Adam Foulke

6137 N Willis St
Stillwater, OK
(405) 338-8291
adam1foulke@gmail.com

April 30, 2017

Professor Diana Watkins

1118 W Hall of Fame Ave
Stillwater, OK 74075 Apt 115-C
405.744.2215
diana.watkins@noc.edu

Dear Professor Watkins,

Each of the writings submitted to the portfolio are selected on the basis of my writings in my
academic career. These past two years have given me many different opportunities to write, and
to write in many different styles. These writing styles include bibliographic, apologetic, critique,
and an argument. These showcase my broad array of writing skills.

The first of my writings is A Summer Spent in Nature, a writing piece that showcases a
bibliographic, and a narrative, writing style. In this essay, I show talk about how I spent a few of
my summers out in the outdoors, while also explaining the good that being out in nature does for
you. This essay is a narrative, with levels of persuasion in it for flavor. The persuasions were for
the benefits of what outdoor life offers to one. In the second of my writings I submitted an
apologetic piece that defended the use of GMOs in our food. This was a topic that I enjoyed
defending, so the piece is obviously biased, even if I tried to remain neutral and present the facts
as best as I could.

In the second to last writing, I submitted one of a critique style, decrying the use of untruths in a
movie that is based off of true events. This was a true critique in how the movie misrepresented
how events happened, as opposed to how history portrays the events. This was longer paper, and
showcases my ability with a paper of a more difficult nature.

For my last writing, I have showcased a paper in the APA writing style, a writing style that
requires a cover page, as well as many other minute changes, in comparison to MLA. This paper
was a persuasion style, an attempt to sell the position of the subject matter to the audience. This
is the last of the four writing styles I chose to showcase.
In my house, I was homeschooled, and thus, learned to read at an early age, I have developed a
love for books, and wish I had more time for reading. On the other hand, in regards to writing, it
is not one that I love, even if college is a place for a lot of writing. I believe that my recent
practice in writing has developed in me a better understanding of the subject matter, even if I still
do not enjoy the experience. Even though I do not enjoy writing, my vast amount of books read,
as well as a large amount of practice in writing, has led to a broad vocabulary, and a knowledge
into how an essay should be written.

In the course of my writing career, my method for writing has changed, at first I used a more
formal writing style, one with an outline, clearly defining how I was to set up my essay. Now
though, my writing is more fluid, depending on the type of essay I need to write. For most of my
essays, I usually write out my thesis, and build my essay around the thesis. This and writing out
what is needed for the project is my technique. What I have been taught by my many teachers in
the art of writing has lead me to develop a writing technique that is a composite of many styles.

For now, the biggest hurdle that I need to overcome, is my general apathy toward writing, at least
for my duration in college. As my degree is one in computer security, I expect that I will need to
do much more writing in the future. Hopefully in the future, I can grow to be more accepting of
writing, at least to point that I can indeed be able to write a more heartfelt essay. This in no way
should excuse a shoddy essay today, but indicates I have a ways to go before I learn how to enjoy
writing,

In the end, my writing is one of a kind, it one that is varied, and has a breadth to cover whatever
is needed of me. I have many different styles of writing, even if not all of them are a correct way
to write in every scenario. What my writing examples show, is that I am able to produce a wide
variety of essays, from critique, apologetic, persuasive, or even a narrative style, I can fulfill any
need for writing in any way that is needed.