January
21, 2013
Dear
Reader,
Below is my portfolio from College
Composition class. Throughout the course, I have learned many things that will
help me be a successful writer in college and beyond. When I came into this
class, I thought this class was solely going to be writing at a college level
and writing our college essays for acceptance. In the end, I was wrong. I was
scared of this class at first because I did not enjoy writing as much as some
of the other people in the class, but as the course continued, I realized that
writing at a collegiate level is not challenging. I learned many techniques
that will help make my writing appealing to the reader, and of better quality.
The first writing assignment we
completed, was the 9/11 paper, which was a narrative. When I wrote my essay, I
thought it was descent and it was good for a ninety-five or so grade. As I look
back on it, wow, I pinpointed many areas that need revision. As we wrote more
and more, the first drafts got better and better. I incorporated the ideas we
were learning in class into the writing, which defiantly made the essays
stronger.
Some new tools that I have learned
as a writer that have affected my ability to write effectively are denotation,
connotation, dominant impression, sensory details, showing vs. telling, the
different forms of writing, exemplification and comparing and contrasting. Some of the readings we read for examples of
these included, “The Miss. Dennis School
of Writing”, “Seven Deadly Sins”, and “Red, White and Beer”. The most prominent tool that the writer of Miss. Dennis School of Writing used was
sensory detail. Sensory details are used to create images in the reader’s mind,
which help in any essay. This writer included descriptions of this horrible
mean teacher, which helped me picture what the classroom look like. Seven Deadly Sins included a variety of
techniques such as listing, facts, pictures, exaggeration, history and a little
bit of humor. I learned from this piece that it is sometimes easier to just say
your ideas out front then explain them, rather than trying to explain them so
the reader can guess what you are talking about. Lastly Red, White and Beer used all of the affirmed strategies, but it
also used a slogan, characterization and sarcasm. This was my favorite reading
we read all year, because it kept my attention and made me look at the real
meaning of commercials when I see them. This paper basically said how
commercial producers put the most random slogans with products; such as if you
drink this beer you will be manly and patriotic. But that does not really make
you manly; the producers try and sell the product. Other commercials such as
Tide may say that you will be a batter and closer family if you use the
product, but does that really matter? Do families grow because of the detergent
they use? The author of this piece did a good job making this piece memorable
and stick in my head.
The main units we studied this
semester were narrative, persuasive, descriptive and expository writing. I
learned that the purpose of narratives are to tell a story, and they have a
defined plot, storyline and characters. Persuasive writing is writing to prove
a point or to change the mind of the reader. Descriptive writing is writing to
create an image in the readers mind using figurative language, strong
adjectives, vivid verbs and sensory details. Lastly, expository writing,
writing to inform, by use of examples, compare and contrast, cause and effects
definition and classification and persuasive. The majority of our papers were
in the expository category.
The turning point in my writing
defiantly occurred during the “Inspirational Person” paper. I realized that
writing really is not boring, and if you find hidden meanings in the topics you
write about, it is not hard. I used to have writers block, but now that I have
broadened the tools that I can use as a writer, I do not have trouble writing.
From my first paper to my last paper, I saw a major difference in my ability to
write. The first piece that I wrote was very bland and “middle-school” writing.
The last piece I wrote was more than colligate appropriate and “grown-up like”.
At the end of the semester when I re-read my first piece, I wanted to delete
the whole paper and rewrite it. Even with all the editing I could have done, I
found that it would be easier if I just started from scratch with the same
prompt.
The two most prominent areas of
writing that I improved on are details and examples, and the dominant
impression. Exemplification is the most important strategy that is used in
writing because it is the bulk of any essay. I now can use the explode a moment
technique, where you take a moment of an example and use sensory details and
include dialogue to improve it. I find that exploding a moment is relatable to
the reader and will draw more attention to the details. I also learned that
when I write, I need to show the reader what is happening, which relates to the
explode a moment, and not tell them. No reader wants to read that you got in an
argument; rather they want to hear the argument through dialogue. The second
strategy, the dominant impression is also very important. The dominant
impression is the general feeling you want the reader to get after reading your
work about a specific person, place or idea. This related to the thesis. My
thesis’s used to be nonexistent. This distracted the reader because there
really was no point to my essays. With a clear pathway in my writing, I was
able to convey this dominant impression in my later works and often by redirecting
the reader to my thesis, which kept the readers attention. On the peer
reflection sheets we had to fill out in class, I often got “add thesis” in the
beginning, but my later essays, the readers knew what my thesis was because I
told them upfront.
All of the tools I learned this year
will be helpful in the future to keep my professors interest. Writing is now
enjoyable for me because it is not as challenging as I used to make it out to
be. I hope you enjoy my portfolio and are able to see my improvement as vividly
as I did.
Sincerely yours,
Shannon O’Malley
