Jessica Preston

Professor Lacey

English 111

12 December 2019

Portfolio Letter

During this course I composed several papers including a memoir, an annotated

bibliography, an argument, and a proposal. Each paper helped me to increase my knowledge

about how to properly format my paper and correctly structure my paper. During each paper I

was able to have a better understanding of the different structure types that they needed, and It

taught me to expand on my thoughts and ideas, while getting my point across. With what I have

learned this semester I am able to apply all that information into any future essays that I would

have to do in and out of college.

When composing my first paper the memoir I was challenged to express what I already

know about structuring a paper. My purpose for this essay was to explain to my audience the

types of foods that I was exposed to growing up and the meaning behind those foods. When

constructing this paper, I wanted to attract the attention of those who are interested in learning

about perogies and how this type of Polish food was important in my life. during this paper I had

to take a risk and not go into too much detail about why it is important to me but about what

perogies are and what makes them the way they are. Starting out with a memoir seemed to make

sense to me because it helped me to get in the hang of writing papers, as well as, following the

requirements that needed to be met in order to have a strong paper. During this paper I mainly

used the strategies that I have learned in the past because they were the most familiar to me at the

time, but I was also able to apply new strategies to improve my essay. After getting comments
from my peers are was able to take their ideas and incorporate it in my paper to make my essay

stronger.

When composing my annotated bibliography my purpose was to express how much

sources can help strengthen the information in your paper. The audience was for those interested

in becoming more educated on the history of apple pie. While constructing a paper like this I was

able to understand how to correctly structure an annotated bibliography and grasp on to the

structure of APA citation format instead of the structure of MLA citation format. After doing a

peer review in class I was able to look back at the comments that my peers suggested for me and

apply them into my paper. Doing this helped me to understand what I was missing and even

where that missing detail needs to go. It helped me to have a better understanding of the structure

that was needed to create this annotated bibliography. A rhetorical strategy that please me the

most was how much detail I put into this paper and the number of examples about apple pie to

get the reader interested in my essay. During this paper I was challenged the most because I felt

repetitive in every paragraph and I made me take risks to find details that I had not already stated

in a previous description.

The next paper that I did was an argumentative essay. While creating my argument I

needed to make sure that I knew that the type of audience that I wanted to attract was hunters and

non-hunters who feel negatively towards hunting. My purpose for composing this argument was

to show both sides of the argument and to understand where others are coming form. As well as,

challenging myself to have an open mind on reasons why others are so against hunting. It helped

me to see it from a different point of view. One of my biggest problems that I faced when writing

this paper was making sure to include enough detail on the opposing argument and not just the

one, I felt is right. Even though including the other side was difficult for me I still made sure to
include all the information that was needed to create a strong argument. Even though I still felt

the way I did about hunting after writing this paper, I am now able to understand why people are

so against it. During this paper I became better understanding on the requirements that I needed

to meet and how to properly cite my sources with APA format. Knowing this I would be able to

become a stronger writer in the future.

The fourth paper that I completed was a proposal essay. The purpose of my proposal

essay was to help my audience become more educated on how a child can benefit from eating

healthier meals and getting a lot of exercise throughout the day. Because my paper was based on

helping people understand the importance of health meals for children my audience for this paper

would be parents, child care providers, and teachers. While doing this paper I was able to

understand how to correctly structure a proposal piece and what information that is needed to

strengthen your paper. While doing research for my proposal I learned a lot on this topic and I

think that proposal papers are getting you to become educated on many topics that can help you

make changes in your life, for example, healthier meals. I feel that knowing who your audience

is can help you write your paper. When knowing the type of audience that you are wanting to

attract it can help you structure your paper that is beneficial for them to follow along easier.

After knowing that I wanted my audience to be parents, child care providers, and teachers I was

able to connect with them in a way for them to understand and to help them improve their own

knowledge on this topic. In the end, I want people to take away from reading this essay would be

to understand the importance of how beneficial it is for children to have healthier meals. While

writing this paper I had the chance to learn a lot about how a proposal piece should be set up and

I how this can help me with my writing in the future.

 Each paper I was able to clearly see what my strengths and weaknesses are. For example,

somethings that I would consider my weaknesses would be that I tend to have run on sentences

in my paper, and I also like to repeat myself. On the other hand, somethings that I would

consider my strengths would be that I go into great detail. As well as, I feel that I make sure to

make connections throughout my papers in order to create a better flow that is easier for my

audience to follow along. I believe that knowing what your strengths and weaknesses are while

creating a paper can help you to be able to point out what you are doing wrong and correct them.

Knowing your strengths can help you to continue doing well to help your paper. Over all, each

paper helped me to increase my knowledge on different ways to structure an essay and it will

help me to improve my papers in the future.