Keigan Wersler

Dr. Carsey
WRT 480.101
May 9, 2016
Senior Seminar Portfolio Reflection
For the writing pieces in my portfolio, I pulled pieces that showcases my major in
Professional Writing as well as my minors in Biology and Creative Writing. For my professional
piece, I chose the interview I conducted with Justina Ireland, author of the books Promise of
Shadows and Vengeance Bound, during my internship with Story Magazine here at York College
of Pennsylvania. For my creative piece, I chose one of the ten page fiction stories that I wrote for
the Fiction Writing course I took during the fall semester of 2015. The story is about a convicted
criminal who is used by the government to execute other convicted criminals; however, the
executioner is not all that he appears to be. For the visual component piece, I chose a paper I
wrote for the Genetics Lab course I took during the spring semester of 2015. The paper is based
off of the results of the DNA Fingerprinting Analysis experiment that I performed in lab,
containing both a table and a figure.
I chose these pieces because I think that they best showcase both my time here at York
College as well as what I would like to do in my future career. My future goal is to work as a
copy editor either at some sort of science journal or as part of a team at a medical firm. I also
would like to focus some of my time working on my own creative writing, submit to publishers,
and become an author. I think the pieces I chose to include in my portfolio are both appropriate
and relevant both in terms of this assignment and as future writing samples for future employers.

I also believe that these pieces demonstrate my casual, informative, and precise writing style. I
would like to think that the pieces I chose are compelling in their own way; although, I know I
still have much to learn about both as a writer and myself. I know there are things that I do well
at such as brainstorming, research, and plot and character development. I also know there are
things that I do not do well such as focusing on one thing to write about, showing versus telling,
and talking about what is and is not important in regards to my research.
I think the pieces I chose reflect the organization, content, presentation, formatting, and
stylistic choices of the professional writing field. The pieces demonstrate how writing is not tied
down to one discipline, instead having a place in all disciplines, and fitting into the styles
associated with the discipline it is categorized under. I feel that due to the intersection of different
disciplines that I have come across in the Professional Writing major and the different
requirements that are associated with each discipline, it allows us to have the ability to change to
fit in each new environment that we may come across in our future career paths. Each discipline
has their own writing style that they use to get their message across to their audiences, both
general and specific. For example, the sciences have their own citation style (APA format) and
use language, such as medical jargon, specific to their discipline. This style of writing is intended
for a more specialized audience such as other scholars in their field and students studying in the
field. I feel that as a writer, one must be able to communicate in a way that all audiences can
understand.
Some themes I see from my work that emerged from my time in the professional writing
program are diversity, experience, and flexibility. Since the Professional Writing major requires a
minor, which can be in any discipline, it allowed me to expand our writing into a unique style
that is all my own. My biology minor helped me write in a discipline that focused on the more

technical and specialized side of writing, whereas my creative writing minor helped bring out my
creative style of writing. These two minors allowed me to create my own unique style that can be
easily understood by readers even with the incorporation with field specific jargon. Also, taking
classes that incorporate my major and minors in the same semesters forced me to wear different
hats to fit into each discipline. This allowed me to be flexible in terms of switching between
disciplines of writing and thinking on a daily basis. The courses that I have taken also allowed
me to gain experience that helped further shaped my writing such as creating and editing
documents for clients and interning and writing for a national literary magazine.