Anthony 1

Connor Anthony
Mrs. Weathersbee
AP Lang & Comp
28 May 2015
Introductory Letter
Throughout my previous year of high school I have improved vastly in my ability to
write various types of coherent essays. These types of writing range from argumentative detailed
essays to analyzing other people's work in your words. Although the prompts many ask for
different responses the goal is the same for how you attack the problem. You will have to use
rhetorical strategies in your favor in order to convince the reader of your opinion. Ironically, I am
writing his letter in order to convince you for how I have used my own strategies in order to
tackle other assignments. In this portfolio I will go over four essays that I have spent much time
on revising and over correcting. However these changes and edits will hopefully improve my
skills of writing these important essays in the future.
While reading these various essays there have been patterns that I have found in my
writing. I have noticed that I have a certain way to analyzing most passages. In these essays I
would prominently use the facts and other data that were present in the prompt or resources. I
would use this information already given to us and use these findings as exact evidence for
writing the essay. Another strength that I have found is that I can explain the context of certain
situations presented in the prompt. I have found that I was good in setting up the background
information of the characters and problems so that the audience can follow the issues more
easily.
Along with my strengths I have also found places where my writing has some weaker
points that I need to improve on. I have found a pattern of distinguishing different types of
strategies used by the writers. For example I have would talk about a certain subject and then talk
about a similar rhetorical argument used on latter in the essay. I would mistakenly compare the
information based on their content instead of how they influenced the audience. This kind of

Anthony 2

knowledge on how to bring together two sets of data that look dissimilar can really improve your
writing. Although this is a minor thing and doesn't affect my grade as much as the writing itself, I
think I could improve on spelling certain words. Even though spelling and grammar aren't
necessary what people are grading for, it would be more effective if I did have to cross out so
many words when taking a written exam.
In each of the artifacts I had to try to find ways that I could improve upon them. After
reviewing these artifacts I have found that most of the changes I made were to simplify the
response. In the analysis essay and the DBQ essay I have found that I spend too much time
elaborate one idea instead of focusing on getting all my ideas on the paper. I think these types of
changes are good because it helps the reader to identify the information more quickly without
having skim over elaborate explanations. Also I think that my choice of essays was sufficient in
that it included a wide variety of my different styles of writing. I would use a long multi page
papers and then use smaller in class essays to show how my writing has developed in multiple
areas.
Overall, I believe that I have improved my writing skills through a variety of sources.
These types of learning sources include out of class papers, timed writings, and books on writing.
A few books that I have learned to become a better reader, writer, and thinker are The Crucible
by Arthur Miller and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Early on in the school year The
Crucible helped me look at a certain situation and view them in different perspectives. However
in The Great Gatsby I spent more time learning about the correlations between what is being said
and the hidden rhetorical meaning behind it. This exposure to ways that writers have connected
stories together with alternative meanings has helped me analyze other passage and write my
own views. While completing my previous year of high school I have noticed my improvement
in the ability to analyze and write essays in multiple formats.

Anthony 3