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Jesse Magaa
Prof. Kane
English 115 mw
8 December 2016
Dear Portfolio Reader:
Hello my name is Jesse Magaa and this is my portfolio. My portfolio consists of 2
essays (rough and final for each), 2 progressions, and this cover letter. I chose progression 2.1,
progression 3.1, essay 2.1/2: Faith Perception, and essay 3.1/2 Absurdity. Progression 2.1 is
about a picture that implies Platos The Allegory of the Cave and my input and progression 3.1
is the dialogue that I wrote between Susanna Kaysen (Girl, Interrupted) and R.P McMurphy
(One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest) at the Oasis center here at CSUN. While essay 2.1/2 is about
how we as a society create a composite reality and essay 3.1/2 is about if the difference between
sanity and insanity is who holds the power. I chose these 4 because either they were my best
pieces of writing (essays) or because they were my favorite to write (progressions).
For the essays my strengths are definitely my thesis statements and how I elaborate on
each piece of evidence. For progression 3.1 I was able to use my creativity a bit more and I
believe that is a strength of mine as well. My organization for the most part is pretty good, I
usually choose the best place for each example or evidence for it to be effective. My grammar
tends to be very good, I write well at times.
There are areas where I can definitely improve as well. For instance my spelling is
terrible when I am typing fast or when I am doing a rough draft. I usually have to go back and
correct my mistakes. I also tend to add an extra word that shouldnt be added and if I dont catch
it right away it usually stays there until the final draft. These are my most persistent writing

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problems by far. I try to correct them as much as I can while I am writing the paper or when I
edit it for the final draft.
I would tell myself to provide enough time to write papers and try not to rush them.
Allow the paper to flow and that cant always happen if I write a paper the day before its due.
Also laziness kills the ability to write a great paper the majority of the time, so do not allow
laziness to take over your mind. I learned to not always imply a connection to a thesis from an
example because sometimes the reader will not catch it the way you wanted them too. So make it
clear and good so they can know its a connection and that it helps the paper. This can also help
future English 115 with their papers as well. Professor Star Glover once told me pretend the
reader is a scared bunny and your paper is a maze, you have to lead the scared bunny through the
maze so they can get to the other side. This class was an interesting course to say the least, but
there were many topics covered that caught your attention.
Sincerely,

Jesse Magaa