Chris Maddox

11270 S. 72nd E. Pl.

Bixby, OK 74008

April 30, 2017

Diana Watkins
Comp II Professor
Northern Oklahoma College
1118 W. Hall of Fame
Stillwater, OK 74075

Dear Professor Watkins:

During my first semester of college I was faced with the challenge of writing college level papers
rather than my usual average high school papers. This collection shows exactly how college level
papers should be written. All of the writing samples I have provided are, in my opinion, some of
the best papers I have ever written. I am very proud of what I have been able to accomplish
throughout my first year of college. I went from making low Cs on high school papers to high
Bs and As on my college essays. I believe these papers are a good reflection of how I have been
able to improve as a writer and as a person.

I have chosen these paper as my writing examples because they are some of the best papers Ive
written in college. Also, these are the only papers I had to write my first semester at Northern
Oklahoma College. Outside of Comp I, I only had to write one annotated bibliography for my
Late US History class. I decided to order my writing samples from best to worst. The first essay
The Long and Winding Road, to the Straight and Narrow Path was my best paper because Ive
had to write numerous papers throughout my academic career about my life. This has allowed
me to write a good essay about my life and how I turned out the way I am. Although Ive been
able to work on my autobiography, I still have some flaws in my paper. My transitions from
paragraph to paragraph are choppy and can use some work to help the paragraphs flow smoothly
together. My second essay Prisoners of Our Own Device could have been my best essay
without a couple errors. The work cited page had one source that was not included in the paper.
Also, throughout this paper, I had multiple punctuation and grammar errors that could have
easily been fixed. Essay number three, Influenced by Greatness possessed a good hook to grab
the reader attention and smoothly transitioned from paragraph to paragraph. The main problem
with this paper was the repetition within each paragraph. After rereading this paper, I found that I
repeated myself more and more as the paper went on to meet the length requirement. My final
paper was an annotated bibliography about Abraham Lincolns death. This paper was not graded
by an English professor, therefore, he did not count off for any punctuation or grammar errors. If
he were to count off for those errors, I would have gotten a lower grade on that assignment.
Although the paper had some punctuation and grammar errors, the information within the paper
was very insightful and clearly informed the reader about everything that took place before,
during, and after the death of President Lincoln.
As I continued to write papers this school year, the grades I would receive steadily got higher
and higher. The main reason my recent papers have received good grades is largely due to my
growth in transitions. Before, my transitions did not flow together causing my papers to be very
choppy. Learning to write smooth transitions has help me to take my writing skills to a higher
level. My writing process has evolved drastically since I first entered college. Before, I would
start writing a paper without making an outline and my papers would veer off in different
directions. Now, I have to have an outline to help me stay on track and help guide me as I write a
paper. Also, I found that I writer better when I write a couple of paragraphs, then take a break. It
allows me to refresh my thoughts and come up with more ways to improve my essay. A strength
of mine is my ability to find and incorporate good facts and/or quotes into my essays. As I
continue writing papers, I need to eliminate repetition along with minor punctuation errors to
perfect writing skills.

While I continue to develop as a writer, I must create better outlines to make it easier to
constructed well written papers. I see myself writing more research paper and annotated
bibliography as I work towards a business management degree at Oklahoma State University.
This will be good for me because writing research papers and annotated bibliographies is a
strength of mine. I feel very prepared to further my education because Ive learned from two
great teachers over that past two years.

Sincerely,

Chris Maddox