Tammy Davis

Northern Oklahoma College

615 N. Monroe
Stillwater, OK 74076
Cover Letter

As a whole, this collection of essays shows my writing progression through the last two
years. Many of them expose my writing weaknesses while also showing the strengths that I have
as a writer. The essay submissions found in my portfolio are a showcase of my writing abilities
as they have progressed. The essays submitted range from persuasive, research essays and
personal essays.

My first portfolio submission was “Martin Luther King, Jr.”. This was my most
inexperienced writing in the past two years. Looking back on this essay I had no idea what I was
doing when it came to formatting, punctuation, grammar, structure, basically anything you need
to construct an essay. The reason I chose Martin Luther King, Jr. as my topic for a research paper
was because he was able to make such a huge impact on our society without resorting to
violence. Personally, I think that research papers are the hardest essays to write but since I chose
Martin Luther King, Jr. as my topic it made it easier to write. My biggest strength in this essay
was my writing voice and how I was able to represent MLK in a respectful way. My biggest
weaknesses include formatting, structure, source work, and punctuation. My next essay
submitted was “Things Fall Apart,” a book report and review of the overall plot. I chose this
essay to compare with my most recent ones to see how far I’ve come in my writing. Looking
back on this submission, I struggled when writing out of my comfort zone. This essay helped me
learn how to explain the plot and overview of a book to others. My biggest strength in this essay
was the way I told the story. My biggest weakness was my essay structure. My next portfolio
submission was “Kavanaugh: Morals or Experience?”. I chose this essay because it was a
well-known controversy and shows my progression as a writer. While writing this essay I
learned about the “Me Too” movement and was able to keep up with what was going on in our
government. My biggest strength in this essay was keeping my statement clear and being able to
incorporate all the information needed. My weaknesses included choosing a tough topic and
having grammatical and punctuational errors. My last submission was a personal essay that I
titled “The Missing Spoons”. I chose this essay because it shows vulnerability and gives a
personal touch to my portfolio. This topic was something I could easily write about because I
had so much to tell and get off my chest. Being able to write this essay was an accomplishment
for me because it was freeing. I was finally able to tell my side of the story. My biggest strengths
included the hook and keeping the audience interested. My weaknesses included punctuational
and grammatical errors, as well as, my essay structure.

I believe that every essay and english assignment I have done has shaped me into the
writer I am today. I’d like to say that my writing has improved but I’m not quite sure that it has. I
could be too hard on myself but there is always room for improvement. I thought that my writing
capabilities were in good shape until I arrived at my first composition class in college. Turns out,
my highschool did not prepare me as well as I thought they had. Throughout Composition I, I
learned how to outline and how to properly construct an essay. In the beginning I struggled
because I was never actually taught this. During our first essay in Professor Scott’s class, she
called me out in front of everyone and said, “You did this all wrong, you should have learned
MLA format in highschool.” Needless to say… I was beyond embarrassed. I thought of myself
as a decent writer until I was humbled by her. From that day on, I decided I was going to work
my hardest to become better at writing. I want to thank Professor Scott for showing me that I
needed improvement and giving me that extra motivation to become better. The essays and
english assignments I’ve received from my senior year in highschool to now have helped me to
learn the ways of writing and have developed my writing voice.

My writing process tends to be all over the place, but somehow it works for me. As soon
as I get my assignment I try to start immediately. Then I usually get stuck and have to come back
to the assignment; once my writer’s block has disappeared. The hardest parts of an essay are the
body paragraphs. Most of the time I end up redoing the essay or taking out parts that I read too
many times and don’t like anymore. Before college, I had no clue how to write an outline so I
would just have to guess on the placement of my information. Because of this, my essays were
sloppy and had no organization to them. Thankfully, I eventually learned how to construct an
outline and it is now my favorite part in my writing process. My outlines tend to be detailed so I
can stay clear on my writing path. My writing process has evolved because now my essays have
an order to them and are more organized. If I had a writing tool box, I would definitely have to
include a tool that prevents writers block, an automatic essay formatter, and probably built in
spell-check and punctuation-check. I think I would be set if I had all of those writing tools with
me wherever I went.

As I look back on my writing from previous classes, I can’t stop thinking of how far I
have come. My writing has changed for the better and I would like to credit Professor Scott and
Professor Davis for being able to influence my writing skills and capabilities. I will forever be
grateful for the skills I have learned from the both of them. I think my biggest strength in writing
now, is being able to use my own voice and reflect it in my writing. My biggest flaws include
procrastination and I still struggle with my essay structuring. I hope that in the future my writing
will improve even more than it already has. In the future, I hope that my career as an english
teacher can be successful due to the english composition classes I have been a part of. I think that
I still need improvement before I reach my full potential as a writer. I will continue with
literature classes as well as writing classes to help me further my writing and reading abilities. I
hope that I can make an impact on my future students lives as my teachers and professors have
done to me.

Sincerely,

Chelsey Summerlin
November 22, 2019
2816 N. Running Bear Street
Stillwater, OK 74075
*You can reach me at (405)-765-7221 or csumm648@students.noc.edu