Juarez 1

Federico Juarez
ENGL 1302
Monica Rodriguez
December 8, 2021
Portfolio Reflection Essay

Firstly, the rhetorical choices I made when revising each essay was a process of trying to

make each essay different from each final draft of one another. I started by reading each final

essay and see if I could add any more details or information I still needed or could add to help

prove my point more clearly. In addition, I also changed some information and added other

sources to help prove my argument and get my point across better. The rhetorical choices I made

when trying to create and design my website was simple. I went with an overall theme of gluten

free diet and it carries over throughout the whole website. Since all of my essays had to deal with

the gluten free diet, I decided to make it the overall theme of my website. Furthermore, the

background is a picture with the saying “Gluten Free” in the middle of it. So in adding my

website has an overall theme that connects with my essays. I did this so that the website and my

papers could connect with the same theme and have an overall put together website.

When it came to activities or homework that influenced my revisions and rhetorical

choices when creating this portfolio many of the work helped and guided me when trying to put

together my website and with the revisions of each essay. The homework and activities helped

with creating a better understanding of the subject matter and comprehending the ideas and

points needed to be expressed in my writings. They also helped me prepare my thoughts and

ideas, brainstorm topics, and express myself to come together for the drafts of my essays. I

believe the reflection essays were also a huge help in really thinking about what I wrote about in
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each essay and really explore those ideas and how they were put together. Furthermore, they had

me thinking of questions and ideas I had either not thought about in a while or haven’t even

thought about at all.

There were many things I learned in English 1302. From learning how to create a

website, to writing my first ever scientific experiment essay, learning how to correctly site

sources in my writings and how to become a better writer. It has been a long while since the last

time I have taken a writing course or any course for that matter. So, it was great to come back to

school and in the process learn so much in English 1302. I will take everything I learned in this

course and use it to excel in my future courses and ultimately in my career. Learning how to

write a scientific experiment essay was very interesting because I had never seen or heard of

such type of writing formant. It was my first time writing an scientific experiment paper, but

using all my previous experience of grant writing from my previous jobs helped me put together

my thoughts and format the essay in a way that was needed to be in. Adding to that in 1301 if I

can recall the types of writings, we did were a personal narrative, argumentative essay, and

research essay so yes, we did do writings that involved different tones and writing styles. In

addition, learning how to write in academic formant and style without using “I” and “Me” will

be something I will use in my future academic writings. Furthermore, what I learned in this

course is that I can apply in other courses is the use of sources to help explain what I am trying to

get the reader to understand or what I am trying to express as the writer. Also, the amount of

preparation used for this website and all my essays I can use in my other courses when it comes

to all writing assignments. Creating a website is something that I may use in other courses or in

my career in the future. When I was working for nonprofit organizations, website management

was a huge thing we had to do in order to show fundraising dollars, to what team or individual is
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raising the most money. So, I strongly believe that the portfolio website creation will come in

handy in my future classes and future career. Happy I was able to learn how to full create a

website from scratch. As I move on in my academic career, I believe some things that I will not

use in future courses that I learned in English 1302 are having to use many sources in our

writings, also I am a business major so I believe I wouldn’t have to write a scientific essay. I also

believe that I won’t have to write as many essays in my future course. As I move onto my

business classes for my senior year of school, I believe it will yes be more reading and less

writings. I could be wrong since I have a feeling it will be more test taking and less writings of

essays and portfolios.

I believe my writing strengths have completely changed and have become a better writer

during this semester. I learned how to explain my ideas and points in a way that will help support

and defend the idea of that a gluten free diet is a good option for you and can help your overall

health. Moving forward this will help me in my future course because I can now get my point

across with sources and citations. Furthermore, learning how to correctly defend an idea with

supporting evidence and how to properly source those ideas will be very handy in my future

courses and throughout my career. Also, I have always been good at explaining what I’m trying

to express in my writings. Regarding my strengths and weaknesses are completely different now

being that the types of writing we did back then are completely different writing formats and

essays we are doing now. The most challenging aspect of this essay was writing this type of

essay. I had never done anything close to the writing before. So, it was a bit confusing and

challenging at the beginning but once our professor explained what the writing process was, and

style and format of this essay really helped me understand what I was doing.
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The most challenging aspect of the website was making sure everything flows and relates

to the overall theme of the website. In addition, just creating the website took time but noting

that was too major that can’t be done with time and preparation. Overall, it was fun creating a

website and how easy it can be to make one. Technology has improved in a way that can help us

get our point across in a way that we can display our works on our websites that we created. My

identity as a writer has never really changed. I have always enjoyed writing but not so much the

process of writing but the free flow of writing. Pouring out my ideas and explanations in my

works is freeing to me. That my words have strength and can be used for good and can create

many great things. I am excited to continue writing and gain more knowledge on the topic and

further explore the world of writing. I also strongly believe that my writing has improved

tremendously since I took English 1301 over six years ago.