keegan+jCover+Letter

= Cover Letter=

//__Portfolio__//
Dear Dr. Harman,

I have always found it difficult to find a way to begin writing a paper. I generally would stare at a blank page without any sense of direction for which to take my paper. In high school, when I would type my papers I would get a good idea, write it down, and put it on another word document for later. I would continue writing as thoughts came to me, and I would never actually have any sort of draft. Now, however, I have discovered the zero draft from my English 103 class. Without taking this class, I would likely continue having sloppy and unorganized papers.

I begin forming my zero drafts by writing the paper using complete thoughts, not sentences. With this method I essentially write the paper in note-form, and leave out details. The zero draft allows me to literally write an entire paper in fifteen minutes. While in high school I struggled greatly with my time management skills. When trying to write my high school papers I would sit down to write, and quickly become discouraged by an empty page without any guidelines for how to begin. Since I have begun using zero drafts for my papers, I now begin final drafts with a blueprint for the entire assignment.

My most important use for the zero draft was in my memoir. The memoir was a seven-page paper that would have been very difficult to write from scratch. When writing a memoir, it was important for me to make sure the key parts of my story were written effectively. To begin my zero draft, I first wrote down eight key events to my story. Next I wrote details to the events in a short and choppy note form. I finally went through and added details and missing words to make full sentences. Using an outline form of a zero draft proved to be very effective for me once the paper was finished; so I decided to use the outlined zero draft approach for my open letter as well. To begin, I wrote powerful sentences that I thought would be most effective in persuading my point. The sentences essentially became my paragraph topics, and I simply added in details and points to build up to the impactful sentences.

For my last two papers I used zero drafts in a different way. When writing for my research paper I made a list of my key argument points. From there, I simply wrote down all the quotes and facts onto the list underneath the appropriate argument section. My multi genre paper was very different from the others, but in all, it was much more fun. When writing the zero draft I had so many ideas that I did not know where to begin. I eventually started dividing my paper into main topics/categories. Next I wrote down all the ideas that I wanted to include in the paper. I later went through the list of ideas and assigned them a genre while sorting them by significance and priority. I finally wrote out all the parts to the paper, and began posting and organizing them on the site.

Zero drafts have also helped me with gaining feedback. I am able to read over main points from the draft, and think about details I need to add to help make my points clearer. After writing out the zero draft, I form sentences to make the rough draft, which I use for review. I usually tend to send theses rough drafts to a classmate for his or her input and revision. I personally find peer feedback very beneficial, because the person reading my paper often has a different writing style and voice, which can help me find the write words for a sentence.

In the future I plan to use a zero draft when writing all of my papers. I was even sure to use a zero draft for this cover letter. From this class I have learned that writing from scratch is like walking around a city blindfolded, and it can be very difficult to find a starting point. It is important to me that I use a zero draft to give myself a sense of organization and direction. Overall, this class has made me a much more efficient and effective writer by teaching me techniques for starting the paper.

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