29 April 2019

Mrs. Tamera Davis

Northern Oklahoma College
615 North Monroe St.
Stillwater, OK 74074

Dear Professor Davis,

I have prepared for you a collection of writings that showcase my determination to be a team
leader and my open-mindedness to learn and grow from my short comings. I feel the samples I
have provided reflect on what I am passionate about as well as shows my growth as a writer.
These writing samples are important to my portfolio because they showcase my professionalism
and writing ability while helping to paint a picture for the reader about who I am as a person. As
of right now, I am torn between possible two career paths and I feel that the samples I have
included, help to incorporate both. One of these career paths include becoming a Certified
Public Accountant, while the other beckons me towards becoming an English Major. I feel that
the samples I have chosen, help to incorporate qualities of both.

My letter to Governor Stitt is amongst the first of my writing samples. This letter showcases use
of respectful diction towards a person of authority and my willingness and determination to help
bring about change to something I am passionate about. I chose this to be my first writing
sample, because I feel like it gives off a professional undertone that I would want future
employers to recognize. The part I like most about this letter, would have to be its structure; for
example, all my facts, viewpoints, and the points that I am trying to make, come together in a
fluid-like and structured manner. If there was any area in which I would have made
improvements, it would have been to add more facts from different sources to help strengthen
my letter to Governor Stitt.

My second writing sample includes a blog post that explains why I chose to pursue college in the
first place. It illuminates my goals for the future, while giving insight to my past, which I feel
shows my growth as not only a person, but also as a professional. I chose to include this piece
because it adds highlights to what experience I already have in the two different career paths I
have chosen. I believe that I did a good job in writing this detailed story using only a limited
amount of words. If I were able to have gone back and added a short explanation as to why I
chose not to utilize my accounting certifications until 7 years later.

My “This I Believe” essay marks the third writing sample I have chosen to include. I chose this
essay as it is one of my favorite pieces. It accentuates my ability to produce an effective essay in
a short amount of time. This, I believe not only shows good work ethic and determination, but
also my ability to meet deadlines. While this essay is a bit more personal, this story showcases
my exceptional amount of growth as an individual as well as my ability to learn from my
mistakes. I look back on these memories and use them as a reminder of how far I have come as a
person.

The fourth and final writing sample that I chose to include, is a discussion board post that
explains my choice between altruistic and neighborly viewpoints. In this post, I explain the
reasoning behind why I believe being neighborly is a more logical and practical viewpoint. By
presenting a step-by-step guide on how to become more neighborly, I have added significant
structure to my argument while incidentally giving a visual aid of sorts. This exhibits my critical
and logical thinking ability. The other reason that I chose to include this piece of writing, is
because it allows future employers to get a better feel of my belief system and see what kind of
individual I am. It shows morale and how I feel about the community around me.

Almost a year ago, I started college in the pursuit of my accounting degree. I was to take
English Comp I and II in the same school year and I am not going to lie, I dreaded the thought of
having to take an English course, let alone two of them. To clarify, English was not my strong
subject in high school, so I was far from enthusiastic to say the least. After finishing the first
semester however, I was much more confident in my writing ability and was very surprised to
find myself looking forward to English Comp II. I would have never expected myself to do so
well, let alone finding myself enjoying my coursework in the process. I used to loathe having to
write essays with a passion of a thousand suns, but now I look forward to them; especially if the
writing prompt is something that I am passionate about. These past two courses have taught me
how to add proper structure to an essay which incidentally increased the confidence I had in my
writing ability.

While my writing process still has a few places that it needs to improve upon, I am very happy as
to where they currently sit now. Over the course of this school year, I have learned different
ways on how to brainstorm ideas for an essay. My writing has since become more fluid-like and
better structured and I can start to visibly see the smoothness in my transitioning between
paragraphs. If I were to create a writing toolbox to not only help myself in the future, but to also
benefit others, I would include tips like: “Don’t worry about making it perfect the first time
around, it can always be rewritten and revised. That way, any ramblings that do not contribute
to, or belong in the story can be edited out.” or maybe, "Read as many stories as you can. The
more that you read, the more familiar you will become with different writing styles and how you
can use them to improve upon your own.

Reflecting on my development as a writer, I have turned some of what I feel to be previous

weaknesses, into strengths. For instance, I used to not be very good at transitioning paragraphs,
and now I feel a lot more at ease with it. Another example I would like to include, would be
feeling more confident in structuring my paragraphs, as this was a major weakness that I had
back in high school. One of my biggest strengths as a writer would have to include producing
exceptional writing over anything that I am truly passionate about or believe in whole-heartedly.
When I have been given a writing prompt over something like my rights as a gay man for
example, I feel I do my best writing. My current weakness as a writer, would have to be my
procrastination; however, this is something that I feel that I have since improved majorly upon
since starting college and I believe that in the near future it will have also become a strength the
more I remain productive.

As far as my plans before graduation, I would have to say that I would like to explore more of
my creative writing side. I feel that there is a strong possibility that I could discover another
career path by doing this. I have therefore chosen to take Speech and a higher-level English
course next semester, so that I may continue to improve upon my writing and communication
skills to see where it may take me. I would like to address that I am very proud and satisfied of
the improvement with my writing skills and am very happy that I chose to take both English
Comp classes early on, as I feel that it may well have added a new path for my professional
goals. If I continue to improve upon my writing skills at the rate I have been, I could possibly
see myself applying and possibly even working for the school paper. While this may not be
something that I am currently prepared for, I feel that it may be something for the near future. I
am too early into my schooling to really have any plans for after graduation, so we will have to
see what the next couple of semesters hold to determine a plan. If I do not change majors
however and graduate with my Accounting degree, then I would like to open my own payroll
business. Thank you for taking the time to read my letter and look forward to what the next
semester may hold for me.

Sincerely,

Isaac Julian