Barry Rose
12/12/11
Reflective Cover Letter
The four assignments I chose for my portfolio are my I Believe, Application, Profile, and Proposal. I chose these essays because I enjoyed writing these the most. I had a passion and interest for writing all four.
The criteria for the “I Believe” essay was to describe how your believe was formed, and how it has been tested. I was also asked to use anecdotes to describe and show my belief. Dialogue and detail was an important part of the paper to give credibility of my belief. A strong closing was also required to really drive home how and why my belief is so important to me.
The reason I chose this paper is because I feel extremely strong about this essay. It is true to me and I live by everything I described in this assignment.
Changes I made to this paper over time was adding an explanation of what Chrone’s disease is. I also told the reader how my health is now 2 years post surgery, and 1 year after the problems with my liver. I rebuilt some sentence structures and moved some information around to help the reader fully understand my belief.
The second paper I chose to include is my “Application” essay. In this assignment I was asked to find a college application letter and answer is. I was asked to give the question at the top of my paper and what school it was from. A topic sentence was asked in each paragraph. Facts and evidence were required to explain why I chose the college and why I should be accepted to that college. I needed to leave a good impression on the college of why they need me at their school.
I included this essay in my portfolio because that I am going to submit this to Bridgewater State University. I believe that it is a strong paper that truly describes reasoning for the school accepting me, and my passion in the field I want to study in.
Changes I made to this paper was explaining how Bridgewater State University can help me reach my goal of becoming a Phys Ed teacher.
My third essay chosen for my portfolio is the “Profile”. Criteria for this paper was to give an engaging lead to grab the reader’s attention. A strong physical description is very important to give the reader a solid mental picture of what the subject looks like. A nut graf is very important to the paper because it gives the reader all the information needed to explain who my subject truly is. Quotation’s from my subject and anecdotes about him are also required to back my facts and information. A strong closing to drive home the type of person my subject is must also be in the essay.
The reason I chose this paper for my portfolio is because my subject was my father. I believe I gave good facts and reasoning for who my father is and why he is that way. I used anecdotes to back my information.
One change I made to this paper was the physical description. I went farther into detail of what he looked like, and even gave an example of why he had some features.
The fourth paper I chose for my portfolio is my “Proposal”. In this assignment I need to specify who my intended reader was. I needed to state a clear and direct solvable problem. I also had to give a practical solution to this problem. Research was needed for this paper to give evidence drawn from a reputable news source to fully explain the problem. A call to action is needed in the paper to let people know they can stop this problem, and how they can do it. My sources had to be cited in MLA style at the end of my paper, and in text citation was also required.
I chose this assignment because I believe I chose a very important issue in our society today. I also believe that I gave solid and clear solutions to the problem that are all cost effective. This problem could start an immediate decrease if our society took the small steps that I stated in my paper.
Changes I made to this paper was adding more information to further back my explanations. I also moved some information around to make it easier for the reader to understand.
“Analyzing a Trend” is the last paper I am adding to my portfolio. Criteria for this assignment was to clearly state an increase or decrease in a specific trend. State the participants in this trend and give a precise period of time this trend occurred. I must also show the degree of change over time and explain why this trend has increased or decreased. I have to provide evidence for this trend, taking information from at least 2 scholarly articles and document them in MLA form, and with in text citations. I had to also explain the causes and effects for the trend, and give a strong closing that states the importance of the trend.
A change I have made to this paper from my first draft was adding more information from another scholarly article. I wanted to give more information about the disease itself, and not just how it’s trending. I also added more MLA citations to show where I got my information from.
I believe that I have had great progress as a writer over this semester. I have not had to write a paper in almost a decade, and I felt a little lost writing in the beginning of the year. Now I feel much more comfortable. The assignments at the beginning of the year, I felt myself checking the number of words, to make sure I had enough done for the assignments criteria. By the end, I was checking to make sure I didn’t have too much. I began to find it easy to put my ideas onto paper, and give a clear paper following the guidelines asked.