Dear Malcolm,

First, I would like to say thank you for a great semester filled with laughter and 8 A.M

yawns; I have enjoyed it thoroughly. You have been an amazing teacher and leader through this

the process of this class, guiding us along the way through this semester long project. Now that it

is about to end, it is time to reflect on the work that we have done this semester.

Going into this class I didnt know what to expect. I obviously knew that we would be

writing since it is name University Writing, but I wasnt sure how often we would be writing and

what we would be writing. Throughout this semester I have grown as a writer in many areas I

believe. Looking over my portfolio, I see how much work we have done and I am shocked to see

that I wrote all that in the short span of about 16 weeks. We have done blog posts, daily writing

prompts, long essays, and letters. We have worked in groups and individually. And we have all

grown as writers through the guidance of our wonderful teacher.

At the beginning of the semester when you told us to read the SLOs and revise them so

that they are written in our words, I thought it would be a piece of cake. I was wrong. I waited

until the last minute to do it, thinking it wouldnt take me that long to do it, and it ended up being

the bane of my existence for the 2 days that I worked on it. The vocabulary used in the SLOs

took me a while to decipher and once I had rewritten them in my own words I had to wait for my

group to finish up theirs. I messed up on this assignment because I thought it would be a quick

one. I waited until the last minute and then I went out of town before I could work on it with my

group. We ended up getting it done and turning it in just before the deadline, but the way I

structured mine was messy, unorganized and hard to follow. The importance of this assignment

wasnt the organization though; it was ensuring that we understood what was expected of us this
semester and what this class hoped to teach us. Throughout the semester I have improved in a

couple of the SLOs. Some more than others and some not at all, sadly.

Revising the SLOs was Studio 1 for this class and we still had 5 others to do throughout

the semester. My two favorite studios that we did, that proved most beneficial to me, were our

ePortfolio studio and our Writers Moves studio. For the ePortfolio studio we were told to look at

past examples of portfolios and answer a couple questions about them. I liked this studio, not

because it was easy, but because it was good to look at the portfolios and get an idea of what was

expected of us and how we should model ours in the future. One thing I noticed when looking

through the past examples is that they have a slightly different layout than ours, but that didnt

affect me when I created my eportfolio. Hopefully, Malcolm, you can use some of our

eportfolios for future 1104 classes, if you continue with this studio path, which I think you

should; the studios were very helpful. I would maybe change the order in which you make this

studio due because for the research studios, we ended up doing one of them way after all our

research had been done. If we had moved those up and maybe done the eportfolio studio after

those, we would be able to spend the last couple weeks of the class mainly focusing on that.

As stated earlier, my second favorite studio was the Writers Moves studio. I did not

enjoy reading different chapters, but I did learn a lot from each chapter that I read. What I read

that helped me the most with revising my inquiry paper, was the chapter talking about my voice.

They made me highlight every time it is my voice talking and then in a different color I would

highlight when I am using a quote or talking about something someone else said. This was

helpful with making sure I have a balanced essay. I dont want to be overpowered by the quotes I

use, but I want to make sure I use enough resources and quotes that I am able to prove my point.

This assignment wasnt hard because we were just pulling sentences out of our paper and
tweaking them a little bit to fit the outlines that we were given in each chapter. What I liked

about this studio was that it was quick and easy but that it was also informational. I like quick

and easy lessons.

The other studios (research 1&2 and revision) were also helpful, but in my opinion they

were the least helpful for me. Dont get me wrong, I do believe that they are important and they

do help with the process of doing research and then revising my paper, but they proved to be the

least helpful. I dont like these studios, not because they are hard, but because they are boring

and I learn the least about how to go about writing in the future. What I recommend for the

research studios is to combine them. They arent hard and they dont take long so combining

them will knock them out and gives more time to work on our eportfolio and the inquiry paper.

The process of coming up with ideas for the topic I would like to do for my inquiry

project was a hard decision. We had brainstormed in our daybooks and did a studio on potential

topics that interest us but I still wasnt 100% sure what could interest me enough to stick with it

for a whole semester. I ended up deciding to write my paper on sleep paralysis. The one problem

with this topic was that there isnt much known about it and there are myths, supernatural

reasons, as to why it happens to people. I feel like I could have written a substantial paper with

this topic but when I received my comments back from my topic proposal it was made clear that

I would not have enough information to make the minimum page requirement of the inquiry

paper. When my first idea was declined, I was lost. I didnt know what else might interest me,

but luckily I used my resources well and was able to find a list of previous inquiry topics. From

that list I found the inquiry question why is the dystopian genre so popular for the young adult

age group? I saw this and I knew that I could write an excellent paper because I love dystopian

literature and I have a personal connection to it. With permission, I was able to move forward
with this topic and put my own spin on it. Honestly, Im glad that my original topic proposal was

declined. I wouldnt have gotten bored, but my peers were right, there wouldnt have been

enough for me to write about, and Ive never experienced the sensation of sleep paralysis, so that

personal connection wouldnt be in my essay and thats one part I love about my current topic.

Last semester I also did an inquiry topic, but it was a group project so I had the help of

my group to do everything. So, this semester it was a bit overwhelming to do everything alone.

Since I have done an inquiry project before, I have done an annotated bibliography. This isnt my

favorite assignment, but I see the importance of it. Using my critical reading skills, I found

resources that fit my topic the best. Unfortunately, I was lazy and forgot the formatting of the

annotated bibliography; I didnt put the resources in alphabetical order and I didnt have my

citations in hanging indent. Minus those two things, my annotations were good and my sources

were the four different sources I needed. The good thing about this assignment is that it helps me

pick sources that will specifically help my paper since I have to explain thoroughly why the

source is useful.

With the help of my annotated bibliography I was able to move forward with my research

and start writing my paper. I had a hard time with this. I was going through a severe case of

writers block at the time and trying to piece all the information I had gathered in my paper was a

hard task to do. I do feel like I was prepared for this paper with all the instruction you gave us,

but I was still had an issue writing it. So, I sat down and wrote out what quotes I wanted to use

and where they should go in my paper. Planning it out like this seemed to help me get my mind

in order and controlled my thoughts. I was able to write my paper and meet the minimum page

requirements and I was really proud of what I wrote. I thought it sounded intelligent and proved

that I did my research. I used my rhetorical knowledge through using my sources and citing them
and through the composing process I brainstormed what I wanted to say and how I wanted to get

my point across. I am so proud that I was able to write this 6-page paper and then for my final

copy, 8 pages. I have never written that much before and I feel very accomplished to have done

so.

My first draft was very well written in my mind, but I knew that there would be things I

would have to fix. When I got the comments back from you I was very thankful. I have a hard

time receiving feedback from my work because failure is a fear of mine, but I got over it and I

fixed what you told me to. I expanded on topics that you told me to and I agree that it helps the

paper flow better. The revision process, I am told, is supposed to be a writers favorite part of the

writing process. Not for me. I found it frustrating trying fit my new research into my paper. I

didnt want the paper to sound choppy with my new information but I knew that I had to include

it for elaboration. Through this intense writing process, I discovered my voice as a writer.

Something I was worried about throughout this semester was my problem with rambling. I tend

to let all my thoughts pour out in a messy way that can tend to be confusing. To ensure that I

didnt have this problem, I had my friend review my paper each time I corrected it. I had asked

my peers to review it but I could tell they didnt get what the paper was about and with my

friend, he understands my topic because he too has a personal connection with it. I knew I could

rely on him to help me out. With his help, I have controlled my rambling and have written a final

copy that I can proudly present to people. It isnt a subject that everyone knows about but it is an

important topic that I believe everyone should know about.

In this course, we have worked on many different types of writing. My favorite was our

blog assignment. I had never written a blog before but always wanted to. Im glad I was forced to

because it gave me a place where I can be myself and write what I want to write. What I loved
most about the blog assignments was that we could write any way that we pleased. It didnt have

to be formal or always grammatically correct; I could be myself without worrying about what

others will say. This class has challenged me with my thought process and my ability to write. I

have always felt I was a powerful writer but this semester I felt like I grew as a person and a

writer. I am proud of my blog posts, my new-found way of expressing myself, and my new

revising skills I have obtained.

Looking through my eporfolio, I can look at all my work as a whole. I see everything I

have done this semester and it is a lot. This semester I have noticed that my weaknesses as a

writer are my organization skills, controlling my thoughts, citations, and voicing my opinion.

Citations are still something I have a problem with; I just dont understand why there are

different forms of citations. Its not that they are hard to put together, I just get confused with the

differences between each source. I believe I got my organizational skills under control with the

help of my peers who were so kind to reread my paper as many times as I asked. As for voicing

my opinion, its still hard to speak out loud but my blog posts have helped me express my views

of the world or my worries going on in my mind. This eportfolio assignment and the blog were

the first websites Ive ever had to create. It was challenging getting the hang of things but I

learned something new that I can use for the future.

I like that we have to do an eporfolio. It shows how we have grown as writers. In mine,

you can see my rough draft of my inquiry paper and with the track changes you can see my

revision process. Its cool to see what people change from their rough drafts and to see where

they end up at. When I started this part of the project, I was worried it would be complicated but

its just the work we have already completed this semester along with our reflections of the

assignments.
 This semester is ending and I am happy and a bit sad. I am going to continue post on my

blog and work on my writing. Hopefully, I can improve with each new post. I hope I can

overcome my weaknesses as a writer, and as an English major, I hope I can continue to learn new

things about the English language and the writing process. I would like to thank you, Malcolm,

for being there for all of us and making sure we knew that you were always available for

questions. I hope that you enjoy my revised inquiry paper and I look forward to hearing your

feedback.

Thank you,

Tori Tobul