Dear Valentina,

This course has taught me a lot. I’ve learned so many things that I did not know before. I
have improved in a lot of ways as well. The readings were very informative. I my favorite
reading was “Navigating Genres,” by Kerry Dirk. I learned quite a bit about genres. It never
occurred to me that there were so many expectations for every genre (Dirk, et al., 2011​). The
example about the different types of ransom letters was very informative and understandable
(Dirk, et al., 2011​). This reading was so powerful for me that I decided to use it for writing
project three.
Writing project three was my favorite writing project out of the three. Writing project
three allowed for me to use the knowledge that I gained throughout the course to use in this
project. One of the readings that gave a lot of information for this writing project was ​“Shitty
First Drafts” by ​Lamott. When I wrote the first draft of writing project three, I wrote everything
that came into my mind. I did not care about the grammar nor the connections between ideas.
Lamott’s essay taught me to do that but then go back and revise the first draft (Lamott​, 1997)​.
Along with the writings and readings, I learned a lot from the class discussions and activities.
The class discussions were always very informative. I learned so much from my peers
and from you. The activities furthered this knowledge. For example, when the class discussion
was on revisions, my peers and I talked about strategies that we could use to revise our papers.
Once we had the strategies, we each actively helped each other revise our papers. I found these
class discussions and activities to be very informative and helpful. I learned so many ways to
revise my papers. I found the class to be helpful in so many ways. Of course there were a few
things that I wished we would have gone over and could have gone more in depth into.
I feel that there was not a very big discussion on how to find sources. I feel like we could
have had more activities that allowed us to collect sources. I do believe that the informational
class in the library was very helpful. However, I felt that it would have helped more if we had an
assignment or activity were we each had to find sources from different possible locations.
Another topic we could have covered was how to create a better thesis. I feel like we did not
have any activities about creating great a thesis. It would have helped a lot to have some time
were my peers and I would create a thesis. This could be an activity or an assignment. A third
topic that could have gone into more depth was how to revise better. I found all the information
from the readings, class discussions, and activities to be very helpful. However, I feel that there
could have been more. It would have been nice to have an assignment where I would have to
revise a paper. This would allow me to learn how to revise my own papers. Overall, the class is
very structured and is very informative. It was through this course, that pushed me to improve
my writing. This is seen in the writing projects that I selected to revise.
The first writing project that I selected to revise was writing project 3. I enjoyed writing
the essay so I could not resist making it better. Writing project 3 was the last writing project that
I had to write for this course. Because of that, I had a lot of pressure on making it my best. I feel
that the pressure caused me to make a few mistakes in the first submission of the project. The
writing style was not very academic. I had quite a bit of grammar mistakes and the thesis was too
wordy. I went back through my essay and worked to make the essay more academic. I read the
essay out loud to find the grammar mistakes and I removed the places that were too wordy.
Through this revision, I feel that my writing project has a better flow of ideas and is more
academic. These changes were given to me by you and my fellow peers. Both of which, were
very helpful.
The second writing project that I selected to revise was writing project 2. This writing
project had the best ideas that I feel could be improved. I worked to go more in depth into why
one scholar was better than the other. In my essay, I changed my thesis to show that the
psychologist used their evidence more effectively than the art historian. My essay became very
flowing after changing my thesis. I could see were my mistakes were. I change the sentence
structure of each paragraph to match the main idea that I wanted to address in each paragraph. I
also added more discussion on what each scholar did that either helped them or hurt them when
they used their evidence. For example, when I was discussing how the art historian used their
evidence, I talked about how the art historian’s evidence was very confusing when it threw
sources that were not discussed. I also worked to connect each paragraph to each other with
transitions. Revising both writing projects was very engaging and informative.
There were a couple of things that I really liked in my portfolio, along with a few things
that I would like to improve on. I really liked the revision process. Revising my writing projects
helped me to make them better. Making my essays better was very empowering. I would hardly
revise before this course, so learning ways to revise my papers was very helpful. I also really
liked making the website. I have never made a website before. I always wanted to learn but did
not know where to start. Through this course, I have learned how to start a website and maintain
it. Things that I would like to improve on. One of them would be the writing project 3. I felt that
I could have revised it better but I was not really sure how to. I went through all the steps I
learned in class but I could not find anymore errors. I also wish I could have improved this
reflection letter. I enjoyed writing this but I feel that I could not talk about everything due to the
limited space. Overall, this course has allowed me to create a great portfolio that truly reflects
what I have learned in this quarter.
This portfolio demonstrates all that I have learned in this quarter. When it came to finding
sources, writing project 2 shows how I have searched the internet to find two sources that answer
one research questions that I wanted to be answered. The readings each have shaped my writing
process. In both writing projects, readings from the course reader can be found. The revising
processes that I learned in the course are reflected throughout my portfolio. I worked to revise
each writing project along with the website and the reflection letter. Because of these reasons, I
feel that my portfolio reflects all that I have learned in this quarter. Along with that, this course
has changed me as a writer.
I was not a very good writer before this class. I would write all my essays the night
before they were due. I never would be able to find enough time to revise my essays. When I did
find time, I would be unable to revise it because I did not know how to. This course has taught
me how to revise and manage my time so that I would not be writing essays the night before.
This course has helped me grow as a writer. I know that there are many things that I will be
taking from this course and using it in my other courses. Now knowing where to find sources, I
can easily find sources for any essays I am assigned. I learned how to revise. Revision is such a
good skill to have for anything. Being able to revise any kind of writing is something that I will
definitely be taking from this course.
Overall, I found that this course was very informative. There was so much to learn and I
feel that I was able to learn a lot. All the knowledge that I have gained from this course will
follow me throughout my life. This portfolio is only one of the many writing assignments that I
will write in my life time. However, what makes this portfolio, and my future writing
assignments, different, is that I now have the skills and knowledge necessary to write college
level essays with sources and revision processes. Thank you so much for being my instructor.

Sincerely,
Sergio Siria

Work Cited
Dirk, K., Lowe, C., & Zemliansky, P. (2011). ​Writing spaces: readings on writing​. West
Lafayette, Ind: Parlor Press.
Lamott, A. (1997). ​Bird by Bird​. New York: Anchor Books.