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Dear Professor Campbell,

My E-Portfolio contains formal and informal assignments that I created during my first

semester at UNC Charlotte. Each assignment posed different challenges and improved my

writing. While I was assembling my website, it was fun to see how each assignment

foreshadowed the next and eventually ended up becoming a part of my extended inquiry project

essay. The first time I viewed my extended inquiry project essay, I enjoyed seeing the presence

of the new strategies I learned this semester. I decided to entitle my portfolio “Investigating

Police Militarization” to represent my search for knowledge and the observations I made about

my writing process. I decided to use my extended inquiry project topic to set the theme of my

website. The images I included on the header of each tab relate to my topic in some way. I am

very proud of my website, especially since this is the first website I have ever created. I hope you

enjoy exploring my E-Portfolio!

In the past few months I have learned a lot about my writing and thought process. While

assembling my portfolio I noticed that the assignments got progressively lengthier and more

complex, but I did not notice this throughout the process. As the semester went on, I became

more familiar with my writing skills and what I needed to put more effort into.

In the beginning of the semester I struggled with the journal entries. I soon discovered

that I was struggling with the free writes because the prompts lacked boundaries. In high school I

very rarely had the opportunity to write about anything that came to my mind, so I was always

searching for the right response. Writing in my daybook taught me that writing is not about being

correct, it is about providing my unique insight. For example, when I reflected on the research-

based essay entitled “Joyas Voladoras,” I came to a very different conclusion than many of my

peers. I looked at the article for a deeper meaning and tried to relate the meaning to life. I was
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also able to analyze the informational side of the essay. When reading the content of the assigned

readings, I attempted to connect the meaning to my own life experiences to form a deeper

understanding.

When I began brainstorming ideas for my topic proposal, I noticed a form of free writing

I was familiar using. When tasked with a lengthy assignment I always print out the guidelines.

As I began to dive into research, I found myself writing little reminders and notes all along the

margins of the paper. When I would write these comments, I was simply writing down what was

on my mind with no fear of evaluation. After this realization I felt like I had a better

understanding of what I was being asked to do. I began to practice free writing outside of class

for various assignments to gather my thoughts.

As the semester went on, the Lit Lounge discussion posts became my favorite type of

informal writing. At the beginning of the semester, I was intimidated by the Lit Lounge. The idea

of providing blind commentary on a required reading or video for all my peers to read was

intimidating. In the past, I was uncomfortable sharing my uninfluenced ideas. But I soon realized

that the Lit Lounge was a safe place to practice forming arguments and responding to my peers

in a professional manor. As I gained more experience with the Lit Lounge, I learned new ways to

respond to my peers. One of the best dissenting comments I made on a peer’s response was from

the discussion on "The Biology of Our Best and Worst Selves". I am proud of this response

because I was able to respectfully disagree with one of my peers and provide adequate

information to support my argument. After learning how to write strong responses to arguments

that disagreed with my opinions, I had no fear of sharing my original ideas. As I became more

familiar with the Lit Lounge, I began to enjoy sharing my honest ideas and opinions. By the time
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I was responding to "The New Cheating Economy", I was able to offer complex commentary on

a topic that I had no prior knowledge on.

For me, the most stressful and challenging assignment this semester was the topic

proposal for my extended inquiry project. When you first told the class that we had the ability to

select our own topic I was very excited, but I also wondered how I was going to pick one specific

topic. After several free writing exercises and reading about the inquiry process, I was still

struggling to select a topic. While searching for topics I had a wide variety of ideas. At first, I

was determined to research how the structure of mill villages shaped modern life in the South.

After further consideration I realized that I would be walking a dangerous line between an

exploratory essay and a historical write up. I finally struck gold after doing an interest inventory.

As a criminal justice major, I have an interest in police departments and investigation units. After

further consideration I determined that I was going to write my topic proposal on the resources

used by law enforcement agencies and address community-police tensions.

While completing the topic proposal assignment I formed a better understanding of what

it means to think on a college level. I learned that it is okay to not instantly know what to write

about, and more acceptable to seriously consider multiple topics. I am proud of myself for

remaining open-minded during this process. Remaining open to new ideas allowed me to look at

my topic from a new lens and discover the topic of police militarization.

One of my favorite assignments this semester was the annotated bibliography. After

having a hard time with the openness of the topic proposal assignment, I was reassured by the

structure of this assignment. The annotated bibliography assignment challenged me to use my

analytical skills to evaluate source material on my topic. It was easy for me to find an academic

journal article and a reliable website. I had a little trouble finding a reliable news source with
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enough substance, but was reassured after visiting you during your office hours. After selecting

my three sources I began my evaluations by looking into the authors’ credibility and publisher

information. Through this process I learned that I enjoy searching for small and specific pieces of

evidence and forming them into a cohesive evaluation. I found that the source evaluation section

was easier than the summary section. The annotated bibliography assignment helped me narrow

my focus on police militarization.

I was surprised at how easy it was to come up with two pages of information on one

source. Having this information at hand was extremely helpful when writing the first draft of my

extended inquiry project. I ended up using two of the three sources in my final and first draft.

The three sources I chose each held a different perspective, allowing me to understand my topic

through the views of academics, law enforcement officials and community members.

When you first explained the group annotation assignment, I was not excited about it. In

the past I had always dreaded group work. I have always been content working on my own

because I felt like groupwork required a ton of time and planning. However, this assignment

made me realize how nice it can be to share the workload. As a student, this assignment taught

me how to step back and consider how I could intertwine my ideas with my peers. Instead of

sticking all our ideas together on a page we attempted to integrate our ideas together. This group

assignment helped prepare me for the peer review assignment.

The hardest thing about peer review day was trying to keep my mouth shut. My first

instinct was to come up with a response or excuse to all the comments my peers made. Knowing

that this was one of my weaknesses allowed me to change my mindset. I was able to convince

myself that my peers were providing helpful commentary, not criticism. I found that being more

open to my peer’s suggestions allowed me to see my paper through the eyes of the reader. My
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peers pointed out sections that needed a more thorough explanation to make my work

understandable to all readers. When the second peer review date rolled around, I had a

completely new opinion on peer review. I looked forward to receiving feedback from my peers

and forming an understanding of their interpretation of my work. Their commentary allowed me

to revise my paper to accurately present my information the way I intended. They also

highlighted subjects that I could expand on in my final paper.

Reading my peers’ work throughout the semester was enlightening. When doing peer

review, I was looking for more than grammatical errors. I was able to learn about my peers’

topics and unique writing styles. At the beginning the peer review commentary phase I thought it

would be tough for me to get past the stylistic differences of my peers’ writing and focus on the

content of their assignments. When I did peer review in high school, I was only searching for

sentence structure and grammatical errors. I was surprised at how easy it was for me to come up

with questions for the writer. When I was reading Maggi Mazza’s annotated bibliography draft, I

pointed out questions I had about the author’s credibility and the publisher of the source she was

analyzing. I recommended that she should analyze the legal documentation related to the court

case mentioned in the academic journal article she selected. I hope my commentary helped

Maggi organize her ideas and discover a new way to look at her topic.

After reviewing the feedback on my topic proposal, I decided to write my extended

inquiry project on police militarization. After doing an extensive amount of additional research

and creating a "crappy first draft" in my daybook, I began to write my essay. About three days

before the extended inquiry project draft deadline I began to lose motivation and interest in my

topic. Thankfully, I had already completed my first draft, but I felt unhappy with it. When

reflecting in my daybook I explained that I was feeling tired and stressed. After considering my
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reflection I decided that the best decision was to step away from the essay for a day. As a student

in your class I learned that it can be beneficial to take a break after working diligently on one

assignment for a long period of time. When I revisited my draft a day later, I felt rejuvenated. I

was able to revisit my essay with a fresh set of eyes and fix any major structural and conceptual

errors that remained before the due date. I also met up with my peers outside of class for review.

Having my peers’ commentary got me back on track and allowed me to focus on what to

improve. After a few finishing touches I submitted my first draft.

After submitting my extended inquiry project essay draft, I felt relieved; until I began to

realize how involved the revision process was going to be. If you would have asked me a month

ago what I considered revision, I would have given a perfect definition of polishing. After

reading Bruce Ballenger’s chapter on revision, I had a better understanding of the task at hand.

After cranking out the longest draft I had ever written, it was hard to find the drive to tear it up,

but I began the revision process by creating a margin outline. After creating a margin outline to

have a better understanding of my essay’s contents, I decided to try a cut-and-paste revision

process recommended by Bruce Ballenger. After cutting my essay into sections by subject, I was

able to take note of the points I repeated more than once. After learning this, I did additional

research to incorporate new and similar points. Learning how to properly revise an essay to

improve the contents of my paper was one of the most valuable skills I learned this semester.

Of all the assignments I have completed this semester, the most important work was my

final extended inquiry project essay. This assignment challenged my attention to detail, critical

thinking skills and openness to change. This assignment is the most important because all of the

time I spent completing assignments was used to enhance my writing skills, and I strived to

utilize these skills in the process of writing my final essay.

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This semester I learned an abundance of writing skills that I will continue to use as a

student at UNC Charlotte and after. As an aspiring member of law enforcement, being an

advanced writer will be a good credential to have. I will be able to use the skills I obtained this

semester in my future career to fill out important documents, write reports, and possibly write a

few tickets. I also learned the importance of looking at arguments from multiple angles. I think

my education and ability to understand the views of different members of society will set me

apart from other law enforcement officials in the future. It was an honor to study and learn under

your guidance this semester.

Sincerely,

Sarah Neil