Groza 1

Daniel Groza

English 112-08

Connie Douglas

5 May 2017

Eportfolio Reflection Paper

Our language is the reflection of ourselves. A language is an exact reflection of the

character and growth of its speaker by Cesar Chavez. In life, one is constantly in reflection or

contemplation of the choices that one has taken. The scenarios that have occurred throughout the

day, week, month, or year. And lastly, the infinite possibilities of what could have been for an

individual or the people around him or her that will never transpire. In the course, I persevered

through many obstacles; especially since the class was only once a week. One could easily feel

overwhelmed by the amount of knowledge given in one day, and for myself, it was extremely

difficult to reserve that information for the rest of the week; while still preparing to indulge for

the next class session. However, with all these struggles and inconveniences, I can reflect on my

abilities as a writer and truly say that I have grown with each piece of writing that will be

revealed through this accumulative Eportfolio. From earlier writings in English 111, to Slam

Poetry, to Day writing assignments, and to Round Table Essays, these forms of writing all have a

common factor. Each product has forced me to come out of my comfort zone, by helping me to

reflect on instead of what I believed, but rather what research shows. All my writings, whether I

have agreed on it or not, have made me look into the truth of the situation, and delve in deeper

into something greater than myself. This course has indeed sharpened my aptitude for regarding

not only my own personal thoughts, but rather the correct research information and also the view
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of that ones audience may have. It was a challenge to not incorporate my own views, as I did in

English 111, and an even greater struggle remaining neutral through all writings. My own goal

through this reflection paper is to not only deliver a message to my audience, but also to write

about my own ups and downs in English 112. To demonstrate or depict the skills that I have

developed over the length of the course, and also the weakness that I have or have yet to

overcome. Through each writing, I will expose and uncover all the personal accomplishments

and failures that I have created as a student who I believe, has made extraordinary progress by

the end of this semester, not only as a writer, but as an individual as well.

The first piece of writing that I am reflecting on goes back to English 111 where I

primarily learned how to critically reflect or do self-inquiries on topics that the teacher would

assign us. It was rather more of a creative writing based course, where I learned how to project

ones voice in their own literary work. The paper is a persuasive research based essay on the

subject of marijuana being legalized on a federal level. I detested the topic of marijuana because

I deemed it to be a clich subject at best; however, through the typical writing process, not only

did I acquire the position of favoring the legalization of marijuana, but I also learned basic

researching skills and also how to incorporate the information required in a correct manner. The

grade that I received on the essay was a ninety-five percent, and I was extremely content with the

grade. However, looking back at the essay I can see certain flaws that I had dragged with me

when entering English 112. First, some information in the essay was not researched based

through claims that were not backed up with evidence supporting such claims. And secondly,

how I introduced my knowledge on the topic in the essay was somewhat mediocre, as it appeared

to be slightly random. The cited sources did give a clear sense of direction, but I could have

improved on how I directed my audience to the research that was presented; rather than just
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propelling random information that did fit within the paragraphs. I now realized that the research

conducted on this essay was a bit aloof or out of place, and also some claims were not backed up

and needed some sort of credible resources, in order to provide essential claims within the essay.

This essay is the first product that I wanted to reflect on because not only did it make me

understand the importance of actual research and organizing information that I obtained, but it

also gave me a taste of how actual research based papers were conducted and created.

The second reflection work that I am presenting is the Rhetorical Analysis Essay. The

first formal assignment that was given in the English 112 course was met with an awe shocking

mid-level C. When I looked back on the first research assignment I had ever conducted; which

received a ninety-five percent. One could clearly understand that somewhere along the essay, the

writer took a wrong turn. The reflection on this essay helped me understand where I went wrong

with this first formal assignment; and thus helped me to improve in future assignments to come.

The issue with this essay and reason behind the deservingly poor grade was due to three main

key issues that I as a writer, mistakenly did while writing my rhetorical analysis essay. First, I

unfairly chose between two articles that were not under the same level or form of writing as each

other. One was a fully based research article that was in all ways superior to that of the self-

inquiry reflection article that was clearly not as researched based as the first article. The issue

with this is that I presented one side with an extremely evaluated article that was worthy of

researching; whereas I lazily chose an article that was simply a self-inquiry of the opposing

argument, that had little to do with any research, but rather personal opinion. Secondly, my bias

between the two articles was evident, and instead of assessing between the two authors rhetoric

skills, I favored and leaned on the opposing side of the essay that was in accordance to what I

believed. Thirdly, how I evaluated the two articles was completely different from the purpose of
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the essay. The goal was to levy the two authors articles based on their rhetorical abilities that

were projected through the two articles, and analyze how efficient or ineffective both styles of

writing were; whereas I judged between the two articles through a philosophical standpoint in

terms of which article was truly more truthful and unbiased rather than which of the two articles

had the better claim. Through biased a standpoint, inadequate research, and an inappropriate

stance of assessment, I received a C on my first formal assignment in the class; which gave me a

visual of what I truly need to focus on with my future assignments to come.

The third reflection of my writing throughout the year is based off of my annotated blogs

that were an accumulative stepping stone to the overall production of the Round Table Essay.

These blogs helped me establish not only my line of inquiry on the subject of immigration

reform, but they also helped me discover the three focal parties that were presented in the topic

of immigration. The first blog presents an issue between state and federal interpretation on

Arizonas law of SB-1070. A law in which police officers could possibly reduce the amount of

illegals in the United States, but at the cost of major racial profiling to all Latino Americans. This

provides controversy to both Democrats and Republicans, as there was no true federal law

established to enforce immigration control, yet it did prevent the abuse of power from local

police officers from acting off of racial prejudice. The second blog is a scholarly journal on the

Dream Act that President Obama passed a few months before his second election against Mitt

Romney. While it did secure thousands of Latinos from being deported, many still were either

too old or legally unqualified to apply for a limited citizenship with the Dream Act. Thus not

only ensuing no true results with the Dream Act law in place, but also leading suspicion that

President Obama only signed such a bill in order to obtain more Hispanic and Latino votes for

the 2012 election. Lastly, the third blog is an assessment on how well Latinos and Hispanics can
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assimilate into the American society. With such core values as the English language, family

centered values, and hard work, research in the scholarly journal suggests that not only a

majority ninety-three percentage of Latinos speak English fluently in the United States, but also

they are more inclined to stay in family based communities and less likely to divorce; while

slowly they are already close enough to secure the same types of jobs that white Americans

possess as well. I reflect on these three annotated blogs because the summaries that I made

through them, the analysis of their true significance of information, and their correlation to all

parties of inquiry are the exact measures of research needed in order to secure substantial and

resourceful evidence for the future Round Table Essay to come.

The fourth and most unique literary work that was assigned to the class in my opinion

was the Slam Poem. I love public speaking, but I am not an exact fan of poetry. However, this

assignment made a bridge gap in which I could create a poetic speech that I could easily produce

in my style of writing. The poem expresses the harsh and unfortunate reality that immigrants and

first generation Americans face. I made it clear that as a first generation American, I was lucky to

grow up in America; unlike my Romanian parents, who not only grew up in a third world

communist country, but also had to face the harshness of being immigrants in America. It also

consists of minor translations from the Romanian language to emphasize the meaning of being

an immigrant or rather an outsider in Americas recent and current history. Yet, despite all the

negative aspects that still occur with being a first generation American, I can conclude with the

poem on a positive note that I am truly blessed to be a white first generation American Romanian

in present time; while still being proud of not only my Romanian heritage, but also of my parents

who struggled to get our family where we are today in this land of opportunity.
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The fifth literary piece is the Tagul Word Cloud. It is a picture outline that can be colored

and modified; which one can place key words into the image of choice. All though one see this

assignment as small and irrelevant, minor assignment that a teacher gives for extra points, I have

found several meaningful aspects to the assignment that one learn from participating and truly

applying their topic to this very interesting image maker. One thing that I have personally gained

from this assignment is that I found an abundance of key words through this assignment by

taking the time to fill in a maximum of seventy words. This widen my vocabulary of issue of

immigration, and it helped me understand what I was searching for in my research. More

importantly, the best beneficial aspect of this simple word cloud was the opportunity to take time

to reflect, contemplate, and understand the importance of each word. Words such as freedom,

immigrant, illegals, citizenship, inequality, and hope have given me a greater sense or

importance of each key word; while understanding these words, I felt as though I gained a better

concept of what it truly means to be more humane and grateful with what I have as individual

living in America.

The last piece of work in which I reflect, is the Round Table Essay. This major formal

assignment was the product of all the accumulative work that we were assigned to throughout the

majority of the semester. If I had to decide which piece of writing reflected best my ability to

write as a student in English 112, I would indefinitely choose the Round Table Essay to represent

my ability to write a non-bias research based essay. All the previous assignments that I have

completed had led me to completion of my goal for the topic of immigration reform, yet it has

done so much more than give an eighty-five percent on a formal assignment. Through each

research article, each major or minor assignment, and each class session in which we all as a

class conversed and reflected upon our own unique ideals, I gained something much more
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valuable than silver and goal. I, as a human being, gained a deeper sense and understand of what

it means to be privileged, what it means to be an American, and most importantly what it means

to be a fellow human being. All the trials and tribulations, all the late night work sessions, and all

the study groups have led me to become not only a better writer, but also an exceedingly improve

youth; who is starting to understand how true and effective change is created in not only society,

but also within the lives of those around me.