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Sarai Sepulveda

English 1301.127

Professor McCann

1 December 2021

Chapter 1301

Each chapter of a book holds its own special purpose for its being there, whether it be a

plot twist, a new character reveal, or the climax of the story, they all end up being beneficial to

the overall message. From a young age, students are taught the many components of English, one

of which is the theme. In every sentence, excerpt, or novel there was always an underlying theme

that had to be discovered and discussed. Throughout this semester, I dove into a new chapter of

my life that would forever change the course of my academic career; I took my first ever college

English course. English 1301 is the “baby” of all English classes for many who are well into

education, but for someone whose whole life has revolved around reading and writing, English

1301 is a steppingstone towards the right direction. It provided the boost I needed to truly build

an appreciation for English and determine whether it is something I could potentially pursue as a

career. This boost was supported by the writing assignments, essays, and final portfolio that we

worked on to wrap up the semester. Each task held its own importance that proved to be useful in

developing one’s own writing skills. Working on the portfolio revealed this truth as I looked

back on all the writing I did and how with every essay there was progress. It showed me that

there are certain aspects of writing I am able to dominate and others that still manage to get the

best of me. The portfolio was built online, a new experience for myself and many of my peers as

most of us have never built a portfolio, let alone a website. Looking back on the semester and the

experiences while constructing my portfolio, I receive an insightful look into the inner workings
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of my essays and homework assignments, how English 1301 has impacted other parts of my life,

and how my own writing character has been altered. 

One of the key components of the portfolio was to go back and revise the three main

essays we did throughout the semester and also pick at least three homework assignments that

impacted us as writers. As I immersed myself into each of these three essays, there were certain

rhetorical factors I took into consideration while revising. Despite the fact that each was already

graded and that there was no going back, there was still the opportunity to turn in a flawless

essay with the portfolio. To be completely honest, since I had received ‘As’ on each of my

essays I was unsure of what to edit, but upon referring back to the original prompts, I realized

that there were some things I could alter. As I have learned throughout the semester, rhetoric is

one of the most crucial features of an essay which is why it was important to touch base with

them once more during the revision process. To illustrate, in the first essay that was focusing on

genre analysis, a strategy I was going for was the use of emotion or pathos. By explaining the

situation the females in Mexico were facing, I hoped to lure and captivate my audience to show

them that this is an important issue worth reading about. In my final draft of the first essay I

wrote, “The fiery energy spread amongst the community and powerful mantra inspire females to

not succumb to higher powers, instead, to keep pushing, and confronting the ones who will

provide them their longed equity,” using eye-catching words that would hopefully remind my

audience of the message I was trying to convey. By altering other specific phrases within the

essay, I was able to continue on the path of pathos and evoke feelings of determination. Another

example of a rhetorical choice I made in revising my essays was making the decision to leave my

statistics and quotes intact in order to preserve the idea of logos. One of the sentences where I

discuss these ideas is in my third essay, “For the second case, there were eleven different kinds
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of comments that were also divided into a pie-chart where the majority of comments were 31%

on blaming the victim and the minority was a tie of 3% between irrelevant comments and

comments that were critiquing the media’s focus (Barratt 22).” The percentages and mention of

pie charts were included to support my main point saying that the author was effective in

delivering their message because of this rhetorical choice. Although it may seem like a lot of

information, it was all added in order to fulfill the tasks of answering the prompt and convincing

my audience as well. In addition, this notion of rhetorical choices directly ties in with the

building of my portfolio. While designing my website I made sure to keep it appealing and

appropriate to the audience’s eyes. I tried my best to keep a pastel color scheme throughout the

backgrounds of headers and include images that would best represent my imagination’s depiction

of the course. Some of the images I included were of blank papers, a typewriter, books, and

pencils because I felt that they properly demonstrated the aesthetic side of English. As

mentioned, a requirement of the portfolio was to incorporate homework assignments that one felt

were important to their writing over the course of the semester. The three that I chose were

essays in response to the articles "Helping Students Overcome Writer's Block" by Lawrence J.

Oliver, "Directions: Write, Read, Rewrite. Repeat Steps 2 and 3 as Needed" by Susan Sontag,

and "Critic's Notebook: Struggling to Crack Writer's Block" by Christopher Lehmann-Haupt. All

three revolved around the ideas of writer’s block and how reading and writing are much closer

related than one would think; two facts that were made pertinent throughout the revisions of the

portfolio. I had to make sure I did not let any of the results of my writer’s block seep through nor

any incorrect interpretations of the readings I read. There are multiple factors that come into play

when revising essays, designing a website, and selecting writing assignments to represent one’s

own writing as that is the level of intricacy in which rhetorical choices function.
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If there is any statement that can never be debunked it is that a person never stops

learning for every day a new lesson will surprise them. English 1301 showed me how its

teachings can almost be identified as universal applications for they can fit into many different

situations and even courses. There is a healthy amount of information that was taught in English

1301 that can also be applied to other courses. The most obvious is the critical thinking and

writing skills that I was able to perfect through the essays of the class. There would be times

where I had to do one of the homework assignments and I would find myself finishing it in less

than 30 minutes because of all the writing practice I have gone through in this class. Many

courses such as history, psychology, science, art, and more often assign writing assignments in

order for the students to demonstrate their comprehension of the subject. English 1301 has taught

one how to quickly understand a concept and then write about it. One of the examples I can think

of is my History 1302 class in which we had to write a page and a fourth position paper on the

New Deal program. It was a tedious task seeing as we also had to reference about four different

sources but still manage to keep the length of the essay at least under two pages. Nevertheless, I

used my English 1301 writing skills, completed the essay, and secured myself a 100 on the

paper. However, English 1301 may not be as universal when we venture outside the academic

world. For instance, a class on welding, construction, or music may not require those same

critical thinking and writing skills that other classes do. The whole lesson on analyzing texts and

extracting their ideas to then write about it is one that would not exactly apply in these other

classes. There is a high chance that maybe they do some writing and reading but that is not to say

that when it comes to welding a gate, they are going to be using the process of rhetorical analysis

or applying the correct structure of an essay. Still, it is often neglected that there are hundreds of

courses that do work with the lessons that are taught in English 1301 so the chances that one will
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have to use what they have learned in other classes is very high. English 1301 succeeds in

providing valuable skills that one can keep and use throughout various other courses despite its

few teachings that do not apply. 

Each reflection essay that I have written has served as a checkpoint for the writer inside

of me as I am asked to look back at the progression of my writing skills and identify personal

strengths and weaknesses. Now that I have reached my final essay, I have acquired a solid

understanding of what parts of the writing process I strive in and which ones that I tend to

struggle with. Right away, I can truthfully say that my best strength is being able to fit important

information into a creative analogy, metaphor, or simile that paints an interesting picture on a

topic that may not be so intriguing for the average reader. This strength is one that I enjoy

because I am able to have some fun with my writing and shape it into ways that the audience and

myself can have pleasure in reading. An important aspect of this strength is that the analogies do

not stray away from the task at hand nor go too far deep into the imaginary world that one loses

sight of the main topic. I make sure to keep it short and sweet so the sentence can have an effect

but not too much that it becomes irrelevant to the paper. Another strength of mine is being able

to fully comprehend articles to the most minuscule details and then being able to successfully

write an analysis on it. This is a skill that was practiced throughout all three of the essays and I

think that I am quite close to mastering it. The strategy to practice this comes with a three-part

plan of writing one to two sentences on the text, providing a quote from the text, and finally

explaining and relating the quote to the message of the text. By following these steps, one creates

a solid paragraph that carefully demonstrates their analysis of a certain text. These two strengths

of mine have changed under the sense that they have become stronger and easier to practice. In

contrast, there are also some weaknesses that have made their own mark and become a part of
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my identity as a writer. The most notable is forgetting to include extra elaboration on a topic or

not tying back my points to my main claim. I specifically remember that in the second essay that

was on comparing and contrasting communities and a specific genre I would often forget to

further explain quotes and note their relevance to the point of the paragraph. Although it might

still have made sense for many readers, it does not accomplish that sense one feels that they too

have read the text one is writing about. For example, “The line reads, ‘Today my body was a

TV’d massacre,’ talking about the force Palestinians are met with for public gain (Ziadah line 1).

Again, this hostility becomes evident as it is seen that it is never kindness nor understanding that

other people approach these communities with,” are two sentences that are meant to correlate

with each other to the fullest extent. Unfortunately, I fail in the action of providing a good

amount of explanation on a quote that is not that simple to understand. The bright side of this

weakness however is that I am able to recognize it which means that I could potentially get rid of

it once and for all. It is certain that I almost always excel in creative writing, but that creativity

does not pass on when it comes to web design. That had to be the most challenging part of

creating the website because I do not have an artistic eye when it comes to these types of things.

I have no concept of color schemes or how to structure the links in unique ways. I tried my very

best to make it look nice and I would not say it is an ugly portfolio, but I do feel that it could be

much prettier and clever. The part of including content was probably the least challenging part of

creating the website as I adopted a process of adding text, adding a button, creating a page, and

then linking the page to the button. I found it quite calming and interesting as the process was not

that difficult, but it was also one whose end result would be effective and exciting to use.

Identifying the positive and negative of one’s own character, especially when it comes to writing
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and creating the portfolio, helps one establish their identity as a writer and officially become

their true, own writer.

The question of how writing identity has changed is a reoccurring one that I always am

unsure of answering for I do not know exactly if it has improved or simply stayed the same. But

asking that question for this specific essay brings one full circle as they are now analyzing their

writing identity as a whole, not of a singular essay that only slightly altered their character. With

this final portfolio reflection, I am definitely an improved writer. I have understood all the cogs,

screws, nuts, and bolts that go into an essay. I believe that after English 1301 I have become a

new person with new skills and talents. No longer is writing a hobby of mine but a part of my

personality. This final rhetorical analysis essay that many of my peers deemed as difficult has

revealed to me that if I truly focus on the writing prompt, then I can achieve it to the highest of

my ability.

To conclude, English 1301 has led me on a journey of new skills, personal growth, and

reflection of my own writing. From simple homework assignments to official 1,000-word essays,

this course has taught me that there is no obstacle too great and no challenge too troublesome.

Every word that I wrote this semester has altered the course of my life for they each carry a deep

and meaningful purpose that single-handedly shapes any event that follows. It should also be

mentioned that I would never have been able to reach such feats without my professor who stood

by her students' sides all the way through. I have never met an instructor so willing to help and

teach with a genuine passion that consequently ignites a similar interest within her students. She

has been a great guide all throughout the semester and I attribute all of my essays to her. My

assignments, essays, professor, and overall course of English 1301 have been some of the best

chapters of my life. This story of mine has taken many twists and turns but this new chapter has
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left a mark on my life that I will never forget. The temptation to flip the page is great but

knowing that I am the author of this book is a feeling like no other.