Dear Professor Johnson,

Before joining your class, I was never too confident in my writing skills since I’ve never
experienced structured, sought-out writing courses throughout high school. Going into Writing 2,
I was weary and nervous that my writing skills would be below average of my peers being that I
felt as if my writing skills were under-resourced. For my final portfolio, I focused on revising
Writing Projects 1 and 2. Writing Project 1 was one of my favorite projects during the course
since I enjoyed exploring different genres and writing about a controversial topic that I felt
strongly about. However, I decided to revise Writing Project 2 because it was one of the toughest
projects among the three and was one of my pieces that needed the most improvement. By the
end of the course, I grew as a writer in ways such as strategically using rhetorical strategies to
follow writing conventions, in addition to curating strong arguments and effectively using
evidence to support claims.

Throughout high school, I was always given a set of rules to follow when writing; I constantly
felt as if writing was like creating a replica of a mold, making the process seem like a chore
rather than an art. By conforming to the elementary level rules of writing five sentence
paragraphs and refraining from over explaining myself, I often found it difficult to elaborate on
my thoughts and create a clear and concise image for my audience. After reading “Ten Ways To
Think About Writing: Metaphoric Musings for College Writing Students,” I resonated most with
the “little green ball” analogy, which states, “After my students and I finish examining my ball
and choosing rich language to show it, the whiteboard often reads something like this: ‘I have a
little green ball about an inch in diameter, small enough to hide in your hand. It’s light neon
green like highlighter ink and made of smooth shiny rubber with a slightly rough line running
around its equator as if two halves were joined together. When I drop it on the tile floor, it
bounces back nearly as high as my hand; when I throw it down the hallway, it careens
unpredictably off the walls and floor.’ Now the ball in your mind matches the ball in my hand
much more closely” (E. S. Reid, 7). Reid’s article has been one of many articles that has
resonated with me most throughout the quarter; the “little green ball” analogy has constantly
reminded me that being descriptive in my writing allows readers to easily target my argument,
therefore improving the effectiveness of my writing.

However, I found I struggled most with analyzing evidence to support my claims. Revising
Writing Project 2 has shown me to strengthen my arguments by using information that can be
clearly analyzed by both the reader and writer, and is coherent with the overall argument. While
revising, I changed my choice of evidence to better support my claim that psychologists
collaborate with other specialists to improve the field of psychology. In “Psychologists
Collaborating With Clergy,” psychologists team up with clergy members in order to facilitate
better care for patients with religious beliefs; this states, “As professional psychology becomes
more sensitive to contextual and community variables in mental health, it is important to
collaborate with religious communities—reaching people in their natural settings. In previous
centuries, behavioral and social change has often occurred within a religious context, and it is
only in the past century that secular professions have emerged explicitly for the ‘care of the soul
(psyche)’” (McMinn, Chaddock, Edwards, Lim, & Campbell, 1998). In my analysis I stated,
“Many people often refer to members of the clergy before seeing a psychologist or psychiatrist in
regards to personal issues, thus making it difficult for clergy members to give advice that is
beneficial, both mentally and spiritually. In addition, when consulting with members of religious
groups, psychologists find it easier to get through to a patient when catering to familiar beliefs
and practices that allow the patient to feel comfortable” (Writing Project 2). This piece of
evidence communicates how psychologists communicate with other specialists in order to
enhance the field of psychology by clearly stating what is being done and the purpose behind it.
After reading “Annoying Ways People Use Sources,” by Kyle Stedman, I learned that it is
important to analyze sources in order for them to serve a purpose in my writing. In the article,
Stedman states, “Readers get the feeling that they’re moving from one quotation to the next
without ever quite getting to hear the real point of what the author wants to say, never getting
any time to form an opinion about the claims” (7). To summarize his statement, analyzing
sources shows that the writer has authority in their writing by being able to express their
thoughts, in addition to allowing the audience to identify the author’s main point.

Although I’ve experienced some struggles in my writing, I’ve always believed I’ve had strong
and concise sentence structures. Writing structure is one of the few things that I have struggled
least with, and analyzing “Lesson 7: Shape,” a chapter in “Syles: The Basics of Clarity and
Grace,” has reminded me that sentence structures make all the difference in one’s writing.
Within the chapter, the author states, “Some advice against long sentences, but you cannot
communicate every complex idea in a short one: you have to know how to write a sentence that
is both long and clear” (J.M. Williams, 69). Williams reminds writers that long sentences are not
frowned upon in writing if they are properly structured and clearly express one’s thoughts to
readers. Using the tips and tricks given in this chapter has helped to create clear statements that
allow me to effectively approach my arguments. For instance, in Writing Project 1 I stated, “​13th
impacts its audience by breaking down the statistics of African Americans as
subjects of mass incarceration in America and uses the 13th Amendment, which states “Neither
slavery or involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall be
duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction”
(US Consitution, Amendment XIII, Section I), to illustrate that the United States government has
somehow found a loophole within the Constitution that pardons their racist behavior towards
African Americans and allows them to exploit African Americans and other groups of color
through the judicial system.” This sentence is indeed quite lengthy being that I decided to include
a piece of evidence and my analysis in one sentence. However, the sentence does its job of
communicating my thoughts and the interpreting my research on the rhetorical strategies used in
documentaries.

The past 10 weeks has taught me to be comfortable in my writing and to express myself through
my words. I’ve learned to break free from old writing standards and can clearly see changes in
my work from the first day of class, all the way up to this very moment. I’ve enjoyed every bit of
Writing 2; it has allowed me to see writing in a new perspective and has shown me that writing is
a practiced art. I am overall very grateful to have been a part of the course, being that I can
confidently say that I am now proud of who I have become as a writer.
 Works Cited

LII Staff. “13th Amendment.” ​Legal Information Institute,​ Legal Information Institute,
17 May 2018. www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/amendmentxiii.
Mcminn, M. R., Chaddock, T. P., Edwards, L. C., Lim, B. R., & Campbell, C. D. (1998).
Psychologists collaborating with clergy. ​Professional Psychology:Research and Practice,
29​(6), 564-570.
Reid, E. Shelley. “Ten Ways To Think About Writing: Metaphoric Musings for College
Writing Students.” ​Writing Spaces: Reading on Writing, vol.2, 2011, pp. 7.
Stedman, Kyle D. “Annoying Ways People Use Sources.” ​Writing Spaces: Reading on
Writing, vol. 2, 2011, pp. 248.
Williams, Joseph M., and Joseph Bizup. Lesson 7: Shape. ​Style: The Basics of Clarity
and Grace​. Pearson, 2015, pp. 69.