Final Portfolio Reflection Paper

As I looked back over my portfolio, I was able to see the progress that I have made as a writer. In this essay, I will assess my strengths and weaknesses as a writer and discuss the processes that I used when writing the pieces in this portfolio.

In the beginning of the second semester of my senior year I created a binder called a writing portfolio. It held all the assignments and essays I had finished in class. The writing portfolio is like a sapling that would grow to become a tree with each new addition of essays added to it. Academic Writing: English 151 was a grueling class that paid off in the long run. It was a difficult class that was insightful into writing well since it taught me the basic mechanics of grammar and English at the same time. It pushed me to the limits of writing at the utmost potential I was able to write. Some people might say that this class is just another English class with an embellished name to it, but it is nowhere close to a regular English class. It is literally a class that can be frightful at first glance because of the amount of essays we write at a college level.

In my final discussion, I have ascertained that I can accomplish several of things when I put my mind into doing it. Writing is a skill that I have enjoyed theses pass weeks. There were times I was honed making a perfect sentence. I began to practice and wrote then went back to proofread; make it easier to see my mistakes.

In what SPECIFIC areas (think 6 Traits of Writing) did you grow as a writer? Can you point them out in this portfolio? Quote your own writing - compare to prove your point and elaborate or explain what you have learned.

Throughout the course this semester I have learned a lot about writing and my personal writing process and skills. The assignments that stand out and helped me the most were the literacy narrative and the Fine Art essay. I think that these two were the most influential to my writing practice because they both involved topics and styles that I really enjoy writing about. The Literacy Narrative forced me to write in new ways and a new thinking practices that I didn't use before. And the Fine Art of essay was something that I enjoyed writing about and composing it in more of a poetic form and I liked being able to have the option of making my own.

Argumentative essays intimidate lots of students because of the structure an instructor expects. Instructors will expect well-written, tightly-argued essays, but that doesn't mean the paper needs to be twenty pages long or should refer to a dozen or more sources. What it does mean, however, is that a student takes a stand on an issue, presents his side of the argument while refuting his opposition, and also integrates outside sources that help support his point of view.

I found the article on “Argument” helpful because; the topic is understandable, did a good job to defined the topic, the order of relevant, provided specific examples how to improve my writing of college papers.

The research was limited in that there was enough on just the narrative of substance abuse and enough research on mental illnesses, but research was limited when it came to dual diagnoses. There were inconsistencies within the research, where researchers failed to address advocacy at the state and federal levels; therefore not addressing the snowball effect of the poor quality care of the patient. This snowball effect starts with lack of funding causing a lack of implementation of these systems, therefore leading to the disparities in services, treatment, and /or interventions, which trickle down to the negative outcomes of the patient. There is currently an issue of how to get veterans on board with integrated treatment. You see there is a whole other added element to veterans’ illness(es)… Trauma.

As an international student, I needed to take both the TOEFL and SAT in order to apply for universities in the United States. The writing parts of these two tests both involve argumentative essays. However, I had no prior experience of writing argumentative essays. Back in middle school, I was always dealing with narratives, which mainly focus on the experience of people and the development of events. In contrast, argumentative writing is very different. Its way of expression is to speak of truth and to directly express personal perspectives. In order to write good argumentative, I had to learn from the very beginning. Fortunately, my school offered courses on argumentative essay writing. I took part in that course and found it to be the mostly

As I am entering into the final semester of my MLS studies I have the desire to gain more working knowledge of various library types and their practices. I would like to secure a practicum that will enable me the opportunity to gain practical hands on experience in a special library. Though this experience is not required for completion of my MLS degree I feel that the knowledge gained from this practicum placement will be invaluable. It will help create a more well-rounded and versatile professional base to draw from as I continue in the library profession.

When you write a persuasive essay, it’s good to think about how you will construct your argument, from the way you will organize your key points to how and where you will disprove opposing views. A lot of students find it hard to identify what it is that makes a good piece of essay writing. At the core of such writing, it is the nature and structure of the intellectual argument.

This semester has been an interesting experience. Although much of the class revisited parts of argumentation that I was already well acquainted with in High School, the assignments for this class has been intriguing to say the least. Nonetheless, I was challenged to take a step further into argumentation and given the freedom to analyze the texts the way I saw fit, where as in High School all of our assignments had to be in a pre-approved and archaic format that left little room for the writer’s true voice to shine through. That being said, that freedom to take my papers anywhere I wanted it to go is what I liked the most about this experience. I did not have to make perfect arguments or make perfect analyses, but I was given the chance to try in my own way although we were guided as a class.

Although the most subjective and probably the hardest of our assignments, the argument proposal was easier for me to write about since I was generally curious about the topic. Writing an argumentative essay can help students improve their writing, develop their critical-thinking skills, and also learn how to perform research. One of my weaknesses with my argument proposal was relying too much on evidence and synthesizing ideas instead of generating my own or making a definite stance, instead of trying new ways to be creative and capture the attention of the

In this week’s journal we were assigned reading in the They Say, I Say book. The assigned reading was to teach us how to write papers in an argumentative form, either agreeing with a statement, disagreeing, or a little of both. As explained in our chapter often writers are afraid to argue a statement, based on the fact that they feel as if they do not have enough knowledge about the information. The question to be answered in this journal is, how do I see myself as an arguer?