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Zamaria Odom

Cover Letter

December 17, 2017

Dear Sarah,

Through the duration of this 10 week course labeled as Writing 2, I have been exposed to
a variety of writing styles, processes and tactics that have been extremely significant in
improving my writing ability. The activities in class such as the peer review and presentation of
various papers from starting lines, introduced new perspectives and unique ways to analyze
examples of writing. The discussions that centered around topics such as Writing with Pictures
by Scott McCloud and Reading Like a Writer by Mike Bunn assisted our class a whole in
exploring uncommon perspectives on our writing. This allowed the class, especially me in
particular, to understand that there is truly more than just one or two sets of eyes observing your
paper. When you are fully aware of your specific audience and the way in which you want to
communicate with them, your writing becomes even more enhanced. These tools have been
extremely helpful in improving my writing abilities.
For my final portfolio, I have decided to revise Writing Project 2 and Writing Project 3.
With the second writing project, this paper concentrated on academic disciplines and the process
of analyzing academic texts. I feel as though my discussion of this topic was very well written,
however I feel that there were some unanswered questions that I could have addressed. One of
the requirements was to include information from the UCSB webpage. Due to the restrictions the
page number, it was difficult for me to include a complete discussion from the UCSB web page
in the paper. In my revised project, I have included a more in depth discussion on about the
webpage, thus expanding my discussion as a whole that applies to actual instances in our modern
world. The style in which you write, the voice you provide to the audience and the format of the
article are all important when identifying what a genre is(Dirk 251). My revised project makes
certain that each one of these is covered, providing a greater analysis on my academic disciplines
themselves as well.
The second paper I chose to revise was our most recent project, which focuses on the
translation of one writing genre to another. I mainly chose to revise this one due to the grade I
received, which was very low in comparison to the other projects. This was due to the
misunderstanding of how balance my paper should have been on my authorly choices and the
origins of the two pieces I selected. Throughout this specific writing process, there was
misunderstanding between what the focus of the paper should be on exactly. The papers goal
was to concentrate on the motives behind the two genres of your choosing as well as each of
their rhetorical situations. In my edited edition, I decided to continue with my first choice of
Instagram posts and the letter about college athletes. I have lengthened my paper significantly to
ensure that both my authorly choices and a full analysis of both pieces are included in my
explication. My concentration on the choices of moment, image, word and flow were essential
in enhancing my discussion on the topic(McCloud 10). These characteristics were extremely
similar to foundations of an instagram posts itself. They both need to contain them in order to
keep the reader entertained and enable them to understand as well. As far as the genre translation
itself, I created an original Instagram page that relates directly to the subject of my paper, per
your rubrics instructions. This will ensure all requirements of this project are met, producing an
improved discussion.
Throughout this course we have participated in a plethora of peer review sessions and
other revising activities that have provided feedback on each of the papers we wrote. In my
personal revision process, I believe reverse outlining has introduced an effective way of ensuring
the audience understands your writing with clear topic sentences and supporting evidence. This
technique guarantees that your main ideas are very well structured along with details that
elaborate on your writing topic. Mike Bunns piece How to Read Like a Writer played a
significant role in helping me grasp the concept of really communicating and acknowledging my
audience. He presents questions that we need to ask ourselves before we begin, during and after
the reading. He suggests that we need explore the text in depth in order to read as writer through
any genre type, .For example, before we begin he asks us to question the author's purpose for
writing the piece as well as the audience they were writing for(Bunn 76).
The work I appreciate most in this portfolio is my revised edition of the last writing
project. I was not satisfied at all with the grade I received on this paper. I did a close reading of
the requirements and basically started from scratch. Now I feel like this paper is a finished
project and worthy of the same grade as my two previous papers. If I could improve anything, I
would actually take a look at my very first writing project and review it. This project was written
first when I wasnt fully introduced to all the writing tools I have now.
As a writer, this course has improved my revision process tenfold. Not only that, but it
also has helped me with my conclusion and how to approach the analyzation of new texts I may
come across.Throughout the course I have learned how to better integrate the information that is
mentioned earlier in my papers in order to end connect my points to larger ideas. My papers now
have smooth endings that leave the reader satisfied with the presented information. Interpreting
evidence in academic articles was a tremendous skill I developed that allowed me to formulate
my paper correctly. When I first read the two academic articles for our second writing project, it
seemed like very dense information I had to process. I figured this would be difficult to even
begin to pull information from the to articles. However, with in class guides directing me to pay
special attention to the abstract conclusion, and they way in which to read through these articles,
I feel as though my paper benefited greatly from this.
As I approach new writing projects, I will bring with me the skills I have developed from
this course. One in particular will be the variety of ways in which I can revise my paper such as
reverse outlining and in depth peer review. This will be very beneficial in higher level courses
that are very critical of my writing. I will also incorporate the process of analyzing various texts I
may be faced with reading in order to gain a better understanding of them. This course has been
extremely beneficial in displaying the importance of discovering the foundation of writing.
Works Cited
Bunn, Mike. How to Read Like a Writer. Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing, 2011, pp.
7679.

Dirk, Kerry, et al. Navigating Genres. Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing, Parlor Press,
2011, pp. 249261.

McCloud, Scott. Writing With Pictures. scottmcloud.com, 29 June 2009,


scottmccloud.com/2009/06/29/writing-with-pictures/.

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