Pickelsimer

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Wilson Pickelsimer
Professor Campbell
English 1103
April 21, 2015
Final Reflective Letter
Dear Malcolm,

This semester I have matured as a writer and thinker immensely.

Assignments from they daybook and blog entries to the Extended Inquiry Project
have helped me mature. The first step in this process was the Dear Malcolm Letter.
In this letter, I introduced myself to you and following that you responded with
more about yourself. This showed a step in my improvement in literacy because I
was able to introduce myself to you and to form a relationship with another through
communication.

The daybook entries assigned every class have helped me mature in literacy

through making me communicate what is on my mind and reflect upon various

readings and TED Talks. My favorite entry in my daybook was one of the first
writings assigned. This entry was one of the only entries I could really reflect upon. I
thought back to last summer and to Christmas Eve of around first or second grade.
This allowed me to write down a memory that I had at that time. If I hadnt written it
down then, I dont know if I ever would have in the future. Writing something down
essentially means it will last forever or for however long you want it to.

The blog assignment shared many of the benefits that the daybook entries

provided. The assignments provided various works that I had to reflect upon and

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relate to my life and the rest of the world. The blog helped to develop my literacy
and maturity because there were assignments that I had to keep up with on a
weekly basis and the assignments had me reflect and express my feelings about
various subjects. Also, I posted a few of my photographs. Photography is a topic that
is very interesting to me and I wanted to share my progression in that subject as
well. The blog helped me to communicate my thoughts and passions to anybody
who views The Pickel Jar.

The literacy narrative was more of a reflection of how far I have come in

literacy than an assignment that enhanced my literacy. I reflected upon one of my

trips to Spain when I swam in a fountain resulting in an encounter with the police. I
was able to communicate with the policemen in Spanish to explain to them what
happened and to understand what they said in response. This experience
highlighted how important literacy in other languages is to me. I have been inspired
since then to learn even more languages. I am currently taking German with a goal
to study in Germany and possibly find an internship there. Literacy in German will
be very important to me then.

The topic proposal assignment went well overall. I knew immediately what I

wanted my topic to be, but finding reliable sources was another story. This
assignment allowed me to learn how to research a topic to know how many sources
and viewpoints there are behind it. This assignment assured me that I am becoming
more and more literate with every assignment. I thought this assignment was easier
than I expected because I found most of what I was looking for within one day of
research.

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The annotated bibliography was much more difficult than I expected. I

expected the research process to be quite easy and I did not think the description
part would be so hard. I found the sources quite easily, but explaining why they are
reliable and what exactly was useful in them was quite a struggle. The hardest part
for me was stating if I was going to use the source in my paper or not. This is still a
struggle for me now because I discovered this difficulty midway through the
semester and I have not had another assignment where I could improve on that
skill. When writing a paper, I tend to switch the formatting and content in the
writing process. I ended up not using two of the sources I chose. I would consider
this assignment one of the most helpful to the development of my literacy because it
helped me discover who I am as a writer.

The first EIP draft was also quite a difficult task for me. It was extremely time

consuming and the hardest part was expanding upon the information my sources
provided. I was able to transfer the information provided by the sources quite
easily, but I struggled inserting quotes and introducing experts. I had plenty of
information on the benefits and drawbacks of coffee on the body, but not enough on
its benefits and drawbacks to society. I expressed my knowledge of the subject in
every area of the paper that I could, but that was not nearly enough. My first draft
seemed to be more of a list of facts than an essay due to my lack of personal input.
This project showed me some of the areas that I could improve my literacy in.

The final EIP draft was a bit easier than the first draft. I believe it is my most

important work as well. I expanded each paragraph with more of my personal

thoughts and explanations of the quotes. I explained why the quotes were important

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and how that connected to a benefit or drawback. I had already written down the
majority of the information I needed, but I expanded mainly upon the benefits and
drawbacks coffee has to society. I fixed the grammatical errors and introduced more
experts. I struggled a bit making the page requirement, but I eventually achieved
that. This paper is the most important to me because it covers a subject that I am
passionate about and it was the assignment I found most enduring and felt most
achieved after I completed it. It connects to my goals as a writer and student
because I was able to express one of my passions through an academic assignment. I
feel my best work as a student is produced when I am passionate about the subject. I
was able to express my literacy in English and also my literacy in the field of coffee
with this paper.

The eportfolio was another extremely time consuming process. I did become

literate in the field of website development in the process, but it took many weeks to
complete. Despite the time it took, I enjoyed the process because creating a portfolio
is a skill I will need in the future as well and I am glad I had the chance to develop
those skills now. I enjoyed choosing the theme and trying to make it resemble a caf.
There was a little bit of a learning curve with creating pages, but I soon figured out
how to create sub-pages and add cool features.

English 1103 has taught me many things. I have learned how to create and

maintain a blog and a personal daybook. I have learned how to express my literacy
in a literacy narrative. I have learned how to write an annotated bibliography and
how to propose a topic. I learned how hard it is to research and write an extended
inquiry project. I became more knowledgeable in the field of coffee and now know

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the benefits and drawbacks of my favorite drink. I have learned how to create an
eportfolio and how to compile this semester into an analogy for coffee. After this
semester, I am like a latte. I am bold (as a writer) and am a combination of all the
ingredients (assignments) that I have prepared for you this semester.