Cover+Letter

Dear Deome,

My experience in English 101 has been very beneficial to my writing skills. This class has allowed me to write in genres that I have never had to write in before. I was able to greatly broaden my skills in critical thinking, rhetorical awareness, processes of writing, and knowledge of conventions. English 101 has given me the opportunity to revise my peers papers which also provides me with a better understanding of the mistakes that can be made when writing papers. This gives me the knowledge to enhance the revision my own papers in the future. I believe that each of the homework assignments were very helpful in gaining a better understanding of the topics that we covered. I know that my writing has improved significantly since the beginning of the semester because when I looked back on my first project and revised it I was able to change a lot of things that I would have never thought of before.

One of the homework assignments that I feel I benefited the most from was // Discourse Community. // This is because I never really thought of people being in discourse communities. I didn’t think about the fact that different groups of people have different ways of communicating. This assignment not only allowed me to learn about the different types of groups that exist, but also the group that I would consider me and my family a part of.

In Project 1, critical thinking is demonstrated in multiple ways. One way is by identifying that our public school systems are a disaster and by presenting a position on it. My position on the problem was that the government needed to step up and correct the things that are going downhill. I also presented other perspectives by commenting on a possible naysayer, which was that we just started to compare our standardized test scores with those of China causing ours to look lower than normal. The use of sources helped to strengthen my position on the argument and give some ethos to the issue.

Rhetorical awareness I thought was most prevalent in Project 2. This paper allowed me to analyze an advertisement and see exactly what causes people to look at it and decide that they want to purchase whatever the ad is about. In this case, it was an expensive brand of tire. I looked at how the advertiser used ethos, logos, and pathos to persuade their audience. In doing this, I was able to examine the different audiences that are out there and the needs that each one has.

All three of the projects that I submitted with my portfolio include the knowledge of conventions and the different processes of writing. Each paper had to be edited and revised by my peers. I was then able to go back and look at the comments made and do my best to fix what everybody thought needed some work. In doing this, I was able to reflect on my own writing process and figure out what I needed to do in the future to write better papers. For Project 1 I was able to extend my thinking from one draft to the next and improving each one through successive revisions. All the projects had to include many sources each of which needed to be cited correctly. Project 3 had to include a wide variety of sources which made us look up the different ways to cite each different type.

This English class has made me write more than I have ever had to do. I worked hard at trying to write and improve on all my projects. I noticed that as I wrote more and more it became easier. This class provided me with the tools to help make my writing better. I will forever use those tools to keep improving on my skills as a writer. In conclusion then, I think I deserve a B in the class because I demonstrated all the skills that were required for the English 101 Portfolio. However, I feel that even though I was able to demonstrate them I still need to work on using them more. I don’t feel like I have got the greatest understanding for each of the four major topics. As my college career moves forward I truly believe that my writing skills will continue to improve. English 101 was my first class on how to write at a college level and I feel that with the semester ending I can definitely say that I am able to write at the level I need to be at.

Sincerely, Jessica Petersen