Dear Matt,

I guess, at the end of it all I can say that I am glad to have taken your class, but did I
enjoy it? Definitely not. I would have to say that I disliked it as much as I dislike going for a run,
working out or any other stretching and growing experience. But just as I have been running a lot
recently in preparation for commercial fishing in Alaska over the summer, Ive deliberately
attempted to increase my writing quality to prepare for the rest of my academic career. (I must
add that I do greatly respect that your ultimate goal in teaching this class was not to merely get
through the course objectives but to increase our writing capability in the context of
undergraduate education). But truly I am a very stubborn person and, especially when it comes to
writing, do not like to change the way I do things or even the way I think about things. But while
I did spend the majority of the quarter believing that all this talk of genres was baloney, I think I
am now convinced that every writing falls into a genre and the aptitude of an author merely
comes down to how he can manipulate the conventions associated with the respective genre. So
even if I didnt enjoy most (or maybe all) of class I can thank you as an athlete thanks his coach
for pushing him the extra mile.
I choose to revise my WP1 and WP3 because they were the projects that I cared most
about, and thus actually had an incentive to polish them up. In WP1 I work a lot on the
introduction paragraph as well as the first few sentences to captivate the readers attention. It
changed from an off-turning first couple of and a fluffy introduction into an articulate
introduction paragraph that was not only engaging but also succinctly held my central argument.
Most of my revision of WP1 was on the organization of the entire essay and the bigger
picture aspects of mechanics. In light of this I found the reverse outline diagnostics worksheet
that focused on thesis and conclusion extremely helpful. This exercise tested whether every
paragraph and point linked back to the thesis and revealed to me how certain points needed this
aspect to me more clearly inserted. For example, the topic sentence of my fifth paragraph of the
revised WP1 I brought to class on Wednesday, while it did encapsulate its paragraph, did not
articulate its relevance to the thesis and thus the essay as a whole. It claimed that the rite of
passage movie uses historical allusion and quoting old writers to emphasize tradition but I had to
insert the fact that the central purpose and theme of the movie, the search for life and meaning,
was based on tradition and legacy thus claiming the importance of this paragraph to the work as
a whole.
So much of my revision came from thoughts from Zinssers Simplicity. Trying to boil
down my WP1 from five pages to barely three while adding more analysis and discussion forced
me to practice what Zinsser claimed. This was most evident in contrast to my first WP1 draft in
which the introduction was long and drawn out. It had the necessary elements, but was so filled
with air that the reader would fail to see the point through all the fluff. I ended up condensing
five separate sentences into the final thesis statement which ended up fitting well into my
introduction paragraph. While this was quite difficult I found it extremely rewarding to be able to
read my own writing in a clear and succinct way without losing interest half way through. This
would have to be the part of the portfolio project that I enjoyed the most, centralizing my
thoughts and articulating them simply and succinctly. It is amazing how much merely
condensing your thoughts can improve your writing.
One of the most helpful forms of revision was peer comments on my essay especially in
my WP3. As pointed out by my classmate, the revised draft that I brought to class on Wednesday
had the so what aspect in the conclusion but if anything was only vaguely alluded to
throughout the rest of my paper. In light of this I added my claim, that both the initial text and
my translation had the goal of getting people suffering from stress and anxiety disorders into a
natural setting to experience full emotional healing, into the ended of my introduction paragraph
so that the importance of this thought could be seen throughout the entire essay.
I did enjoy getting written feedback from you concerning my writing. I especially liked
the brutal honesty of your comments, not allowing concern of emotions get in the way of the
validity of your comments. You pointing out what parts of my essay were crap and telling me
what points I made that you completely disagreed with didnt discourage me but rather gave me
motivation to fix my mistakes. These comments were definitely more helpful than nicer
comments Ive received from other teachers.
The biggest thing I will take away from this course is the necessity of importance in your
writing. You stated that one thing that has allowed you to do well in academics is that whenever
you write something you convince yourself that it is important. I know from experience that I
will write better if it is concerning a topic I am passionate about or care about. Youve shown me
the significance of finding importance in whatever you write, because if you dont think a topic
is important there is absolutely no way that your reader will find it important.
As a writer, Ive changed a lot this quarter especially in my intolerance for meaningless
fluff. As I mentioned above, I loved Zinssers article and even his comment on society that our
national tendency is to inflate and thereby sound important. And this propagation of nonsense is
something Ive noticed before and hate. However, what was revealed to me this quarter is that
even when I turn in assignments with frivolous verbiage and excess vocabulary I am propagating
this nonsense that I so detest, and it is up to me to not tolerate this in my own writing. Though I
will say it is a difficult attribute to change, especially with an obstinate personality as myself, I
will make sure to keep my thoughts simple and elegant and avoid fluff like the plague in my
future writing assignment.
So yes, as stubborn as I came into this class, I did walk away with not only a better
approach to my own writing and writing in general but also an entirely new way of thinking
despite my best efforts to remain set in my ways. So, thanks for the discipline,

Sincerely,
Leighton Russell