I chose essay one, two, and three for my portfolio. Essay one was my process essay about changing the oil in a car. I chose this essay because I really feel like this was a great presentation of my style of writing, even though it is about a process. I really enjoyed writing this essay because I geared it more towards a female audience, since many females do not know very much about car maintenance. Since I did that, I was able to include quirky remarks that related the subject to females. I am very proud of the A that I received on this paper, because it was the very first college paper that I turned in. Next I chose my persuasive essay, “Tanning Turned Fatal.” I chose this essay because I think it has a great message for many people, especially girls my age. I liked writing this essay because I am very passionate about it’s subject. I am proud that I was able to contradict common myths about tanning beds and tanning outdoors. Finally, I chose the essay I wrote about the North parking deck. I feel that this was one of the most effective and well thought out essays I have ever written. Since I was personally affected by the lack of security in the North deck, I feel as if I had an excellent argument in writing the essay. I am proud of the fact that I brought the attention of such a problem to many of the students during my interviews.

While writing my papers, I always struggled with the invention writing. I also tended to struggle with my introduction and conclusion paragraphs. For the first essay, I was really afraid that it was too long (nine pages!). After talking to my peers and to you I realized that all of the information was needed. In essay two, I had trouble citing all of my sources. We had not yet had the class about proper MLA citations, so after that class I was able to correctly cite my sources. In essay three, I had many things to clarify before I was ready to submit it to my portfolio. I talked with my RA who is an English major, and she helped me sort everything out. The most difficult part of the writing process had to be simply starting the essay. It was really difficult to gather all of my thoughts and think of a productive way to present my topic. I really enjoyed having a peer review and then meeting with you before I turned in my papers. I feel that really helped me to do well in this class.

As the semester closes, I feel like I am a much stronger writer. In the beginning I did not think I was a strong writer at all, but by learning to complete an essay piece by piece, I have grown into a much stronger writer. I do believe I have met my goals for this class and as a writer. I was not sure how I was going to do in a college composition class, but I have done fairly well, and I am proud of myself for that. I put in many hours of hard work to make my essays the way they were and I am pleased that I was awarded good grades. For my final portfolio, I believe that I deserve an A. I have carefully revised all of my essays, and provided some very strong samples of my writing.