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Kimberly Frez Malcolm Campbell English 1102 April 28, 2014 Dear Malcolm, As I begin wrapping up my last days as a freshman I reflect academically on how I entered all my classes not knowing what to expect to later completing requirements as well as learning a thing or two. I can say that English 1102 has been one of the most different classes I have taken. Normally I am used to hearing a lecture, and repeating information through tests and quizzes and grades were given whether my answers were either right or wrong. This class was very interesting and different because the obvious, it was the total opposite of what I was used to and I had control of my work, but building off from the beginning of the semester to the end of the semester there was progress. All of our assignments were completed over time, and in everything that we did we always had a previous assignment to reflect on. Everything could be pieced together and it was not until the end that I realized that absolutely everything we did aided in the completion of another. Completing the Daybook work every class was my least favorite assignment throughout the semester. Many of the free writes were on our EIP project and being that we had the responsibility to work on it on our own time made me feel like the Daybook entries were not as helpful. When composing my EIP, I never reflected on my free writes. When writing them in class sometimes it was hard to come up with anything to write because I was working on my own pace. Although they were not as helpful in my opinion they did give me something to think about. Normally the free writes led to the class lecture and from the lectures was where I was

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able to learn more and ask questions. The different techniques in writing were very interesting to learn and made it easier to break down and understand different passages, articles, sentences, paragraphs, and books. In our blog post we had to do, many articles or videos abled me to share my opinion on a subject that had to do with the corruption in our education system. If anything this was my favorite assignment because it is something I truly believe is important. Coming from an immigrant family who had nothing I was always taught to appreciate my education and I feel nothing but gratitude to be here writing this paper in college because many do not have this opportunity. Throughout the semester I added some blog post on my EIP because like I stated before I really did enjoy the blog assignment. My work was very informal; I wrote immediately after reading a passage or watched a video. Compared to the free write I was able to go back to my blog and reflect as I was doing work for other assignments. Having the ability to express myself, and my thoughts freely on the blog was very liberating in the sense that I grew as a person and writing is not my forte, so to be able to write more although it was because it was assigned helped me better my writing skills. There were some blog post that I felt were boring and saw no point in them, I still wrote, and I was able to open my mind to other things and learn even if it was something so little. One of the blog posts that stick out in my mind is the one I wrote on a video of a spoken word poem about education. I watched the video once and felt many emotions and just wrote what came to my mind on my blog. It wasnt until the next class that we discussed and watched the video again. To have heard others opinions and outlooks that were different than mine was very helpful, my opinions soon changed. When it came to my Extended Inquiry Project at the beginning of the semester I had difficulty choosing a topic. My original interest was intersectionality on campus. I knew my

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topic was too broad and I needed to be more specific. When trying to do more research I found that what I was looking for wasnt really what I was interested in. I had to step back and reflect on what really does interest me, which is healthcare. Using my other two science class lectures as helpful resources I remembered learning about chemical additives in foods and from then on I wanted to learn more. For something that I need to live my everyday life I had no clue how much harm it was doing to my body. This was where my inquiry process began. I knew only vague information on some chemical additives but I knew there was more. When expanding my research I ran into many issues. This topic just like my original topic was very vague. I had to figure out how I could be more specific. With being more specific I knew that my audience was going to be able to understand and grasp the message that we need to change our dietary habits. Reflecting now compared to the beginning of the semester the amount of information I found was very little. I limited myself to three chemical additives and another one of my biggest issues I found was that there was more information on one more than the other. In my topic proposal I spoke mainly on trans fats because I found more information on that additive rather than the others. The topic proposal was easy to write because it was sectioned. I had a foundation and from the topic proposal I continued my research. If I could do my topic proposal all over again I would have already had my chemical additives chosen. Having my additives already chosen would have for a better proposal and the reader could expect more from my next assignments. Apart from my blog post the research presentation was my second favorite assignment in the class. My biggest struggle while doing the presentation was allowing myself to write as much as I needed to on a slide. I felt as if this assignment helped my writing skills because my information was straight to the point. Having added descriptions on our sources was something I

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really did like. My topic is one that should be taken seriously. Having credited my sources I was able to confirm that the information that I was researching was legitimate. I was able to learn that sometimes less information on a power point will not get your message across. From my research I was able to have things flow. What made the research presentation easier to compose was each slide was dedicated to something specific. My Extended Inquiry Project was the assignment that I learned the most from. From my drafts, my own research, peer review, and help from Malcolm I was able to compose the final product. The peer review was very helpful and I cannot stress how helpful it is. Seattle being my partner was very helpful in telling me where I could add more or change things up before. Because of pride or shyness I never liked asking others for help but this time was very helpful. Being able to put all my research together one of my issues was making things flow. I am not the best writer but I put a lot of effort into the research being strong and so that my reader could understand the purpose of my project. Although science may not be for everyone I wrote so that my reader could be engaged in the topic and wrote so that the essay was more personal. All the assignments done in English 1102 were interesting. I enjoyed learning about different styles of writing and to see that there are educators that care about our education. There are different ways of expressing feelings and in this class our main option was through writing. Everything I wrote was not going to be good unless I truly cared. It was hard not to care in this class. I am very grateful for your style of teaching. Although I may not be the best writer I hope to improve and have the drive to learn more. In my other classes I will apply the different writing techniques learned and compose good work for my professors. Thank you for being a great professor. Best,

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Kimberly Frez

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