Sophia Muhindura

1118 W Hall of Fame Avenue

Stillwater, OK 74074

August 2, 2017

Professor Diana Watkins

Northern Oklahoma College
1118 W Hall of Fame Avenue
Stillwater, OK 74074

Professor Watkins,
During my semester in Composition II, I remembered the love I have for expressing my
opinion. Throughout my upper division college courses I have been required to write a number
of papers, but they are rarely personal or opinion driven. Along with opening up through writing
I was also reminded of the importance of writing- and ensuring that I can write well. It was
extremely helpful to be critiqued on grammar, research, and style rather than grammar and
research. The four submissions in this portfolio are from my sophomore to senior year of college
and are all very different from varying courses. Luckily, I was exposed to advanced level of
composition through a rather strong advanced placement in high school. The teachers I had
stressed that writing in college required a lot of analysis and creating our own solutions, and they
were right. I hope my pieces show my varying writing abilities and strengths because I know that
each essay helped me highlight weaknesses I can improve in the future.
This semester began with an essay assignment I was already familiar with. During my
junior year of high school our AP Language and Composition teacher assigned us the same essay
straight from NPRs website. I chose this particular assignment for that reason, although I did not
have my previous This I Believe paper, I know that my values and convictions were nowhere
near as strong as they are now. This essay is the embodiment of my growth in writing for me, its
mature and reminds me of internal conflicts Ive had while strengthening my values. I feel like
the weakness in this piece stems from my tendency to lack detail in my writing. In the future I
should focus on the outline process before writing to ensure that I can get all of my points across
while engaging the audience with specifics.
The next assignment I chose was an analysis of relationship, positive or negative, written
for the required 1000-level speech class at Oklahoma State. Our teacher wanted us to outline the
relationship in comparison to the six stages of relationship: contact, involvement, intimacy,
deterioration, and dissolution that we were studying in the class at the time. I like this
submission, particularly, because it is full of my personality. Our speech teacher really
emphasized showing ourselves through our writing instead of just writing down a bland story
after another. This piece was a gateway into my voice being shown confidently in my writing.
The third assignment I chose for the portfolio was an analysis if the effects of foreign aid
in third world country with a focus on Cambodia. It required some research and critical thinking
in order to form an opinion and provide a possible solution. I chose this essay because it displays
my skill for critical analysis. With this skill, however, I am plagued with the difficulty of
expanding my thoughts on a topic without simply repeating myself throughout the essay. In the
past, especially in high school and early in college, I struggled a lot writing in depth and detailed
essays that covered all points of the topic. Stretching out and fluffing my points felt wrong
after years of AP teachers scolding us for including unnecessary writing. Though this essay was
not long I felt like it showcased my growth as an analytical writer fusing together the ability to
form an opinion with facts to support it. In the future, essays of this nature could benefit from
more sources and opinions (though I think this actual assignment limited them) in order to give
multiple sides to the argument.
The last essay in my portfolio was a medium length research paper for a human
development course. We were to choose an issue associated with any stage of development and
write about the disease itself, the effects, and research or treatments associated with the disease. I
selected this submission because of the detail within the many points asserted in the paper. Since
it was a semester long assignment I was able to space out the research and writing to ensure that
I didnt get burnt out while writing. I think this paper developed and matured my writing style
because it required a completely formal and professional research style rather than getting by on
flare and personality. I really enjoyed the assignment because I was able to write about autism
and autism spectrum disorder which affected my family directly, so I was able to assert points
that I had actually witnessed in reality as well.