April 28, 2017

Professor Watkins
1118 W Hall Of Fame Ave
Office 115-C
Stillwater, OK 74074

Dear Mrs. Watkins:

I hope you are doing well. My name is Mark Manley, Im a student at NOC/OSU. Im currently
in my second semester with hopes of getting a bachelors in Rangeland Management and minor in
Agribusiness. Im in your MWF 12:30 class, and write you today on behalf of how I have
changed as a writer in the last year in which Ive been in your classes.
First I would like to thank you for your support and involvement in making myself a better writer
throughout my first two semesters. I have definitely grown as a writer, developing my own
characteristics and discovering a great foundation of composition in your two classes. They have
taught me a lot about how to shape and mold an essay or piece of writing. Your classes taught me
the ins and outs of format, paragraph structure, and purpose. The four pieces of writing that I
have chosen clearly show a style and structure of writing develop throughout my time learning
from you. I wanted to share with you how my purpose, structure, word choice, and formatting
has changed as a writer from learning from your class.
My first piece of writing that I chose for this explanation was an essay I wrote in your class titled
Respect. It was an essay of which we were writing about what we believe. I chose a topic of
importance to me that I truly believed. I wrote about how everyone should have respect for each
other, because we never know what one has went through to get to this point in their lives. In this
essay I believe I showed a side of me I usually dont have in my writings. I showed purpose and
word choice that I usually dont use because I typically dont share what I feel on a subject. This
subject was special to me, because growing up I was bullied at a young age affecting the way I
chose to act to one another. My word choice probably wasnt the best throughout the paper, but it
was clear and to the point. It addressed the reader on how I felt about the subject and established
a purpose to connect myself to a subject in anything that write. That was definitely a subject that
I had difficulty with in the past. Connecting myself to a particular subject lead me to better
structure.
I soon after wrote an essay over GMOs and pesticides for the subject of whats on my table.
Being in FFA throughout high school, working on farms growing up, and being in a field that I
plan to pursue my degree in I could definitely relate to this subject. Agriculture is such a big part
in my life as well as others, but some dont tend to see that. Agriculture provides for our ways of
life in America. Our Agriculture in the U.S. alone could sustain and provide food for our entire
world. In the essay I began to work on my structure of my writings. Presenting better paragraph
structure and flow was a struggle throughout this essay for me. It was such a relative subject that
I felt like I could ramble on about it losing my point in my body paragraphs. Another struggle for
me in this essay was sourcing, and how I went about citing those sources throughout my paper. I
picked up a few key things throughout your lectures that provided key insight on how to cite
different sources properly.
The third piece of writing I chose was an assignment for my American National Government. It
was a two page movie review over a movie of our desire. In the review I had to explain how the
movie related to our government in the United States and if it would be good to use in class. The
review resulted in me using word choice I probably would never use and finding a way to
connect the movie to our assignment. I feel as if throughout the year I picked up on different
styles of writing that ultimately changed the way I write. I think as a writer being exposed to new
styles of writing does wonderful things for my own writing. The most important thing this
assignment taught me was how to think more critically when connecting a subject to my writing.
It was a challenge while learning the philosophies of our government and typing that paper at the
same time, but overall it made me learn a lot more trying to figure out exactly how to do it as I
went along.
My fourth piece of writing in my portfolio is our business letter to a decision maker. Until this
week I had never wrote an official business letter. Being that it was my first, there was a lot new
format and structure that I had to learn. I think the first thing that stood out to me about a
business letter was the block format. It was definitely different than your usual MLA format
essay thats for sure. It was interesting introducing a specific reader to why I was writing to
them. I think besides our about me essay that we did in your Comp I class last semester, this was
the first time I had introduced myself in an essay. I wasnt used to the block format at all until
this letter which I learned to pick up on fairly quickly. I think as a whole nothing changed
throughout my paper besides the format and structure. The best thing that the letter taught me as
a writer which I had to do a lot throughout your class was to learn quickly. I havent usually had
problems in the past with picking up new ideas, which is why I think I excelled in your class.
Throughout my portfolio it showed how I changed as a writer. Learning on the fly taught me new
ideas for format, word choice, and purpose of writing to my readers. There is definitely room to
improve which I will try my hardest to achieve throughout my years at this college. I want to
thank you for teaching me to stay on my toes and being open to new ideas. Your class has taught
me a lot about composition in general, but it has also taught me determination and persistence. I
hope that one of your other classes crosses my path again. Thank you again for everything you
have done for me as a writer and a student.
Sincerely,

Mark Manley, Freshman NOC/OSU

324 Kaw
Perry, OK 73077