710 Springfield Blvd

Cover Letter Town, OK 12345

April 29, 2019

615 N Monroe St
Stillwater, OK 74076

To Whom it May Concern,

Thank you for taking the time to readthrough my cover letter and portfolio- I greatly appreciate
it. I have put together a portfolio containing four artifacts from this passing semester as well as
my reflections over them and this cover letter to explain a bit of my writing process and current
state. I had to include three pieces from my Comp II class and only one from another class that
I’m associated with. This is because I did not have any writing that I had completed recently
enough for this year’s portfolio; however, I feel as though I still produced well thought-out and
executed essays that I greatly improved upon as the semester progressed. I will now go on to
explain my work, my writing style and skills, and what this portfolio means to me.

As a whole, this portfolio means a great deal to me because it is my first academic work in a
short number of years, for I had a gap between my time at NOC and a previous college I had
transferred from. In a way, it is a test for myself to gather whether or not I have deteriorated in
my craft over time, how to adjust, and how much I have improved over the course of this
portfolio and semester. The four artifacts I chose for this portfolio come from my English Comp
II class- like I previously stated- as well as one artifact from a history class I am taking. The
three english artifacts are essays while my history artifact is a short, one-page answer to a
question my professor had wanted me to answer. I started with my history artifact for it is the
weakest of the four. I must admit that it seems as though it had a lot less effort put into it- and it
was placed in this spot because of that; to show the progress of effort and time put into my
artifacts. The next three are my three english essays in order of how I view them- from worst to
best and also coincidentally, from earliest to latest. The progression of these four artifacts- I
believe- truly shows my growth as a writer as I begin to understand the craft more in depth and
put more time into trying to create a well structured piece.

Moving on- as mentioned, my first artifact is the weakest piece of the four, for it had the least
amount of time spent on it. I believe it to be an entertaining piece, as I had planned it out to be
read in a certain way, but from an academic standpoint, I believe it falls short of what I can
actually create as a writer. The next piece would be my first essay in my composition class- one
that I perhaps put too much time into. As I look back to evaluate it- it seems very top-heavy in its
structure; this is because I had planned out too much- written too much. I believe I was 200-400
words over my limit, and I forced myself to remove what I could to fit within the restraints of my
pages; my paper suffered for it. However, despite it seeming inconsistent in girth, I believe it to
be a strong start to my portfolio. I had a compelling argument; strong, well-sourced facts; and it
gave me insight into what my work ethic should have been for the rest of the class. From there, I
have my third artifact- my second essay from my composition class. The job here was to create
an annotated bibliography, and in a way, it was more of the same as my first essay from that
class. I had to create an argument, find my sources, and cite them correctly. While I ended up-
and unknowingly- falling short of how many sources I was to find and cite, I believe this to be an
improvement upon my last academic work. I believe I improved on my structuring, balance, and
tone as well as my ability to backup my claims and argument. If I had one major complaint of
this piece, it would be that I had forgotten to format my citations with hanging indents. My final
artifact was the last english essay of this portfolio, and it is my best work of this semester- even
the highest graded one of the semester. I felt I was most passionate about this one as it was over
a topic I felt strongly resonated with my core being- and this only worked to improve my effort
and thought as I created another argument; albeit a less factful one. As far as my growth as a
writer goes, I believe these four artifacts speak louder than any words I could come up with to
say on the subject; however, I believe over the course of these four works, I began to understand
what I was to create more and began to put a much greater emphasis on effort. The essay
assignments from this composition class- without a doubt- has helped me to greatly improve
myself both as a literate person and as a writer.

Speaking of my writing- my process in the craft is that of a simple one- but I believe it to be
effective as well. I try to pinpoint what in my piece am I most passionate or interested about; and
more often than not, this is not usually the opener or the thesis. Instead, I find myself more often
focusing on a specific point or argument that my prompt would like me to use within it. Instead
of looking at the bigger picture of the prompt, I try to pick a small argumentative point and then
build my planning around coming up with stronger arguments that I can then order structurally
for a strong essay. Prior to this semester, I would first begin with trying to immediately come up
with my opening and what kind of broad, vague thought I wanted to start with- and from there, I
would try to come up with some sort of hook-thesis that would make my essay seem interesting.
This did not work for me, for I often felt myself getting stuck or trying too hard to come up with
too many thing at once. Now, I have grown to instead focus on the smaller things in writing to
build a better larger picture. What assists me in this are my strengths which are all rooted in
structuring and planning. The more time I put into my essay, the greater my argument- though,
of course, this should go without saying; however, this time is spent on finding facts and research
to improve my side where it was previously spent going over my argument fruitlessly trying to
make it more robust and fluffy. I believe, now, I have an eye on how how to make my work flow
in a fluid manner that is both easy and enjoyable to read. Unfortunately, I believe my weakness
can hinder my fluidity occasionally, for my main weakness is my diction; too often do my essays
read at a lower level than how I process them in my mind. My greatest foe in my work is when I
end my sentences too short or use too weak words; though, I think my last artifact shows that I at
least started to improve upon that.

As for what is next- I am truly not sure; however, with my newfound understanding of my
writing and creating fluid work, I believe I am ready for whatever is ahead next. I know what my
weaknesses are and now only need to address them, and in areas that I was unconfident before-
like letters- I have now gained the experience to handle them confidently. I forsee less writing as
time goes on due to the major I have selected for myself, but I am happy to know that if any does
come my way, I have the necessary skills to take on any future assignments. I believe I am
prepared for many more semesters to come- as far as writing is concerned. Thank you for your
time and energy spent on this letter and portfolio.

Sincerely,

Michael Matic