Summer Cole

5555 E Maple Ave., Enid, OK 73701 | scole302@students.noc.edu

August 2, 2017

Diana Watkins
Comp II Professor
Northern Oklahoma College
118 W Hall of Fame Ave.
Stillwater, OK 74074

Dear Diana Watkins,

Wow! Where do I start? All my summer classes are over. This summer has been stressful, to say the
least, but I enjoyed being part of this Comp II class. I have never been a real talkative person, and I
rarely have the time to sit down and write anything that takes some thought. I have an almost two-year-
old daughter that loves to be the focus of my attention, and I work full-time as an LPN. Finding time to
think is hard! I am also much older than most in this class, and I have been out of high school for
twenty years. I forgot almost everything I learned in English class, so I was looking forward to
refreshing my memory. Writing is something that I do enjoy doing, and I always strive to do better.

My first year of Comp I was a challenge, but I did well. Then, I started to look forward to learning
about more advanced writing in Comp II. I wanted to work on several aspects of my writing that I
continuously have issues with. For instance, I tend to struggle with run-on sentences, tense issues,
comma splices, and the general flow of my papers. Before Comp II, I had no idea what an annotated
bibliography even meant, nor how to create one. These things are all important parts of a good paper
and I knew to become a good writer I needed to work on them. The four essays that I chose all mean
something different and represent different styles of writing I have been required to complete
throughout my college career. I chose these essays to represent things that I believe in and to show the
types of topics that I feel are important.

The first essay that I included in my portfolio is an argumentative essay that I wrote in Comp I. This
essay is about the importance of children being vaccinated. I titled the essay The Deadly Viruses
Amongst Us because there are many deadly viruses that should be eradicated by following the proper
vaccination schedule for children. Many parents who choose not to vaccinate their children fail to
realize the impact that their decision has on everyone around them. I feel very strongly about this issue
because I have a young daughter that I choose to protect with vaccinations. There are some exceptions
to vaccinating children, but I believe that all children should be vaccinated to protect themselves and
others around them. The second essay that I chose is the first essay of my Comp II class, Gods Plan.
In this essay, I was asked to write about something that I believe and I am passionate about. This essay
demonstrates my belief in God and the blessing he gave me in the birth of my daughter. I placed this
essay second only because I included an essay from my previous Comp I class first to show how I have
evolved as a writer in my remaining selections. Gods Plan is the essay that means the most to me
out of all essays that I chose to display in my portfolio. Third, I chose the essay A Positive Look
because it reflects on an important issue in our world today and throughout the history of America. I
like this piece because it provides the positive aspects of immigration in our country and how
immigrants have helped to build the America we know and love today. The final essay that I chose is
the last essay of the semester (prior to the cover letter for our portfolio). I chose this essay because I
wanted to show how I have evolved as a writer and to demonstrate the different writing styles that I do
well with. This is a letter to Representative Jadine Nollan. I wrote this letter to Rep. Nollan because of
a recent bill she helped create requiring high schools to assist students in creating an Individual Career
Academic Plan (ICAP). ICAP is a tool that will be beneficial to students looking to further their
education after completing high school. I think that this bill was necessary because many students are
clueless in the steps they need to take to be successful in enrolling and completing college. I am happy
this new tool is available to help better mold the future college students of Oklahoma.

All the essays that I chose for my portfolio all represent things in my life that I feel are important. I
wanted to share these specific essays because they are important, and they demonstrate my progress as
a writer. In the beginning of class, I was not sure why it was necessary to create a Weebly site, but I
realized why the site was necessary. The Weebly site is the perfect way to display our thoughts.

In conclusion, I know I am still not the best writer in the world, but I feel that I have made tremendous
progress. Now that my summer Comp II class is over, I am a little relieved and sad at the same time.
Im relieved only because I can finally enjoy spending time with my family for the remainder of the
summertime before school starts back up again. I am sad that I never had a change to meet any of the
other students in my Comp II class, and I never had the opportunity to meet the teacher that taught me
so many important things about writing. Mrs. Watkins, I can certainly tell that you are passionate about
what you do, and I think that you are a wonderful teacher. I only had six weeks to learn things that will
affect my writing for the remainder of my college career and beyond. I plan on applying for nursing
school and I foresee many research papers in my future. With your help, I know that I have all the tools
and knowledge needed to be successful. It has been a pleasure working with you. Thank you for
support and guidance through this course.

Sincerely,

Summer Cole

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