1 Teresa Pham Catherine Rezza, Andrea Kaloush English 101 7 December 2011 Reflective Portfolio Letter As the year

is drawing to a close, so is my first semester of college level English. Having gone to a college preparatory high school, I expected English class to be similar and to learn similar concepts. Instead, I was able to gain many concepts throughout the course. Ive acquired rhetorical knowledge and critical thinking skills that help develop my English. Heres what I
have learned about writing this semester.

Focus on a purpose. Before starting any major writing project, I usually have to break down what I need to do so that I dont overwhelm myself with trying to do everything at once. This is where focusing on a purpose comes into play. For Writing Project One, I had to first focus on finding the right article that intrigued me enough to do an analysis on. I actually chose three different articles for each analysis assignment before I was able to settle on one that I felt I could effectively analyze. At first, I chose an article on female suicide bombers and how theyre not always used for religious reasons. I then felt I couldnt find enough support for that so I switched to violence against Guatemalan women. That also didnt work out well, and so I finally settled on how divorce isnt legal in the Philippines. After that, I was able to focus on starting my paper. By having a purpose to pursue like writing an outline before writing my rough draft, I was able to set myself on the right track to completing this Writing Project One. Respond to the needs of different audiences. For Writing Project One, I had to analyze a blog post by Iris Gonzalez called The Philippines: A Global Holdout in Divorce. I was

2 writing to an academic audience, and so I was able to respond to the needs of this particular audience by writing in a more serious tone. Since it was a formal essay, I couldnt include my own voice in it too much because I wasnt giving my opinion and trying to persuade the audience of what I thought. Instead, I was analyzing the text and showing the audience that I can effectively critique someone elses writing by pointing out the major strengths and weaknesses of the text. Here is an excerpt from my paper: Overall, Gonzalezs argument is effective to a certain extent, but it could definitely be improved to be more persuasive to readers. Pathos was her strongest area, helping readers to identify with her argument, but even that area could have been appealed to in a more successful manner. If she had employed better rhetorical strategies in the area of logos and kairos like providing more current statistics or personal accounts of people that are being affected, her overall article would have more impact on its audience. Be aware that it usually takes multiple drafts to create and complete a successful text. This is definitely true to making any successful paper. Usually, when starting to write a paper, I just throw down all my ideas and dont really work on grammar or content matter. I just write down everything I can think of. My paper ends up being disorganized and messy with lots of errors that I don't catch the first time around. I have to reread and edit it by fixing grammatical errors and changing sentences around until it turns into the best sentence I can make. Doing this takes multiple drafts since I always see things I want to change around until it becomes a paper that I would be proud to turn in. Control such surface features as syntax, grammar, punctuation, and spelling. Im usually a grammar person, and so I try my best to make sure my sentences flow smoothly. I try to include all the correct surface features by making sure my sentences make sense and have the

3 correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation, etc. After re-reading my paper, I was able to find several mistakes that I didnt catch before since I was in a rush. I can usually look back on my paper and tell where I need to add a comma since I tend to leave those out a lot during the writing process. Use writing and reading for inquiry, learning, thinking, and communicating. When writing my annotated bibliography, I had to read many articles, including scholarly, journal, and newspaper articles to learn more about my topic. I also had to inquire about what I was evaluating to see if the material was appropriate. This process required critical thinking so that I could effectively communicate to the audience what I wanted to talk about for my short paragraph analysis of the source. Here is an excerpt from Writing Project Two: Messner, S. F., Bjarnason, T., Raffalovich, L. E., Robinson, B. K. (2006, November). Nonmarital fertility and the effects of divorce rates on youth suicide rates. Journal of Marriage and Family, 68(4), 1105-1111. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. In this research experiment carried out by Messner, Bjarnason, Raffalovich, and Robinson, the effect of divorce rates on gender-specific suicide rates for youths aged 15 - 19 were analyzed. The results revealed that higher divorce rates meant higher suicide rates among men. Higher divorce rates for women meant lower suicide rates. Also, since divorce tends to correlate with higher suicide rates, it doesnt imply that divorced people tend to commit suicide more. This experiment was carried out accordingly, and the research provided sufficient results which were backed up by data thus making it a credible source of information. Use electronic environments for drafting, reviewing, revising, editing, and sharing texts. When we were peer editing papers, we had to use the computer to retrieve each other's

4 work so that we can edit it electronically. I was able to find errors and revise them using the comments and track changes function. This allowed the other person to see where I had made some revisions. Editing papers electronically is more appealing because I can fix the mistake right away and have the computer keep track of the changes which was nice. Adopt appropriate voice, tone, and level of formality. For Writing Project Two, I had to write an annotated bibliography. Bibliographies are formal, straightforward papers. I had to make sure the description I included for each source had the right voice, tone, and formality. For instance, I had to make sure I had the right amount of voice when analyzing the source by including why I found the source to be useful for my next paper. Of course, this required me to adopt a more serious analytical tone. For formality, I had to be concise and include only the information that was relevant to the source. Practice appropriate means of documenting their work. Writing an annotated bibliography required me to cite all my sources using APA format. Since I had always used MLA format in high school, I then had to adjust and learn how to correctly use APA format. By repeating the same process over and over again for several sources, I was able to gain enough practice to be quite comfortable on how to document an author's work. Here was my citation before I knew how to correctly write one: Constable, N. A transnational perspective on divorce and marriage: filipina wives and workers. Identities, 10(2), 163. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/ehost/detail?sid=8804b5e9-b204-496eb46e8c037f7a4d21%40sessionmgr113&vid=3&bk=1&hid=104&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3Q tbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=s3h&AN=10182564

5 Here is after I learn how to write the citation correctly: Constable, N. A transnational perspective on divorce and marriage: filipina wives and workers. Identities, 10(2), 163. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Write in several genres. Throughout the semester, I had three writing projects not including this one. Each was a different genre, interconnected with each other to improve my overall writing exposure to different types of writing. ForWriting Project One, I had to do a rhetorical analysis, which is basically analyzing a text and critiquing the authors writing to see where they had their weak and strong points. For Writing Project Two, I had to write an annotated bibliography. I had to find several sources that were related to my general topic and write a summary of what the source was about and how it would help me on my next writing project. For Writing Project Three, I had to write a causal argument essay, which was a revelatory-thesis driven paper. I had to persuade readers to accept my explanation of what the consequences of banning divorce in the Philippines were in a way that opened their eyes to what wasnt obvious. All these projects introduced me to new genres of writing since I had never written papers like these before in high school. Integrate their own ideas with those of others. For Writing Project Three, I had to develop an argument explaining what the consequences of banning divorce were. This had to be done in a way that was revelatory, or revealing things that were new to either the audience or me. This required me to integrate my own ideas with the ideas of the sources that I found to come up with arguments that were credible. Using others ideas helped me to develop my own ideas and make my claims stronger. For example, I was trying to persuade the audience that banning divorce is a bad idea since it not only affects the Filipinos themselves, but also the negative effects are felt even in the US. The no-divorce rule there encourages women to seek marriage

6 partners in the U.S. through the mail-order bride industry, which tends to lead to divorce. This in turn explains part of the problem with our already high divorce rates in the U.S. This was my revelatory thesis that I came up with for my causal argument essay: With the no divorce law in the Philippines, a number of women are discouraged from marrying within their country; this encourages them to seek out foreign husbands in the United States through the mail-order bride industry, with the majority of these marriages failing and thus contributing to the already high divorce rates in the United States. Understand the relationships among language, knowledge, and power. For Writing Project Three, I had to develop an essay that was effective enough to readers so that they would accept my explanation of the consequences of banning divorce in the Philippines. To do this, I had to use language in a way that made my paper sound convincing and professional. Using the right language helps readers see that I am knowledgeable about my topic. This makes my paper seem credible which gives me a lot of power over my audience. Writing this paper helped me see the importance of recognizing these important aspects of writing and how they contribute to the overall effectiveness of my paper. Develop flexible strategies for generating, revising, editing, and proof-reading. For any paper that I write, after I finish writing the first draft, I usually just run through to make sure I have all my ideas down. My strategy is to then take a break from looking at the paper so that I can look at it again with a refreshed mind a couple of days later. I usually look at the content of the paper which helps me generate more ideas to make the paper more complete. I then take another break and then look at my paper again to revise, edit, and proof-read it for grammatical errors. By taking a break from my paper, it helps me to not skim over it because Ive seen it so many times before and automatically assume that what Ive written is correct.

7 Understand the collaborative and social aspects of writing processes. Writing these project papers was a lengthy process, not meant to be done alone. For instance, throughout each project, there were people there to help me along the way. For Writing Project One, I had a conference with Ms. Kaloush to discuss my paper and see how it was coming along. I was given feedback as to how to improve my paper which was helpful. Also, during class we would have peer editing sessions for each paper. We would give each member of our group a copy and everyone would edit each others papers. These were useful since my group would catch mistakes that I overlooked. Collaborating with others on my paper improved my writing since its hard to see for myself what I need to do to improve my paper. English 101 has been a great introductory course to college level writing. I have gained valuable writing skills and concepts that will help me to develop my writing skills in my upcoming years here at ASU. I am now able to look at texts and analyze them from a critical perspective, write an annotated bibliography, and write a causal argument essay that centers on a revelatory thesis. These formal essays have broadened my exposure to various types of writing. Not just that, but since I plan on going to medical school, I know that I will have to write many papers that will require me to put my newly developed writing skills to use.