The Final Reflective Letter

Dear Professor Douglas,

For starters, I can definitely say this e-portfolio has given me a run for my
money. At the beginning of the semester, I was mediocre with my writing. I didnt
go into much detail, I was vague in some areas and my writing sometimes just
did not make any sense. This all began to change when I received my first
journal grade, which was an 8/10. I remember include more specific details was
written at the top of my paper. It was an eye opener for me.
At the beginning of the semester there was a lot of reading and analyzing
articles. This helped me to learn how to break down the text and fully understand
it. Thus leading us to our first paper, the rhetorical analysis. During the process of
doing our rhetorical analysis, we had peer critiques. After I received my critique
back, it was stated that I had a lot of confusion on my thesis statement. To be
completely honest, I was confused on how to approach my rhetorical analysis
and I did not do my best on it. After receiving my grade on the analysis, I decided
to revise it. I took out all of the personal pronouns, corrected my formatting and I
became more concise in my thesis statement. I included this in my critical
thinking page because I wanted to show how I have progressed as a writer. I
wanted to show how I overcame that obstacle and took the time to better my
writing.
Another piece of writing that I had a challenge with is the writing blogs.
They took a great amount of time. Once again, I had trouble with formatting the
citations and I did not include scholarly articles in any of my post. One thing I did

advance in was going into detail and providing specific examples from the text. I
explained the details in my articles as if I was speaking to someone who did not
know anything about my line of inquiry. Breaking it down to the core. To fix my
blogs, I added a couple more blogs that derived from scholarly articles. I also
went back and corrected the format of the citations.
For the critical thinking page of my e-portfolio, I included my proposal, my
revised rhetorical analysis, and three entries from my journal. I organized the
work on this paper with my proposal first, then my rhetorical analysis, following
up with my three journal entries. I ordered them descending in dates. I decided to
incorporate my proposal into my critical thinking page because it is a great
example of how I began to grow as a writer. I am not a very creative person, so
when the proposal was assigned and we had to figure out our format on our own,
I was frightened. I am so used to having a structure to follow that I choked up at
first. But with great time of thinking and researching, I came up with the finished
product that is showcased in the e-portfolio. I also included this piece to show
where I started with my line of inquiry and how it has evolved into the final line of
inquiry on Mandatory reporting laws and if they should be enacted in all fifty
states.
For the three journal entries, I chose to showcase my rhetorical response,
an analysis on an article we were assigned, and the draft for my proposal on my
line of inquiry. I chose to showcase the rhetorical response journal entry because
I believed it showed my growth in my critical thinking skills. I used specific
examples from the video that was showed in class. I even tried something new

and began to break down certain things the reader might not have known. On my
second journal entry, I decided to use my analysis on an article about rhetorical
analysis and how to do them properly. I included this piece to exemplify that I
knew what the purpose was for a rhetorical analysis, and how to do it. I also
included this entry because it was correlated with my rhetorical analysis. My
analysis about rhetorical analysiss showed growth in my comparing and thinking
skills. I knew how to do the assignment, but the way I was trying to approach my
line of inquiry confused me. Ironic dont you think? My last journal entry was the
rough draft of my proposal for my line of inquiry. I wanted this entry to show
where I first started and my thinking process about the line of inquiry. It was a
good start, even though my original topic was too broad. I chose this entry
because it is one of the multiple steps I had to take on creating my proposal and
other projects as well. Incorporating ideas to the reader in the draft helped me
greatly in my final drafting process.
In the multi-genre tab, you will notice a good amount of creativity
showcased that is not normal from me. I worked extremely hard on this part of
the project and I feel as if it is the best part of the project. This was fairly difficult
to complete though. I had a hard time trying to tie the genres together. After a lot
of hard work, it finally came together. I decided to make a storyline for my line of
inquiry. I started out with a dear diary entry, which included characters that were
in a bit of a challenge because of the mandatory reporting law. Then I created a
wanted poster for the culprit in the story of the diary entry. Following with a
picture, to provide some clarity on which professions are named as mandated

reporters in the story. After that, I created a police report, for the culprit of the
diary entry. Then ending with a critical analysis on my line of inquiry. The dear
reader letter is at the top of the page following with the reflection paper at the end
of my page.
While working on this final project, it came to my attention that my growth
in critical thinking, analyzing, and comparing/contrasting subjects. I did also
notice that I still have some weaknesses with grammar, getting a little better with
this semester coming to an end. As a writer, I have faced multiple challenges
through out this course. Due to my busy scheduled, my grades suffered at times
because I lacked to put the effort in. As shown in my blogs and my proposal, it is
prevalent that I have a better grasp on vocabulary, analyzing, critiquing, and use
of specific examples. Learning how to connect to the text was one of the most
important things that I have learned throughout the course. I did not expect the
course to be as challenging as it was. It seemed very easy at the beginning,
which made me start to take it lightly. This class has greatly helped with my motor
skills, how to talk in front of people, and how to take a broader view on things. I
learned how to do these things from presenting my proposal, and working on
projects like the multi genre project.
In conclusion, as a writer I have quite a few advances, but this does not
mean I am done progressing. I still have to work on being more concise and
being clearer as a writer. With the substantial revisions I have made on this
project, I hope to get the grade I truly worked hard for. This course was not easy,
but I am glad I took it. I have reached goals that I have never thought I would

reach, such as being able to write 5-paged papers with ease and/or becoming a
better researcher. Opening my eyes to various ways of thinking will surely help
me once I reach the real world. My trajectory of thinking has surely changed,
being broader and more creative. All of the aspects I have possessed from this
course, I surely will take with me to my future courses.