Dear Valentina,

It has been a pleasure to be a part of your class. Not only did your teachings expand my

writing capabilities, but they also expanded my way of thinking. Not only do I notice this in my

own writing, but the writing by others as well. I have learned to pay attention to detail and

depicting an audience in a piece of writing while determining the purpose of the article or essay

that I am reading. This has been strengthened from the constant practice of writing each week-

from the Project Builders or Writing Projects or reflective journals. From these exercises, I have

felt myself become a more confident writer. It helped to take on each week with a new goal or

thought to practice in my writing. Many of these goals were implemented by your lectures and

ideas from the Project Builders.

The most noticeable takeaway from the course as a whole has been engaging with the

readings, and using the information to help illustrate my argument. While this process seemed

tedious and tiring at times, it only seemed to benefit my analyzation skills and ultimately helped

broaden my understanding of purpose in each article. The readings also helped fuel my opinions

in the weekly discussions by allowing myself to think about how I can be a part of the

conversation, while bringing insightful new ideas for the group to discuss. These ideas were

reflected when writing both of my Writing Projects as I engaged with the readings in order to

support my arguments in my papers. In the revision process, I learned to clarify my argument as

it could sometimes get lost in the writing. This would be exercised by rewriting or revising my

thesis, and reflecting it throughout my paper. While I did learn how to demonstrate an effective

use of readings, I would have liked to get better at using the evidence I found and have it align
better with my arguments. Many times I found that I can lose track in my paragraphs, and not

refer to my thesis.

As I looked over my Writing Projects, and as they were reviewed by my peers, the most

noticeable change was to strengthen my thesis and introduction paragraphs. This was something

I took lots of time to reflect on and ask myself, what exactly is my argument? Where in my paper

am I going to prove my thesis? What elements of writing do I want to talk about when discussing

my take on genres? After strengthening my introduction, I focused my attention to the

conclusion. In Writing Project 2, I felt that the conclusion paragraph provided a very weak

ending to the paper. I ended up deleting it entirely, and rewriting a new one with more

incorporation of my argument in attempts to wrap up my paper more effectively. I also noticed

the lack of evidence in Writing Project 2, so in the revision process I included evidence from the

original text I translated. In my first Writing Project, the most useful piece of information I

received from the feedback would have to be working on my thesis. This really helped me

understand what exactly I needed to do in order to create a stronger thesis. Within my portfolio, I

am most proud of my analysis of my evidence. This is most accurately seen in Writing Project 1

as I would use textual evidence to illustrate my argument, followed by a detailed analysis. This

idea was something I actively tried to get better at this quarter within my papers. I feel as though

I have accomplished a better understanding of selecting texts while analyzing them to strengthen

my points. I have felt myself become a more confident writer since the start of the quarter, while

learning more and more about the different dimensions in writing. I feel as if I have changed the

most by being able to address my opinion clearer within a paper, while providing significant

evidence to streamline my stance.

 As I continue with my writing career, I am going to use all the tools I have learned in this

class. These most clearly being the ability to locate sources, writing a strong thesis, while

crafting a well thought out paper. I learned the importance of outlining a multi-paged paper, prior

to writing it and using each paragraph written in an effective way. As I approach future writing

projects in my college career I am going to use a detailed revision process in the end, as I have

learned that this helps my final papers the most. I have never used this type of revision process

before until taking this course, but I have only seen positive outcomes by using it. Most of all, I

learned that writing a paper slowly leaves less room for error when reworking it in the revision

process.

The quarter has been a new experience for us all. Thank you for being so available for all

of my questions throughout the quarter. While I never got to physically meet you, your lectures

were always cheerful and helpful as you helped me transform and grow into a stronger writer.

Thank you for everything you do! It is deeply appreciated.

Sincerely,

Kendra Twist