jakes+final

= Portfolio  =

This is my final portfolio for the end of the semester. In this compilation I will try to reflect on what I have accomplished in English 103 this semester.

In reflection, I feel that my writing has evolved greatly. When reviewing the papers I've written, I notice myself using different writing styles that I have not used in any past English classes. My grammar is still a problem for me sometimes, but I have improved it and I feel that I am more grammatically sound than I ever have been. I enjoyed writing in this course mostly because we wrote about things that I had personal ties to. For instance, the personal memoir flowed so easily because the subject was so fresh in my mind and the argument was still being debated. This is due to my professor, Dr. Hartman. He let us experiment with what we wrote about. He gave us free reign to choose personal memories instead of a boring writing prompt. We also used collaborative strategies when writing the research paper. This was helpful because no one person had to get all the sources, or write a paper by themselves. It was a group effort, where each person could get their paper critiqued by their peers. I want my readers to see a progression in my writing from the memoir to the multi-genre writing assignments. I want them to get a feel of the kind of person I am through my writing and I think it is evident in my work.

The first paper we were assigned was the personal memoir. I chose to write about a past encounter with the police. I seem to find that most of my memories that are half-way worth while are the ones that involve the police. I think this happens because it brings out the true identity of a person. When tested by authority, one can see the true color of a person's character. It shows you who your friends are and which people only look out for themselves. This was a crossroads for me in my life. It told me things about my lifestyles and about the people I chose to surround myself with. I tried to show my fear in this paper and create a orderly progression of the scenes throughout the paper.

This paper's file was unfortunately lost in the process of the semester, but a hard copy of the letter will be attached when this portfolio is turned in.

The second writing prompt was an open letter. This concept was had for me to grasp at first, but with a little explanation I was right on track. The open letter assignment was supposed to be a letter directed at a single individual, but the message had to be bigger than that single person. The message had to have a substantial enough impact to effect not only the person the letter was directed to, but other people who are going through similar situations. I chose to write about my mother's addiction to gambling and the effects of it on myself and our family. This was, BY FAR, the easiest to write about for me. It was easy for me to remember how I'd been hurt and how my family had coped with the addiction. I chose this subject not only because it is personal for me, but because I feel the message of the fight against addiction can be paralleled to many other people's lives. It is one of the most personal things I have ever wrote..

Open Letter to my Mother

The next writing assignment was the research paper. My group, composed of myself, Keegan, and Tyler, chose to write to persuade the legalization of marijuana. This was a difficult paper for me. No matter how often you write research papers, the process is still more difficult than a simple memoir or short essay. The process involved reading tons of supporting and contrasting views, finding the select few of those that actually made sense for our argument, and then properly or not properly citing these sources. Once, and only once they were noted in the works cited page, could I start to argue for my beliefs. It took much longer to write this paper due to the frequent references to the cited material. It wasn't hard to do, it just became tedious after a while. All in all, I was happy with the way the piece came out in the end.

This is, once again, unfortunately one of the pieces that I do not have an online link for, but there will be a hard copy presented with the personal memoir when I present it for completion.

The final assignment that I did in this class was the Multi-genre essay. Like the name suggests, my multi genre essay was supposed to incorporate different styles and different formats such as, text message logs, poems, essays, dialog, and anything really that could tell a part of the story. I chose to write about my childhood and the evolution of my friendships in this assignment. This was basically another memoir. You could call this a Seinfeld paper, because it is a paper about nothing in essence. Although i joke, these small incidents and memories are bits of my real life. That was my whole goal going into this work. I wanted to show people the REAL life of an average teenager, growing up in an average town, in an average state. This isn't saved by the bell, or the fresh prince of bel air. This is my life. My real life.

[| Multi Genre Writing]