Dear Dr.

Blackburn,

During this course, I was able to grow as a writer and learned new aspects of writing.

This course helped me nail down the process for me in writing papers and be able to make

convincing arguments, even on simple topics such as food.

At the beginning of this course, I wasn’t sure where I was as a writer. I knew coming out

of high school that it was an area of my education that I needed to work on. With this course I

enjoyed learning how to write better through various resources. First, peer editing helped me

tremendously. By getting opinions from others in the class, especially from Kincade Stalun, I

was able to edit my paper by getting feedback from another person who read my paper and get a

different perspective so that it made sense to all who read my paper. Second, I got help from you,

Dr. Blackburn, during our paper conferences. It helped so much to be reassured in my work by

getting advice from an expert in writing. This gave me confidence that I was capable of

producing good papers with a strong argument. Third, the writing center here at Appalachian

State helped double check my work for errors that I could have made in the paper. Again, this

was another way to get more opinions on what could be improved in my papers. They did this by

having me read my own paper aloud so that I can clearly tell where I made a mistake in my

papers or if it just does not make sense. I gained a lot of knowledge from this and used several of

those techniques in my writing technique.

During the course, I finally began to develop my process as a writer. I always wanted to

get an idea of the flow of my paper before I wrote it. Therefore, I always wrote an outline of the

structure for the essay. From there, I would use the advice given in the article in A Writer’s

Reference about shitty first drafts and make that an important step in my writing process. I felt it

was a smart idea just to type up a paper and get the ideas flowing with some structure to it as
well. After that, I would edit a whole bunch, receive help from peer reviews, paper conferences,

and the writing center. After all those steps, my paper would be complete and ready to be turned

in for this portfolio. I feel good about this process and I believe by doing this method it will help

me develop better as a writer further on.

I feel I have changed tremendously as a writer throughout this semester. I can now obtain

good information easier by using resources from the library or deeply analyzing articles and texts

online and interpreting the information to my paper to help support my argument. From there I

did well at expressing ideas for solutions in my arguments and showing possibilities of benefits

to my claim, especially in my final research paper where I offered many solutions to problems.

My ability to argue any sort of topic grew as the semester went on. Since food was the main

topic of discussion, I found it interesting that such a simple subject can be so controversial. So, if

I could learn to argue about food, there are endless possibilities of subjects I could argue

effectively for with this experience. Also, to learn more about argumentation, rhetorical analysis

played a huge role in writing effective arguments. The commercial paper that I did helped show

me the rhetorical triangle between the rhetor, audience, and the purpose. Those key points help

ensure understanding an argument and what the objective of it is. Before the class, I had never

noticed such little details on TV commercials that would affect the commercial. Now, I

rhetorically analyze many commercials and break them down and see what different parts of it

mean. This is extremely beneficial to my analysis as a reader and writer and is a great skill for

persuasion.

I do still have a couple of weaknesses as a writer still that I need to work on in the future.

My grammar is still not where I want it to be as this would be hugely beneficial down the road

when I am editing my papers and don’t need to tweak such little mistakes. Another weakness I
still have is expanding my vocabulary. I want to make my papers sound more mature and

stronger by using vocabulary that is not used on a normal basis but would be understood by a

scholarly reader. Oftentimes I find myself reading other articles and thinking to myself, “what

does that word even mean?”. I wish to achieve that level of writing to where I can write like that

and be able to read scholarly articles more effectively without having to search several words

just so I can understand what the author is trying to convey.

I believe you will like what I have to offer in my writing in this portfolio. I feel very

confident in my work, which is very strange to me as I never felt much confidence in my writing

throughout my school years. In this portfolio you will discover my ability to analyze in my

commercial essay and my ability to obtain and interpret good information in my annotated

bibliography. Along with those, you will see how well I can argue and provide solutions based

on the facts that I obtained from my resources. With my daily in-class writings, you will see how

clueless I was in class, but over time I started to get the hang of writing and would learn from the

questions and reflections in class and that became a better writer in my essays. I came into this

class expecting to hate it because I had no confidence in my work as a writer. During the

semester, I began to feel better about it since I was doing it so much in this class and in many

others. I feel like I grew tremendously, and I gained a true voice when it comes to my writing

and I appreciate all the help I received to get me there. Again, I hope you see how I grew and

what I have to offer as a writer in this portfolio.

Sincerely,

CJ Ward