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Evelyn Tovar

Professor Julie Baker

ENGL 1301-181

7 December 2023

Portfolio Reflection Essay

Throughout my writing journey in this English 1301-181 class, I was assigned three

major essays, each requiring a first draft, an advanced draft, and a final draft. However, I did not

simply compose essays that would increase my proficiency in writing, but I also participated in

discussion posts where I was required to complete activities that corresponded with the learning

objective of that week. As I partook in the construction of multiple essays, peer reviews,

discussion boards, and assignments, I learned about the grueling writing process and acquired

knowledge that I can further implement in future courses and writing tasks that can aid in my

success. With the time I have spent in this course, I have learned how to execute various

analytical techniques and how to implement feedback I received from my instructor, classmates,

and tutor in the revision process. For instance, the revision of one of my essays for the last time

did harbor some challenges; however, some factors that came along were less challenging than

others. I needed to manipulate my essay so that it successfully communicated the class concepts

to the audience in a way that would aid their understanding of my English 1301 class. As I

engaged in this course, I was able to discover my writing strengths and weaknesses through the

process of overcoming the challenging aspects this course held. Subsequently, I am able to

confidently say that my English 1301 course has prepared me to successfully transition into

being part of the academic writing community and improve for future writing tasks.
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Increasing my familiarity with the arduous and somewhat mysterious creative writing

process has allowed me to become more prepared to take on future writing tasks and develop in

other courses. The instant we were assigned our first essay, I was stressing over how to begin it

because, in the past, I have invariably had the most difficulty initiating and concluding an essay.

Due to the fact that I was lost on how to begin a piece, I would often procrastinate, leading me to

rush the rest of the report. However, when I commenced reading the book and completing

various assignments, I began to become more acclimated to the diverse writing processes,

therefore making it easier for me to pick up a pencil and form my essays as I began to

incorporate them. Considering all the discussion boards I have partaken in, I would choose the

class activity, "Shitty First Drafts" by Anne Lamott, as the one that helped me the most in my

writing journey and understanding the writing process. In the aforementioned article, I found

solace in the reality that even experienced writers do not fully know what they are doing initially

because it perfectly explained what I felt when formulating an essay. Something she mentioned

that stuck with me was her mention of a "down draft," where writers simply jot down whatever is

running through their minds. A downdraft is a medley of jumbled-up sentences that do not

necessarily make sense but are utilized to get the writer's ideas in motion. Following the creation

of a downdraft, a writer would then continue assembling an "updraft." While constructing an

updraft, the writer dissects the downdraft to manipulate and make sense of their ideas precisely.

After reading "Shitty First Drafts," I began randomly jotting down my thoughts onto paper, even

if they did not make sense, in an attempt to start my essay. Subsequently, once I had refreshed

my mind, I would examine my downdraft and orchestrate my sentiments in a fashion where they

were undoubtedly and specifically expressed. More profound knowledge of the writing process

has also proven beneficial in my other courses. For instance, as a biology major, I often have to
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compose lengthy research papers about a topic or experiment, but I would constantly feel

unprepared and overwhelmed by the flooded information that resulted in me not fully

comprehending how to start or organize my thoughts. However, I took the advice from the article

"Shitty First Drafts" and began to write out the data, variables, opinions, etc., to prepare my mind

for what was to come next. ​Once the tricky part was over, I merely had to arrange the details on

an orderly piece of paper. As I practiced enforcing the writing process, I grew and became more

adept at handling assignments from my English course and others.

Besides learning about the writing process, I discovered more about analysis and how to

thoroughly dissect articles' structure, elements, and phrasing. The third essay, rhetorical analysis,

was the assignment that enabled me to learn the most about analysis. The objective of the third

essay was to select a peer-reviewed journal and analyze the effectiveness of the rhetorical tools

the authors utilized. While reading the article, I simultaneously examined and took note of the

types of rhetorical devices implemented and their efficacy. Throughout the process of

strategizing and formulating my third essay, I was able to assimilate the analysis process and its

significance. When studying the article, I ensured to identify the intended audience and the

methods the authors utilized to ensure that the audience would understand. My ability to

comprehend why authors choose specific rhetorical devices and how they can frame an article

was augmented as I continued to research and analyze the rhetorical tools utilized in the article I

decided to review. My analysis skills were not only enhanced through the construction of my

third essay but also through my second essay, visual analysis. The purpose of the visual analysis

essay was to select an image and carefully diagnose the variety of elements executed to display

the image's essence. To illustrate, the focal point, background, main image, and color palette

were elements that harmoniously coincided to bring about the nature of the portrait I chose to
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interpret for my essay. It was incumbent that I comprehend the process of analysis to guarantee

that I could homogenize into the academic writing community. As I learned how to navigate

through the analysis process, I have come to understand how to examine various sorts of pictures

and writings.

As a requirement for my English 1301 portfolio, I must revise one of my major essays for

the last time, which I utilized as an opportunity to implement my newfound knowledge of the

analysis process. I chose to revise my first essay, the genre analysis. Because of my strengthened

skills in analyzing due to this course, I have found the revising process to be a smoother road to

travel. Attributed to the constant writing of multiple essays, I considered the revision of my first

essay to come somewhat naturally, as I had built a strong foundation on the aspect of

modification. I learned that formulating a clear and concise thesis statement and tying the claims

from each paragraph back to the thesis statement's idea allows for a cohesive essay. Not only

does this result in a coherent theme, but an organized one as well. Accordingly, I ensured that I

revised my thesis statement, as the previous one was somewhat ambiguous and messy. I detected

that most of my paragraphs did not answer why the organization chose to utilize that specific

brochure. Hence, I decided to form a list of reasons behind each element I chose to discuss.

Thus, each paragraph became more apparent and had a stronger relationship to the thesis,

resulting in a more organized and legible essay. Prior to making revisions, my paper was

bombarded with information that needed a more straightforward, followable rhythm. My

instructor's feedback was also significant to my understanding of revising my essay. She had

mainly recommended that I edit my introductory and first body paragraphs, the primary

components that made my writing moderately unclear. Listing segments of my writing that
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needed modifying along with essential information allowed me to witness that I had extraneous

sentences and was missing vital details that would positively contribute to the essay.

Furthermore, the most challenging aspect that I experienced whilst revising my genre

analysis essay was entirely revising my introductory paragraph. I decided to completely throw

out my previous first paragraph because it was mainly in the first-person point of view as I was

explaining a personal experience; however, the requirements of the essay stated that the piece

had to be solely in the third-person point of view. As I was brainstorming ideas on how to craft a

new introduction, I wrote down whatever seemed to fit my standards for the theme. I then

implemented each into my essay separately to conclude which worked best. It was the most

demanding aspect because I had to develop my introduction from scratch while guaranteeing it

accommodated the rest of the essay. However, the least challenging part of altering the piece was

knowing what to include in the body paragraphs and correcting the MLA format. After listing

what I could include, I knew what would be felicitous. The writing process permitted me to

confidently note what I was thinking, even if it did not make sense. After reporting the

information, I could design a well-structured essay that would adequately flow. The various

challenges I faced while revising were learning experiences that have allowed me to grow into a

better writer.

Regarding my website's capacity to communicate with a general audience to ensure

comprehension of course concepts, I chose to revisit the Blackboard course and read the various

essay prompts and characterizations. It seemed fitting that I reread and refreshed my mind on the

prompts to guarantee that I adequately explained the course concepts. I described what genre,

visual text, and rhetorical analysis were. I noted the requirements for each assignment, such as

the word count, MLA format, and a description of each genre. I utilized these distinctive features
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in my reports to facilitate the audience's cognizance of my English 1301 course. By elucidating

the components, I get to showcase to the audience the methods by which I completed my

assignments. This methodology of communicating with the audience enables better

comprehension of the course and what I deem challenging or facile.

The more demanding aspects I encountered with the writing and analysis processes were

formulating my thoughts in cohesive, expressive phrases and not knowing how to start

adequately. When analyzing an article, I would carefully reread the piece at least two to three

times to ensure that I understood the rhetorical devices the author had implemented. Likewise, I

would deduce why they chose those specific tools and the intended audience. The same goes for

examining an image, attempting to depict the consequential elements that harmoniously bring the

theme to life.

Regarding the analysis and writing process, I was able to readily select the elements that

contained a more profound significance to the image or article; however, I consistently struggled

with putting my thoughts into words. I invariably had a portrait in my head of what I felt, but

bringing my vision into the light was a struggle simply because I could not find the words that

suitably embodied them.

Contrary to what I found most challenging about this course, the least problematic aspect

was the quantity of information I had to note down. I typically always had a proper amount of

details that I wished to include, and even though I had trouble starting the writing process, I

knew what I wanted to write. From my perspective, that was the least strenuous aspect of the

course because my mind would be regularly fueling new ideas that I could incorporate. I

discovered that was one of my strengths as a writer: providing a significant amount of substantial

evidence from images and articles. From the comments I received from my peers, I found that
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my strengths were providing a good amount of information along with the proper foundation to

back up the evidence. For my writing skills, I discovered from my peer-review comments that I

have a good flow of ideas running smoothly. I included evidence and descriptions in each body

paragraph that tied back to the thesis. Nevertheless, the challenges I faced in this course have

played an essential role in developing my knowledge and growing as a writer.

Overall, the learning experiences I have acquired from my English 1301 course will

remain in my arsenal as I complete future courses and writing tasks. From my perspective, this

course has sufficiently prepared me to join the academic writing community. I struggled heavily

with writing essays at the beginning of this course, so I dreaded it when we were assigned them;

however, now I feel more at ease and confident in my writing. I am confident in my writing

because of the wisdom and experience I have attained from this course. I have a deeper

understanding of the writing process, what it entails, and the ability to interpret it. Further, I

learned about the analysis process through the various assignments we were assigned. The

analysis process requires careful research of the material to understand the components that

characterize the essence of the material. Then, I learned about revising by incorporating the

writing skills I retained throughout the course into my new revised essay. I could comprehend

my evolved writing skills by overcoming the challenges of learning these processes. Ultimately,

all the knowledge I have acquired, along with the experiences, have trained me to enter the

academic writing community.

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Works Cited

Jonathan Demme. Silence of the Lambs. Illustrated by Jonathan Demme. Dazu Creative, 1991.

https://posterwire.com/silence-of-the-lambs/. Accessed 3 October, 2023.

Zaman, Bidita. “The Silence of the Lambs [1991]: The Voluptuous Death.” High On Films,

21 Feb. 2021,

https://www.highonfilms.com/the-silence-of-the-lambs-1991-the-voluptuous-death/

Accessed 3 October, 2023

Carey, Mariko, et al. “Depression and thoughts of self-harm and suicide among people living

with dementia: results of a cross-sectional survey.” Psychogeriatrics, vol. 23, iss. 5, 21

June 2023, pp. 773-780. Wiley Online Library,

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/14798301/2023/23/5. Accessed 29 October 2023.

University Honors & Undergraduate Research Program, https://www.tamiu.edu/honors/.

Accessed 17 September, 2023

Munson, Nicholas. “3 Reasons Why You Should Get To Know Your Professors Personally.”

Marymount University, 29, Nov. 2021,

https://marymount.edu/blog/3-reasons-why-you-should-get-to-know-your-professors-pers

onally/#:~:text=Talking%20with%20your%20professors%20outside,cram%20the%20nig

ht%20before%20exams!. Accessed 17 September, 2023.