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Dear Reader, In English class this semester, I have had to write numerous amounts of blogs, daybook entries, and papers. All of these things taught me that there are many ways to write, and every style is correct if it fits the type of paper you are going for. I have also learned how to write an extensive amount, which is a good thing for a college student. Through freewriting and daybooks Ive learned how to write out my thoughts and reflect upon them. Ive also learned to analyze essays with the homework assignments that were given, and apply what I have learned from them to my own writing. With the final portfolio, I have been able to look back and see how I have improved as a writer over time, and I have seen my strengths and weaknesses. I have also learned that a weakness- when seen from another angle- can actually turn out to be strength. For example, I have a hard time writing serious papers where Im just stating facts and trying to inform a reader. This turns out to be a weakness for my EIP paper, however, when writing a literary narrative, this turns into a positive factor because there is a lot of personality added into the story that is being told. My most important work in English 1103 would have to be my daybook entries. Looking back at them I never realized how much theyve helped me figure things out for writing assignments. I noticed that when I wrote in my daybook about reading assignments from the night before, I retained more of the information about them, and was able to analyze them better during class discussions. For example, the Superman and Me paper had a few comments here and there, and then while writing and thinking more about it; I had written a lot more about its repetitive nature. This connects to my goals as a writer because I am able to recognize and analyze techniques used by writers in a more effective way. Writing them down and talking about them to myself solidify the ideas. Also, since Im writing about whatever I want for a few minutes before class, it gets thoughts flowing and eases me into writing. Overall, I become more comfortable and confident with writing down my thoughts and what I have to say about many different subjects. My biggest weakness with writing would have to be actually starting a paper. Thinking of a topic, researching, and then organizing the information is always a struggle for me. Im not sure why, but Its so hard for me to actually sit down and think about what to say. I feel as if my thoughts are so informal and I never know how to write them in such a way that they seem appropriate in a paper. Ive realized that this could be why Im better at writing narratives than research papers. I can expose my voice through diction and give it my own little flare. I can express my personality and the way I talk a little more freely rather than just stating facts and trying to make a point. Over the course of this semester, Ive learned that a weakness in one place is actually a strength in another. For example, on my EIP there were a lot of critical comments made about the way I worded things and what didnt work. However, for my literacy

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narrative, I searched for comments on areas to improve, but I only saw positive feedback indicating that I am on the right track. As a thinker, I believe that writing practices such as the daybook have really helped me get my thoughts together and put them down in words. As stated above, Ive always had trouble with writing thoughts down in a way that they seem appropriate for a formal paper. My favorite daybooks did have me narrating my thoughts word for word, so they were informal, but some of the more serious ones helped me practice writing in a more serious form. Blogs were one of the most fun assignments that we had. It was really interesting reading articles and watching videos about things that actually applied to our lives as college students apart of the educational system, and writing thoughts and opinions without having to worry about what others will think was really nice. The most challenging aspect of the blogs was keeping up with them. There were times where I just forgot to or I had a biology or chemistry exam the next day so I put it off until later. But I always completed them so in the end it worked out. Another assignment that I had difficulty with was the EIP. As Ive mentioned before, Im not good at starting a piece of writing, but once I get going Im good. There were so many steps involved in the assignment with multiple drafts and research and editing that it was a bit overwhelming for me. However, since we had to turn in each part every other week, it was really helpful with keeping me on track with what needed to be done, and when. The inquiry process for the EIP was one of my favorite parts about the assignment. In search of my topic, I would critically think about all of the little questions I had going through my daily life. Why do I love these random people in my life I call family? Why do I care about school so much? What are long-term effects of a higher education and the question I ultimately chose to answer, what causes addiction? Now, I had to get a bit more specific for my topic because it was so vague in the beginning and there could be books and books written about just the causes. So I decided to specifically research the neurological reasons behind addiction. I love the brain and the different functions it has. As I ve stated in my portfolio, its like this tiny organ that controls the body like a robot. So this seemed like the right question to inquire about for my semester in English class. The topic proposal was the next step. In the topic proposal I had to write about what I wanted my EIP to be about. I basically felt like I had to convince my professor, Mr. Campbell, that my topic was one that I could successfully go through with for this assignment, and that was through research and stating what I would talk about in my final EIP paper. During my meeting with Mr. Campbell we discussed how I could possibly go through with this and what kinds of questions I needed to touch on in order to inform the reader about the neurological reasons behind addiction. This assignment was not very difficult, it just required time and thought. This topic proposal eventually led to the research presentation, which was like an

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extension of the proposal, but in PowerPoint format, with pictures, and more facts and research to show what the paper would be about. This wasnt too hard, it was actually kind of fun because it was a light assignment, and I got to look into my topic more and continue my quest for the questions which needed answering. Now after a fast draft, second draft, and a few revisions, the final product came to be the final EIP. This final paper was what it seemed this whole semester led up to. Overall, it was the most difficult thing to write because of all the preparation and background work that had to be done. But it was not too bad. There was a lot of dedication and time required however, but the final product was definitely worth it. Im very happy with the knowledge that I have gained about the neurological reasons behind addiction, and I even go about mentioning some of the facts to friends when questions of the brains functions come up. For example, if a friend asked, Why do I like eating so much? I could go in and shoot a little comment about serotonin and dopamine being released when food intake occurs because food keeps an individual alive, so a person is rewarded when they eat- therefore eating is enjoyable and some people tend to do it more often than necessary. Obviously I did not only learn about addictions along the way. There are some cool random facts about the brains functions that I also ended up learning, and that was pretty interesting too. Somewhere among all of the EIP assignments, there was a literacy narrative that was written. For this assignment I had to write about one of the topics listed on the assignment sheet to write about, and I chose how my mom teaching me how to read and write affected the teaching methods I used for my youngest brother while I was helping him learn. While doing this assignment I learned that I am pretty good at writing narratives, because I can allow for my voice and personality to be displayed in writing. I added humor, quotes, thoughts, and anything else that portrayed my tone for the paper. It was also easy to write because I just typed what I was thinking. Unlike the EIP, it did not have to have a formal tone. Overall, from this class I believe I will take the writing skills I have learned and the ability to compose my thoughts into words in a more literary way. I definitely am now used to extensive amounts of writing because of the EIP papers, blogs, and daybooks. I think this is one of the best skills that can be learned early on in college because it s one that will stay with you until the end. Class this semester was amazing. I also learned that it s alright to goof off once in a while because some times in class we would just let loose and watch Beyonc or funny videos off of youtube. This is also an important skill that will stay with me because when I get stressed or tired from working and studying for so long, I have started to take mini youtube breaks to get me back in the zone. Im really going to miss this class next semester, and although not required for my major, I am hoping to continue taking a few more English classes throughout my college career.