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Dear Malcolm, What a semester! Wow. I never thought that I was going to be able to make it through, but look at how wrong I was. Here I am, writing the final piece to the final assignment for Engl 11 !. "ooking back upon the letter from the beginning of the #ear an$ comparing it to this letter, it is eas# to see that m# writing has change$. I can make this comparison to. I am actuall# writing this first section of m# letter last. I felt that a final goo$ b#e was necessar#. I reall# en%o#e$ this Engl 11 ! class. It was a lot more en%o#able than that other Engl 11 ! class I coul$&ve taken last semester. I too am gla$ that I $roppe$ that course for this one. I mean, %ust look at all the cool an$ fun things I got to $o this semester. I wrote entries in a $a# book, kept a blog, an$ I even create$ a prett# $arn goo$'(E)* E+ten$e$ In,uir# -ro%ect an$ -ortfolio. Well, at least in m# opinion, an#wa#. )n$ that&s not all I $i$. I create$ a research presentation that is of high ,ualit#, I gave prett# goo$ anal#sis of a few short $ocumentaries, an$ I even gave a peer fee$back of his work. .ow that it is all sai$ an$ $one, I believe that I have improve$ in a man# number of wa#s as a writer an$ as a stu$ent this semester. /ut #ou&ll get to hear about that later on in the letter. 0or now I will %ust sa# this1 it was nice having #ou as a teacher, /ig Dawg. Hope #ou fin$ success where ever #our life lea$s #ou. .ow then, it&s time to get $own to business. 2hall we3 It is eas# to see how free writing an$ blog keeping can go a long wa# together to improve general in,uir# an$ curiosit#. When creating a free write

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piece of work, #ou have to ask #ourself a goo$ number of ,uestions1 4What $o I want to sa#3 What $o I write ne+t3 What am I intereste$ in35 2uch ,uestions can be har$ to answer for some. *he obvious fi+ to this was forcing stu$ents to ask such ,uestions numerous times over the semester. We ha$ a $ouble $igit amount each of $a#book entries an$ blog posts. *his improve$ what I, as a stu$ent, believe$ was e+pecte$ of me. I was able to come up with answers to in,uir# an$ curiosit# more ,uickl#, an$ to write longer responses. I think the most important work of the class was the portfolio here at the en$ of the semester. *he reasons are obvious1 reflection, reflection, an$ reflection. I was force$ to look back on all of m# work from the semester an$ see what change$. I put a great $eal of man hours into creating the portfolio. It took a long time to uploa$ an$ format ever# nook an$ crann# in the website. Webs.com ma$e a lot of the mechanics eas#, but it was still a ver# time consuming or$eal. I think I put a total of twelve hours on the computer into this portfolio, so I hope it worth# of a high gra$e. )fter looking over m# portfolio, I believe m# grammar has improve$, as well as m# abilit# to e+pan$ i$eas. When looking at m# $a#book entries, it seeme$ that the# were getting longer. I ha$ a couple of $a#book entries near the beginning of the semester that were onl# a few sentences long. /ut now, if #ou look at m# favorite $a#book entr# in m# portfolio for e+ample, #ou can see that I wrote over a paragraph. In fact, I en$ the entr# on a single sentence that begins a new paragraph. I actuall# ran out of time when

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writing that entr# 7#ou onl# gave us onl# a couple of minutes at most, not long at all8. M# portfolio also showe$ m# progress as a researcher. I was able to come up with a few goo$ sources, as shown in m# research presentation, earl# on in the semester. /ut these sources were not goo$ enough for m# nee$s. *he# were goo$ enough for me to make a ver# cool -re9i, with color an$ flow that were outstan$ing, but not goo$ enough to make an entire research paper. I en$e$ up going back an$ fin$ing more sources. *his shows m# improve$ abilit# to fin$ where to go ne+t. *hat&s two e+amples of how m# writing has become lengthier %ust there. :oming up with an i$ea an$ a starting point are most $efinitel# m# greatest strengths. I can fin$ where to start a paper 7an$ sometimes where to en$ a paper8 with much ease. I also have a $ecent abilit# to conve# i$eas, either using s#mbolism or comparison. However, I $o still struggle with fin$ing enough to sa# in a paper. I fin$ m#self twi$$ling m# thumbs for hours, tr#ing to come up with what to write ne+t. I have improve$ in this realm through the semester, but it is still a prett# substantial issue. It is m# one true weakness, an$ will be something I have to work on in the future. I&ve hit on the in,uir# process an$ m# research presentation a bit, but what I haven&t hit on are m# *opic -roposal an$ m# E+ten$e$ In,uir# -ro%ect 7EI-8. M# topic proposal was a goo$ wa# to help me soli$if# what I was going to write an$ research $uring the semester. It helpe$ me confirm if m# i$ea was one worth keeping. Here is one wa# it helpe$ me substantiall#1 In the

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beginning of the semester, we brainstorme$ topics<i$eas for our EI-. I originall# came up with :lou$ :omputing as m# topic. /ut when I went to write m# *opic -roposal, it was clear that :lou$ :omputing as a topic was not nearl# substantial enough to get me through the semester. It was not ver# controversial, an$ it was not a topic I was $#ing to pursue for an entire semester 7but then again, neither was /ig Data8. 2o I en$e$ up changing to /ig Data, which was on m# list. I was able to fin$ goo$ sources an$ write a well=,ualifie$ *opic -roposal. >verall, the *opic -roposal process helpe$ me pick m# topic. *his became crucial to m# EI-. )s a whole, the EI- process was a har$ challenge to overcome. I put a massive amount of time into the paper itself, a goo$ amount of time into research an$ i$ea $evelopment, an$ a bit of time into checking for s#nta+ errors. I took all criti,ue into careful consi$eration, an$ ma$e changes accor$ingl#. I believe the EI- process was beneficial to m# future writing classes. *his e+perience will help me write m# future works, b# serving as a basis for what I shoul$ $o when writing m# ne+t research paper. In summation, I am taking a lot of e+perience with research an$ free writing with me. I now will be able to make even more accurate aca$emic searches. I also now have more blog e+perience an$ $a#book keeping e+perience. *his will help improve the wealth of m# writing knowle$ge. M# college e+perience will be more ease$. I appreciate the humor in #our classes, an$ the fle+ibilit# of #our gra$ing.

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*hanks for a great semester, from, Ma+ Warren