and engaging my readers. It was hard to come up with a well thought out topic let alone come up with a sufficient way to organize it. It took some time, but after I thought about it I decided to organize my argumentative paper similar to my three sided essay. The next problem to overcome was making sure my readers were engaged. I had to go back and add that component to not only my argumentative paper, but all the essays. It was a tricking process but after we did the reading about Pathoss, Ethoss and Logos I found myself able to make my paper somewhat engaging. Because of that experience I decided to add the notes I took from the reading to my portfolio. The book showed me that I can make my paper more engaging just by using Ethoss, and showing my readers that I know what I am talking

about. The notes I took from the book enabled be to see that I can make my reader engaged my adding a little bit of me to my paper. Another piece I wanted to add to my portfolio was my cover letters. I thought adding my cover letters would offer people insight into all the essays I have did this year. I truly believe that the cover letters do help be evaluate my writing. When I first started doing them, I thought they were a complete waste of time. After I have just finished writing a whole five page paper the last thing I want to do I write another page about how I feel about such paper! Even though the cover letters were kind of inconvenient, and thats putting it nicely, they do help me get my thoughts going for any revision I might have to make. I feel like the cover letters represent my moms check list. I always have a check list of things I need to do, but always forget one thing. Its my moms check list that has everything, and when she goes down it I am always like Dang I forgot to add that. Every time I write a paper it think I have done everything Ms. Ingram has asked, but when I write my cover letter there is always one or two things I see I could work on, and I feel like Dang I forgot to add that! All of the cover letters were helpful in engaging me in the course as they allowed me to self-reflect and get a clear understanding of what I need to work on. Although all my cover letters helped me I enjoyed my cover letters for my WILTBY essay, and my three sided essay. These two cover letter showed me how lost I was when I did my first draft, but after I did some thinking on my own, I came out with an ok paper. In this specific cover letter I was asked how I revised my second draft. When I wrote the second draft of my WILTBY essay I completely changed everything, and my cover letter shows my reader just that. I was so lost when I did my first draft, and when I was asked Looking back what have you changed from your first draft? I realized I had to change everything. That question allowed me to see how hard it is for me to write without a specific prompt. My cover letters allowed me to

see my growth from one essay to another, and get my innate reaction to the paper as soon as I am done with it.

Daily Entries
I decided to put the letter I wrote to Ms. Ingram on on the first day of school in my daily entire section because I thought it was a good example of who I was as a writer. When I first wrote that letter I had an idea of who I was as a writer, but knew there was something that could make me a better writer. Looking back at this short essay, I wrote that one of my weaknesses was staying on topic. When I write a paper I can always see the different side, and that prevents me from focusing on the topic at hand. This class has shown me that the best way for me to stay on topic is to have a clear outline of what I am going to write. After I sit down and do some independent and critical thinking, I can come up with a clear topic. My three sided essay was the easiest and hardest. It was essay because I could see all the different view points, and identify with them. I understood how yoga students felt about doing yoga, but on the other had I could see where the church was coming from as well. I would have to say it was also hard because it made me confused when it came time to making an argument for my augmentative essay. I thought if I was confused there was no way I could write a paper and my readers not be. It was not until I got help from my peer group telling me that if I picked a side and outlined the paper I could see what I wanted to say. This technique allowed me to stay on topic and not lose my readers attention. I also thought it was important for me to add the notes I took when David Seidel came in to talk with our class. As I have said I was having a very had time writing my WILTBY essay. I thought about it over and over and, could not come up with a good way to describe who I am. It was not until Seidel came in and asked us to meditate and write down what comes to mind

When you think about you. I remember thinking this is strange one, and two I am just a student, a friend, and a brand new aunt. When we open our eyes and I saw the things I wrote I realized I was over thinking the assignment. This daily entry allowed me to see what was important to me, and from that outline my paper just transformed into my favorite essay I did this semester.

Response
I love feedback, and everything there is about it. I know I am not the best writer, so when anyone wants to come and improve my wiring I am all in. I am just one of those people who allow others to rip their papers to shreds and nick pick at everything. I am not sure why, but the feedback I got during this semester was very generic. I am not sure if it was because my essays were good and I had a few minor things to fix, but most of the feedback I received was about my spelling and editing. The only person who gave me good advice was Ms. Ingram. I am fully aware that I need to work on my spelling; I just wished people would critiqued the content of my writing. I know others can see things I cannot, so it would have been nice for people to well Jeanna I was a little lost when who said. And maybe you should add... I marked up my paper more than my peer group. Even when I did my WILTBY essay I knew my essay was horrible, and but my group thought it was ok I just needed to work on my organization. I know people say youre you worst critique, but just looking at my essay my group did very little to help me revise it. I guess this is where the independent working part came from because I had to do everything my peer group was supposed to do. Also from my argumentative essay I found myself catching many mistakes before anyone else could. At that point I realized that I am becoming completely independent with my writing. I can see the things that will make hurt and help my paper. Although I was disappointed in the advice I was given, I think I gave out good

peer revision. My classmate Jessica asked me to look over one of her essays, and when I read it I gave her my true opinions. I thought she could add more detail when she talked about herself in her WILTBY essay, and added more ethos to her argumentative essay.

Artifacts
For my artifacts section of my portfolio I thought I would add the Side-shadowing assignment Ms. Ingram gave us. Doing this assignment helped me get my thoughts together to make sure I had everything I need in my Argumentative essay. I was able to establish who my audience was, to make sure I made sure I continued to talk to them throughout the whole paper. I was also able to look and see the purpose, topic sentence, and concluding sentences and make sure they were all organized well. As stated earlier I have a problem staying on topic and this exercise helped me make sure my paper was as cohesive as possible. The next thing I added to my artifacts section was an annotated bibliography I did in my Latin American class. When I was told I would have to do an annotated bibliography I was so lost. I had the hardest time compelling the first one did. Adding this to my portfolio shows how my first annotated bibliography to my second one, and how much I have grown. I thought I should add this because the one I did in that class made it very easy to do the one in English 1102. Although they were about different topics the one I did in Latina American studies got me prepared and well versed on how to make and annotated bibliography. Throughout English 1102 I would have to say I worked very hard this semester. I believe I have shown a tremendous amount of growth. I have taken everything I was taught and took into consideration. I have turned in one of my assignments, and did them to the best of my abilities. I

took all of my peers, teacher, and outside advice into consideration while making my final drafts. Taking the time to make my drafts the best they could and placing them strategically in my portfolio, mirrors all of my hard work. I think people can see just from looking at my portfolio the improvement from my first draft to my final. My portfolio is a representation of me as a writer. I put a lot of time and work into creating a portfolio that represents my transformation. I have put in a lot of time and dedication into my work in and out if class. I always come to class prepared and participate and take advantage of the time given to improve my overall essay. I would have to say that I am involved and engaged during class time because I know that everything that is going on will only help my overall writing. Considering the content of my essays, my willingness to take risks, and my engagement in this course I think it would be fair to say I deserve an A in this course. This semester has helped me become the writer I believe I have the capability of becoming. Although I will not be furthering my writing nor taking any more English classes, I know everything I have learned will help me in the end. Without sounding cheesy, I can really say I have learned so much about writing and who I am as a writer. I have transformed in more than just one way. I am able to think and write independently, and write expressively. I think it is fair to say that I would not be writing this paper the way I am if it was not for English 1102.