Final Portfolio Essay

In this course, I feel as if I have grown greatly as a writer. I have developed new skills in
which I have displayed in my e-portfolio. This document will guide you through my semester as
a writer and a student and give you incite on what I feel is important from my University Writing
Course. My works are presented in a semi-chronological order with some documents moved
based on where they fit best into my portfolio.
Starting with my blog post, I feel like I have developed immensely as a writer. In blog
post number one, I wrote about my writing literacy including topics such as journaling,
argumentative essays, 5 paragraph essays, and a few other small works. I can now say that my
writing literacy has grown far beyond this list. I have learned how to write personal pieces such
as my Seeing the Moment, blog post, reflective papers such as my midterm and this piece, and
inquiry projects and papers such as my multi-genre project and my Prospect for Success Inquiry
Paper for my business class. In blog post two, I learned what inquiry was. I learned it goes
beyond the limits of traditional writing and research papers and allows us to search multiple
sources and databases to expand our knowledge on topics that others have studied. They also
allow us to form our own opinions on topics, so that we can develop as writers and students.
Throughout the blog post and learning about inquiry, I have learned not to simply cut and paste
my thoughts, but to grow them and allow my knowledge of topics to expand beyond my current
knowledge. This idea of fostering thoughts instead of copying and pasting comes from the
authors of our textbook, Holdstein and Aquiline. I really do feel as if I have done this throughout
the semester with my blog post.

In my writers notebook, I found my genre analysis questions from when learned how to
study authors choices through rhetorical analysis. I choose this as a writers notebook artifact
because I really learned the importance of the choices we make as authors. Specifically, I learned
how to use ethos, pathos, logos, and kairos, as well as the 5 modes to really convey my message
behind a work. We spent a large amount of time talking about ethos. I specifically remember Ms.
Ingram talking about, Ethos is not defined by the ethics, but the credibility of the author. I felt
it is important to show this piece early on because it has allowed for me to go back and change
my works so that I can further convey my messages behind all of the work I have done this
semester. When my group presented the emergency card to the class, and I was required to really
think through the authors decisions, I learned how important mine are. I learned the importance
of bolding certain words when you want to get a point across and outlining the concepts of my
work to intrigue people so they continue on reading the rest of my work. The genre analysis
worksheet and questions has really allowed me to move what I thought were final products
forward to an even more complete work.
Along the line of notes from the course, my Dos and Donts warm-up from September
8th was very important in my peer evaluation. Within my group, we came up with multiple ideas
of what we needed to do to review each others work and give helpful feedback. I also used this
as a writers notebook artifact. This is because it was one of the most important warmups we had
due to the fact that it allowed us to learn how to properly give feedback and analysis on another
authors work so they further develop their works. I really believe the most important fact I
learned is to Critique, dont criticize. This taught me the key concept of Critical Reflection.
The class period following our Dos and Donts, our first draft of our exploratory essay
was due. I honestly did not try my best or turn in exemplary work when I did this first draft. I

wrote a quick draft that I could turn in and get a completion grade for. I am not proud of the work
I put into this draft. The lack of detail presented can be seen in this quote. My passion was made
so much stronger after I realized my health was not going to hold me back. This is the main
sentence I had trying to support my thesis, and I do not think this sentence alone has the power to
support my whole paper. That is why I feel my first draft of my exploratory essay is a great work
artifact. From this work, I learned not to procrastinate on the work that is due, even if it will not
be graded until later into the semester. It was a lazy decision that I am not proud of. I do feel like
for what I put into the draft, it turned out well, but I know I could have done better.
That day, we workshopped our first drafts. I received feedback that was very helpful from
my group so I decided to include that as a feedback artifact. I was told that putting part of my
personal story and struggle with diabetes made my work better. I also learned that verb choice
within my writing is a key to allowing people to understand the point I am trying to get across. A
direct quote from my feedback is, Contradicted yourself by saying you are student, daughter,
employee, etc. but then saying that it does not define you. I found this feedback particularly
helpful in allowing me to further consider the way I present myself within my essay. Although I
did not turn in my best work and I could have elaborated more, the readers did enjoy my honesty
and willingness to share about my personal life.
The next workers artifact that I included in my portfolio also pertains to my exploratory
essay. The Seeing the Moment activity really allowed for me to connect my essay to my
personal experience with diabetes. I was able to look back and recall the very second that I was
told I had type 1 diabetes. I wrote, I was hurting inside. I just wanted to leave and for the news
to be false. I was broken, saddened, and confused. This was the day of the course I realized it is
okay to allow my audience to know my struggles. I was able to connect with my essay and

improve its overall quality because I could share the struggles that I was faced with. Previous to
this class, I had connected very little personally with my work because I felt my work needed to
be based upon fact and research. I really enjoyed the Seeing the Moment activity even if I
ended up having to leave the room crying. I felt like this was the day I learned that writing is
personal. This activity allowed me to really learn the key concept of making connections because
it allowed me to connect personally with my work.
From all of this analysis, I was able to develop my second draft. I am using my second
draft as a feedback artifact because of the feedback I received from both Matthew and Ms.
Ingram. They both enjoyed learning about my personal struggle with diabetes and the day I was
diagnosed and understood that it was a hard topic to talk about. When Ms. Ingram said, Your
voice is clear and triumphant, it made me feel even more comfortable sharing my story with
others. Matthew said, This essay is truly amazing, I am truly speechless on how even though
life threw a large bull at you, you took it by the horns and embraced it. This feedback did more
than help me develop my final draft; it allowed me to open up to others outside of the class on
my struggles and how they have the ability to overcome whatever the world throws at them. This
makes me very grateful for this course. I feel all of the feedback I received has helped me
become a better author.
The next piece I have chosen to include is my final draft of my exploratory essay. After
spending a majority of my portfolio talking about the importance it has on me developing as a
person and a writer, I feel like it is only appropriate to include the final work. This essay is one of
my favorite essays I have ever written. I changed throughout the writing of this essay, and it was
a great thing. I now know how to write a personal essay and what it means to really convey my
message as a writer. I was able to use past experience to show my passion and who I am today.

Naturally, I am incorporating my midterm draft in as the next workers artifact. I talked

mostly about what I have spoken on previously. It was a reflective piece of work that allowed me
to evaluate the quality of my previous work and my experience from writing it. I feel like the
placement of this piece next is important because I do talk considerably about my experience
writing my exploratory essay. Ms. Ingrams feedback upon my essay is also worth mentioning
even though I am not using it as an artifact. The feedback gave me a reality check on my goals
and expectations of what I am learning in the University Writing Course. There is no way for me
to know all of topics in writing and I just need to learn the basics for now, but to never allow
myself to stop learning. The key concept I developed most throughout the semester directly
correlates with what I learned from my midterm that is Rhetorical Knowledge. This was
developed by learning what I needed to know for the projects leading up to and following the
midterm.
My final draft of my midterm comes next. My final draft allowed me to go back and
change some of the expectations that I had for myself previously. I learned that there is no way to
have all the knowledge of different types of writing, but I could be more rhetorically aware of
my writing. I feel like this is exactly what happened during the remainder of the semester. I
learned how to really study an authors work with rhetorical analysis. Because of my increased
awareness of my writing, I learned how to convey my messages more clearly than previously and
how to truly be aware of the choices I am making as an author. My midterm also did a wonderful
job at teaching me how to write reflective pieces such as this one.
After the midterm, the class moved on into our inquiry projects. The next piece I am
using is the final draft of my Visual Bibliography. This bibliography is much different than
anything I had done before. I used a prezi to incorporate multiple modes of writing into one

project. My prezi background is a map of the United States because it shows my readers that my
topic is more than a local issue. Adoptions happen all the time from all over the world. I used a
house and a large building to show the differences in my sources and where they are coming
from. This layout also allowed me to incorporate the biased perspectives from the articles into a
visual aspect. My visual bibliography was most important to my learning of the multi-modality
of the class.
From my visual bibliography, I was able to start developing my inquiry question about
the cost of adoption. My wildcard artifact that I am using is the index card from when we talked
with 7 or 8 different people about our inquiry questions and received feedback on what things
they thought we should study. One of the interesting topics someone gave me to research is,
Does adoption cost so much to prove you can afford a child? I talked with several people who
have adopted about this topic and most thought this was an unfair question. The cost of adoption
includes many things, and to say it is to prove financial stability is inappropriate. It was
incredibly helpful to see what questions my peers had about my inquiry project so that I knew
what my audience was curious about.
This inquiry question developed into the beginnings of my multi-genre project. As my
last workers artifact, I am using the outline I made for my multi-genre project video. It includes
the topics that I had originally planned on talking about within my video as well as the questions
I ask the people I was interviewing. This artifact was a key part in making my mini-documentary
for my project. It allowed me to think through and plan what I wanted in my video. The most
important part of this outline was my purpose statement which was, To inform the viewer about
the cost of adoption and where the money is going when you adopt a child both domestically,
and internationally. This question was so important because it really allowed me to decide my

audience, but also who I wanted speaking in my video. This helped with the development and
editing portions of the video as well.
This outline developed into my multi-genre project. My video is the first part of my
project included within my portfolio. The video allowed me to learn about creative ways to
convey messages to intended audiences. The multi-genre project allowed me to think through
what I wanted to say and the best way to share this information with my audience. Because of
this, I chose a video to allow people who would like to adopt a chance to hear from others who
went through the process of adoption as well as learn about the cost of adoption through a video
format. The second part of my project is a handout to accompany the video and highlight and
expand upon the most important parts of the cost of adoption. These two pieces together allowed
me to develop my thoughts into a comprehensive piece of work.
My final artifact included at the end is a wild card. This wildcard is an inquiry paper I
wrote for my introductory business class. This paper was incredibly easy to write because of my
University Writing course. The course taught me how to lay out all my thoughts and what I have
learned into a paper that can be read easily. It allowed me to use all the information I have
learned from the class and create a great essay. I used rhetorical analysis to really understand the
sources I chose and why the authors chose to layout books and websites certain ways. I also used
the personal aspect I learned within the class to really layout my career goals and what I need to
do to get there. I felt like this paper was a wonderful assignment to use as a wild card because it
does incorporate what I have learned in University Writing into other classes.
The only major design element I focused on my e-portfolio is the picture that is at the top
of each page. I took this picture while I was in Moorpark, California. This was the view from

where I was planning on moving to in the summer of 2015. Because of health issues however, I
stayed in North Carolina. I chose this picture because it reminds me that although I am not where
I thought I would be a year ago, I am where I am supposed to be. My works for this course have
went beyond the horizon of what I thought I was capable of and have stretched the limits of
my writing. I thought this picture and the meaning behind it perfectly summed up my view of the
course.
I believe I deserve an A based on the quality of work I have and that I have put it.
Although my project is visually appealing, it has taken an incredible amount of work to get to
this point. I have lost a majority of the work I did due to computer problems, but I am happy with
my outcome. I have learned so much in this course and have really developed my work. I have
put my best into this e-portfolio, and I am very proud of all I have done.