Dear Ms.

Clair

Before beginning my first college English course I did not know what to expect. Was

there going to be five-page papers due each week? How many speeches did I have to do? And

on top of that, Covid-19 created a whole new learning curve to add to it. However, after just the

first day of our zoom class, stress flew right off my shoulders. Ms. Clair made us all feel

welcome and genuinely cared about each and every one of us. Our class all got along and made

our zooms very fun and interesting to say the least. This portfolio is to show all of the projects

and work that I had done throughout the semester.

As you enter the website you will be welcomed to my home page and notice several

different tabs. On my home page you will see a picture of me and this cover letter. On the top

of the page there will be three different tabs including my major essays, revised essay, and my

journal kept throughout the semester. When you open my essays tab, you will first see my

profile. My profile was on TK Marshall, a teammate of mine on the football team. I try to show

you a different perspective of life through the eyes of another person. My next essay was a

rhetorical analysis. I had never quite written a rhetorical analysis before, so I was quite nervous

before starting, however, I was very proud on how it turned out. In this essay, I compared two

different games, blackjack, and bingo. I analyzed each game and went into depth on why these

games are so popular throughout the years. My last major essay throughout the semester was

a proposal, again, not much knowledge on how to write these types of essays but I was up for

the challenge. In this essay, I had to create a game and sell it to a company. I created a game

called, “Gang Gang,” and did my best to show how amazing the game could be. After reading
these essays, I hope that you can not only learn about the topics but also me as a writer. You

will see me through my perspective and how I view things.

One thing that was really challenging for me this semester was learning about new ways

to write. In high school, it was almost always a straightforward research paper, however now,

you taught me how to change up my writing but without changing who I am as a writer. I wrote

papers about new topics and felt like you taught me step by step, although I still do need some

help on procrastination…

I feel as if I have had a lot of growth in writing but if I had to narrow it down to two

topics, I feel I excelled greatly, it would be integrating evidence appropriately in writing through

summary, paraphrase, or direct quotation. Another objective that I learned was citing sources

accurately and consistently which I lacked early on. When finding evidence to further justify

your claim, it can be quite difficult finding what makes sense and flows within your paper. I

realized that you cannot add a super lengthy quote because it tends to take away from your

flow and rhythm of your paper. Whenever I went to find evidence, I first make sure the website

it trustworthy and then find information that will fit in with where my stance is. All while

continuing to keep the same vibe throughout the paper. If you recall, my second paper was a

rhetorical analysis and I struggled finding evidence that would fit in my paper, let alone be able

to elaborate it. When it came to my last paper, my proposal, I went to the right databases,

found evidence that added more power to my papers. This, all in all made my papers not only

better to read, but strongly backed up my stance on each situation which added for a more

professional paper. As for citing sources accurately, I had always struggled with and was never
sure what format we were supposed to use. As the semester went on, I had gotten feedback on

this and learned through class and got the hang of it.

Some examples in my paper that proves how I incorporated these bettered skills is first

from my proposal. At the beginning of the essay I tried to relate to the audience and how

phones have become an every second of the day reality. I added this quote from personal

experience, “Your screen time went up with an average of 6 hours per day,” (Terhark). This

allowed the readers to understand that I too, was a part of this growingly worse time, and

shows that I can relate to the reader. Now, a reader may not believe in anything I say so I

decided to add quick facts in the paper to show a sense of reliability. In my proposal I added,

“Teens spend an average of seven hours and 22 minutes on their phones a day,” (Jacobo). I

would then elaborate on the factual evidence and explain the significance of why this is hurting

our society. This evidence goes a long way from a reader standpoint and can make or break a

paper. On the other hand, is citing sources accurately. I struggled with this in high school, so I

knew it was going to be a challenge going into college. However, in class we were taught in

depth on the correct way to cite sources. Ms. Clair also gave use resources like “owl.purdue,” to

help which made it much smoother on what a correct works cited page should look like.

Throughout this year, you gave all of us a challenge, and that challenge was to show up

and do the best we can. I feel like I accomplished that goal and learned so much in the process.

I am glad to have had you as my first college English Professor. Thank you so much for a great

semester.