Dear Vicky,

Throughout the quarter I have learned a variety of things from Writing 2. This course
especially taught me how to efficiently collect evidence from secondary sources and review my
own work. My favorite review tool in particular is to read my essay out loud and catch the
grammar errors and where my essay doesnt flow like it should. I also enjoyed the highlighting
activity because it showed me where I needed to edit my draft. For example, I would discover
whether or not I needed to add more analysis or paraphrase my evidence instead of having
multiple direct quotes.
Although I have learned a lot throughout this semester, there are still things I would like to
know more about. One thing in particular is creating theses from prompts that are not directly
given. This was one of the things I struggled with most because it was hard for me to create an
argument without a straightforward prompt. Although I know that my future writing assignments
will be formatted similar to this, I am still of the most successful way to create the topic of a
paper.
For my portfolio, I chose to revise the first and third writing projects. This is because I
believed it would be easy to correct my errors in the first writing project since I have grown as a
writer since I first wrote it. In addition, I thought the prompt was very interesting and
straightforward so I enjoyed writing about it. I also chose to revise the third writing project;
although I initially said that it was one of the harder pieces to write because of the extensive
analysis, it was also one of the most fun so I decided I wanted to continue working on it. In
addition, I thought the idea of a genre translation was very unique and believed that once fully
revised, I could create a realistic translation.

In the first writing project, the specific issues I addressed were strengthening my thesis and
including the in-class readings. I was able to turn my thesis into an argument by discussing
which genre was able to more efficiently communicate the information through their various
conventions rather than simply stating how both the genres contained unique conventions. By
doing this, I consequently reorganized my paragraphs so it would correlate to my thesis in a
stronger way. I also noticed that my WP1 lacked evidence from the supplemental reading so I
made sure to include excerpts from those to support my point. For the third writing project, I
focused more on my analysis of the genres and explained my translation more thoroughly. I was
able to do this by including more evidence from the original source, as well as my own
translation, to give direct proof of how I converted the text. I also revised my translation itself to
make sure it was more coherent and was a better representation of the text. Additionally, I
changed one of the in-class readings to a text that related more to my essay.
I also revised my mechanics by reading through my papers out loud. This helped me catch
errors in verb tense as well as mistakes in subject-verb agreement. I noticed that I tended to use
the passive voice so I changed a few of those to make my essay stronger.
Even though the two writing projects were very different, I received similar feedback from
both of them. Most of the feedback was centered on my transitions, quotation introduction, and
making my thesis more argumentative. Other comments were to add more to the analysis to
make sure I am not leaving the reader hanging with an incomplete idea. As a whole, they noted
to have my analysis go into more depth and make stronger connections to the evidence.
Additionally, I was advised to connect the analysis to the thesis more frequently to further back

up the explanation. Another thing you mentioned about my thesis was to be more specific and
how certain word choices can affect how the reader understands your argument.
In my portfolio, I am most proud of my examples of evidence and flow of the essays. I
included multiple examples from different sources that support my point which gives a good
representation of various sources.
As mentioned before, I believe that one of my greatest weaknesses is how to create a thesis
when there is not a straightforward question to address. Furthermore, once I came up with the
topic for my essay, my thesis still often lacked an argument. Despite creating theses for each
project, I would like to improve my ability in creating an argument whether or not there is not a
direct prompt given. Although I have definitely made progress in this area, I believe there will
always be room for improvement when it comes to producing a strong thesis.
This portfolio reflects on what Ive learned this quarter because it shows my improvements in
my writing. Not only have I strengthened my ability to create thesis sentences, I was able to
connect my analysis more to my thesis.
I personally believe that I have improved as a writer throughout this course. Not only have I
strengthened my ability to write thesis statements by making sure they are an argument and not
simply a statement of fact, but I have enhanced my ability to connect my analysis to my thesis.
This was done by making sure that every paragraph connects back to my main points. I also
changed as a writer because I now realize that there is never a set format you have to follow in
writing: you get to choose how to organize your points. Although I was accustomed to the

stereotypical five paragraph essay in high school, I was able to branch out and create different
arrangements for my essays.
Ultimately this course has taught me a variety of things that I will be able to take with me in
the future. First, I am aware that it is okay to have a bad first draft. The most important thing is to
get your ideas on a paper and expand from there. Although I tend to be a perfectionist about
certain aspects, I now know how to be more efficient in writing a paper. Additionally, I will take
with me in the future that an essay is always a work in progress. Despite their being a due date, I
always have the options to revise and edit my works to make it the best possible text.
Sincerely,
Orla Ruane