Portfolio: Reflective Letter

When I first walked into Writing 101, I didn’t know what to expect. I knew that it would be more difficult than any other writing class I had previously taken. Like any normal person, I have strengths and weaknesses when it comes to writing but I’ve always been able to overcome the weaknesses. In Writing 101 however, it seemed like all my weaknesses were being amplified and my strengths weren’t really that strong anymore. In my portfolio is the first and second essay I wrote in Writing 101. These essays show what my strengths and weaknesses are, how my writing has grown between the essays, and what I still need to improve on.

Although my first essay is the weakest one that I wrote this year, I also feel that it showed what some of my strengths are. The first essay is about Bacon’s Rebellion. I feel that this essay shows one of my greatest strengths: attention to information and detail. I like to focus on everything when I write to make sure that I don’t miss anything. I’ve always felt that it’s more important to include everything than to only include the bare minimum. This is one of my weaknesses. I included too much background information about the events leading up to Bacon’s Rebellion. This caused the majority of my essay to be about that, not the topic I was trying to focus on. Another one of my weaknesses in the first essay was the hook because it didn’t capture the reader’s attention. It wasn’t interesting enough for the reader to want to keep reading. I had many problems with this essay. The first time that I turned it in, I didn’t pass. After I revised it and turned it in again I got a C-, which to me is a great improvement. I wanted all the problems that I had in the first essay, I wanted to fix when I wrote my second essay. I didn’t want my weaknesses to be evident and I wanted my strengths to shine.

The second essay that I wrote this quarter was the strongest essay that I wrote all quarter. I wanted to fix all the problems that I had in my Bacon’s Rebellion essay so that they wouldn’t be problems in this essay. The second essay was about Patriots vs. Loyalists in the1700’s. In the first essay my background information was too long and much of the information was unnecessary or unrelated to my topic. In the second essay I was able to cut down the information to what was most essential, as a result the paper was much more clear and concise. The hook of my Bacon’s Rebellion essay was boring, uninteresting, and wasn’t memorable. In the second essay the hook was amazing and immediately captured the reader’s attention. A common weakness in both essays was my transition sentences. I try to transition as smoothly as I can to the next paragraph but I can never do it well enough or clearly enough so that the reader knows that’s what it’s there for. I got a B- on this essay. That’s up a full letter grade from the first essay. Although I wasn’t entirely satisfied with the grade I received I know that it is much stronger than the first essay could ever be.

I still have weaknesses and bad habits that I need to work on, and am working on. My major problems with writing are transitioning and the length of my papers. I’ve always had this problem but every time I write, I work hard to improve this. I know that it won't be perfect after one day, but I always hope that it'll be better. My transitions were awful in my Bacon's Rebellion essay but they improved a great deal in my Patriots vs. Loyalists essay. The length of my first essay was also double what it should've been but in my second essay the length was exactly what it was supposed to be. As you will see in my portfolio these two weaknesses have drastically improved from the first essay to the second.

Although I know there is still much to improve on so that I can become a better writer, I’m happy with how I write. It’s good but I know that it has the potential to be great. My strengths are the ones that are essential to being a good writer and my weaknesses are things that can be worked on over a long period of time. Writing 101 has made me a better writer. The lessons I have learned here I will take and use the rest of my life.