Dickerman 1

Ian Dickerman
Professor Suzanne Ingram
UWRT 1101 -074
December 2, 2014
Final Portfolio Essay
I decided to start my final portfolio with this final portfolio essay because I want to start out
strong. This essay is the last piece of writing I will do in this course and should be the first
visible on the website. What I am writing here will explain everything else that is on my
portfolio, so it belongs at the front of everything. I included my prewrite for this essay because it
shows the final stage of my development in my writing process. I think this key concept of the
writing process is one I would like to touch base on. This is one of the nine key concept that I
have grown tremendously in. But I still have room for improvement.
Portrait of a Writer
Portrait of a writer is a way to stop and look at your writing style and your writing process. It
makes you take a step back and write about how you write. It helps you improve your revision
process. As well as my prewrite process. I didnt want to just blatantly say how I write, I wanted
to come up with a clever metaphor, and that made me really, really look at everything I was
doing when I was writing. That being said I was not a huge fan of this assignment, as I hate
looking inward in terms of writing. Without this assignment I would not have switched how I
broke down my prewriting into smaller sections.
Blogs

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The blogs were a good way to have small natural informal writings responding to different
readings. Its a different format from most writings and gets you out of your comfort zone.
Which is 90% of college, or at least it should be. This might just be the greatest key concept on
the list of nine for this class. If you write the same paper from the same angle every time, its
only going to get so good. These blogs help us attack things from a different angle, looking at
things from an informal point of view, changes everything and really gives a piece of writing a
certain flow unattainable from formal writing.
Midterm
Our midterm was similar to our final as it is a reflection piece and it really grounded me with my
progress and where I was at halfway through the semester, it showed me where I need to work
harder and where I was doing well. One thing I didnt do properly for this assignment was peer
edit. I would take what everyone said into consideration but I just felt this was a self-evaluation
assignment which it was, but I held that in much too high regard I also included a slightly revised
version of my midterm, as a revision piece. I looked into the points where in the essay I said I
needed improvement.
Literacy Narrative
Quite honestly I was not a fan of this assignment but I see its purpose as looking back at past
writings of a longer period of time, gives you a broader sight at the writings. I looked into the
early years and my development, I looked into my growth as a musician. There are two drafts I
chose to include because its the best draft process I have. I also wanted to address the fact that I
slacked off I really did. Not because I am lazy but because I am afraid of failure. I thought

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combining the two drafts was too much of a stretch, although looking back I know I could have
made the connection but I just stuck to playing it safe.
Writers notebook.
I chose to include two of my reading response letters because I thoroughly enjoyed the textbook
we had. This textbook has a very different style from most as every chapter is written by
someone else. It isnt cut and dry like most texts and I guess thats only fitting for an English
text. This is by far the worst part of my whole portfolio. I didnt do enough quoting or relating to
the author. Reading responses have just never been my thing.
Wild Cards
My narcotics anonymous piece for liberal studies was about my experience going to an actual
NA meeting. I enjoy writing on real world experiences, and things that hit close to home. I also
wrote a piece on Forest Gump for liberal studies relating it to parts of the class and what we had
learned throughout the course. I picked these because they are two of my best pieces not written
for this class. That being said I wish I had the time to rewrite them after some of the things I have
learned in this writing course.
Why I deserve a B (but you should give me an A)
I think I deserve a high B in this class as I have done everything to the best of my ability. Not
only that, I actually care about my writing. I am not a great writer but I do try hard. I have
submitted mostly everything on time and as complete as possible. I loved this class an enjoyed
attending and participating. I look forward to UWRT 2, and the challenges that come along with
it because I enjoyed the challenges of this one.