Ferguson 1

Clayton Ferguson
D. Watkins
TR 10:30
23 April 2015
Portfolio Introduction
The saying, practice makes perfect, is an accurate assessment of not only my life in
general, but also in my progressive stages of writing. Writing college level essays can be a bit
challenging for some, especially those like me who have a difficult time explaining a thought or
an issue well. There is where practice comes into play. The more writings I have accomplished,
the smoother and more efficient I become as a writer.
My first lesson in serious, comprehensive writings began with strong high school English
teachers, who left a strong influence in the area of grammar. The grammar skills I learned early
on continue throughout college and progressively get better with each new professor I have. Its
almost comparable to the building blocks to a pyramid. With each new step I take, I
progressively move up the chain until I reach my writing goals.
The first college level composition course I have completed was English Comp I, the fall
semester of my freshman year. It was a relatively enjoying experience as my class had almost all
like interests, and also had corresponding majors, which enabled us to make several new friends.
Our first few essays proved to be quite challenging to the entire class. Our professor wanted to
test our writing abilities from high school, and soon found the majority of us needed to improve
our skills. We all received an F letter grade for our first essay, but we learned the method in
which our professor wanted us to write our papers quite easily. Her method was used as a guide

Ferguson 2
not only for the rest of semester, but also for all my classes, which required writings. I attribute
the quality of most of my better college writings to the methods I learned in Comp I.
At the end of my current semester in English Comp II, I finally have reached the majority
of my goals as a writer. My professor was able to pinpoint most of my continuous mistakes I
habitually make, and showed me ways to improve them. With the extra guidance, I now have
stronger papers than ever before along with improving grades which reflect upon my success.
The trial and error writings of my Composition classes greatly impact my grades on
papers wrote for other classes as well. Since some classes require essays, but are more lenient on
the requirements, my grades are pleasing. In my agricultural based classes, my papers tend to be
vast improvements over my Composition papers as I generally have a greater knowledge of the
material presented in the essay. I am able to accurately portray research and information in a
clear, understandable manner.
Overall, my greatest joy as a writer is being able to reach my goals one step at a time, and
more importantly, broaden my education and intelligence. In my opinion, being able to write
accurately and fluently is very important to the overall success of everyone in society. It clearly
expresses ones opinions and intelligence while also sounding both educated, and competent.
Having a thorough education in the field of writing, will forever impact my life and will almost
certainly ensure success in my life.