Portfolio Essay My e-Portfolio is organized in layers to make it easier to navigate.

The Portfolio Essay is required as an introduction to the rest of my work so it is my home page. It is like my executive summary for the whole e-Portfolio. Under the English 1102-051 tab at the top right, I have a list of five pages that include all required evidence named in the Final e-Portfolio & Portfolio Essay Assignment handout. The five tabs list the major required works in the order they were completed: WILTBY, Annotated Bibliography, and the Argumentative Research Essay. The next pages include the weekly assignments under tabs named Blog and Self-Selections. The Self-Selections are organized further into five categories: Midterm, Process Work for my WILTBY and Argumentative Research Essay, Daily Entries, Responses, and Artifacts. The pieces I chose for this section are only ones that relate directly back to the development of required works. This was done to keep the conglomeration of works that comprise my e-Portfolio consistent and themed. Throughout the course of the semester, my writing has improved in dynamic ways. As a senior, the developments in my writing may be unique in contrast to what the first-year students in this class may have experienced. In my business classes, I have been required to write mostly case studies and summaries. I would usually read through a case and go straight in to writing the paper. In this class, almost all of our writing required me to rearrange my thought process to focus more on my step by step inquiries then begin attempting to answer those inquires. Each answer would lead to even more inquiry questions that challenged my answer

to the first inquiry question. I improved the content of my writing by slowing my process down this way. I really had to pay attention to specific questions I was asking instead of jumping straight to conclusive answers as I would when I read a case study. One of the challenges I faced was writing about what I think as opposed to analyzing what someone else thinks and describing that while still referencing my source for that thought. I actually had to form an opinion rather than just informative interpretation. When writing a case study, the only times my opinion had a very active voice had to be in some separate section as a recommendation. A lot of the work we did involved topics that were a lot different than what I have grown accustomed to writing about the past two years in my core classes. I am used to writing about business concepts, financial analytics, market audits of whole industries, economics, and integrated marketing strategies. To talk about health and wellness in an academic setting was a tough switch up, but a refreshing one at the same time. The class and individual writing exercises we did in English 1102-051 challenged me to use intellectual creativity abstract from what I write for marketing classes. Taking this class and completing those assignments have made me a better writer and helped me remember the fundamentals of a great piece of writing. In this class, we exercised our writing skills across a variety of mediums. The blog helped me organize my assignments and engage with my classmates. I liked the assignment where we were actually required to choose three other portfolios and critique a blog post. Reading what other students were writing about for the same assignments offered ideas that I didnt think of first. For example, reading both Kim

and Edsons WILTBYs opened my mind to consider writing with a more personable voice. Their work engaged me as a reader because it was fun, conversational, but informative while still fulfilling the assignment requirements. I realized when writing about something personal it is sometimes better to have a conversational voice like a narrator because it gives your paper personality. That is a challenge for me because Im not used to writing like that. I tried to incorporate a more personable voice into my blog posts to make my writing engaging like Edsons and Kims. Peer reviewing the drafts and blog posts of others forced me to pay close attention to assignment requirements in order to offer a good critique. Familiarizing myself with the instructions for assignments only made me think harder about those things when I was writing or revising my own work. Blogging also served as a convenient channel to share my personal experiences, thoughts, and related subject matter with my classmates using a variety of media such as quotes, pictures, videos, and of course the blog posts. For example, our class theme is health & wellness so I posted a YouTube clip from one of my favorite documentaries, Forks Over Knives. It discusses the importance of healthy eating, offers an explanation for the obesity epidemic in America, and science behind it all. I thought this documentary could possibly lead to good inquiry questions. I also included a clip I found on our local news website of David Seigel, author of the book our class was reading, Peace, Butter, & Jelly, making his famous chocolate cake he told us about on his class visit. Free-writing was another tool we used to help us broaden our approach to writing. The free-writing exercise allowed my thoughts to flow without interruption.

I often find myself taking Facebook or emailing breaks when I sit down to type a paper. This was a useful technique in completing one thought start to finish without outside influence or distraction that comes from looking up outside resources or using electronics. The essays we wrote in this class required more structure and revision than I am used to when writing academically in other classes. I had to write very conscientiously to ensure I met the very specific criteria for each assignment. This refined my drafting skills and helped me focus the purpose behind what I was writing instead of getting off track or too wrapped up in one thought. Its been a long time since Ive written an argumentative research paper and even longer since Ive written one about a topic I am genuinely interested in. The class warm-ups, conferences, and supplementary instructional handouts and guides posted on moodle helped me monitor my performance as an effective writer/argumentative researcher. One of the challenges I faced writing my argumentative essay about iridology was specifically identifying my audience. I didnt even realize that was a problem until my second group conference with Miss Ingram where I received critical feedback on my essay. That is why I have included the draft she reviewed in our conference as a part of my portfolio. Another challenge was informing my that audience about my topic, iridology, without losing my argument. Iridology is not something that most people know about so I needed to make sure my audience knew what it was so they could even begin to form an opinion about it. It was difficult to explain exactly an entire medical

science plus make an argument for it without writing a book. I solved this problem by including an appendix. Appendix I explains vocabulary terms that my audience may not be familiar with. Appendix II is an iridology chart to visually depict what I discuss in my essay about each part of the body being linked to the eyes. Appendix III visually depicts what I explain about the differences between left brain and right brain. I also included a list of recommended books in case my reader is not convinced yet by my argument or would simply like to learn more about the topic. The most challenging assignment in this class for me would have to be the What its like to be me essay. It totally blew my mind when I tried to sit down and write an entire essay about myself and couldnt do it. I drew a blank. I thought this one wouldnt be that bad because, hey, no one knows this topic better than I do and I dont even have to do any research! I was wrong. The problem was that I didnt know what I wanted to say about myself. That is the hardest thing for me when I write, figuring out what it is I even want to say. So, I thought about the assignment for a long time and decided I would get creative with it. I had recently written a long email reaching out to my global marketing professor sharing with her a little about myself and what was going on in my life at the time. I wrote about what it was like to be me. So, that started out as my essay! Here are a few lines from that letter: I've always wanted to do operational marketing and communications with an international philanthropic organizationI spent the holidays with my boyfriend, Dallas, and his family. While we were out gift shopping for the family we looked at rings and discussed our future more seriouslyWe are both graduating in May and I know Dallas wants nothing more than to move back to his hometown to be with his family in the rural mountains of Western NC... I know that I want a family and a home like Dallas has in WNC but I want a career in philanthropy too .

I even included the last line of my email to my professor that reads: p.s. Did your dad like the Chinese treats? I hope you had a lovely visit together! My brotherin-law is Chinese and brought back a bunch of Chinese candy that I shared with my professor. I felt that, even if my reader did not necessarily make that perfect connection to this specific detail of my life, this line at lease conveyed that I am very close to this teacher to be bringing her thoughtful gifts and also that I am interested in other cultures. I felt presenting a real-life artifact as evidence of what it is like to be was genuine, unrehearsed, and totally original but still the paper as a whole needed more work. It was inconclusive. So, I thought about writing the I am from poem to offer a little more background about myself with a creative touch. That just wa snt coming to me so I moved on to something different. I included some pictures of Dallas and I along with one of my favorite songs. The lyrics of that song depict what I really wanted for my future in contrast to what I said I wanted when I wrote my professor that email. So what are we doin' on the 7th floor Of a high rise apartment prayin' for more We could be livin' out where the river bends Where the grass gets green and the highway ends Livin' easy, livin' easy Where it's you and me baby and the daffodils Kids growing up in the rolling hills And love will be enough for us Miss Ingram reviewed my WILTBY after I added these elements and said I still needed to push it further. I agreed, but wasnt sure how to conclude my essay because the story I started hadnt been concluded yet. That answer came to me as I

continued to grow not only as a writer, but also as a person. The next section of my essay is a prayer. The prayer is written as a conversation between God and me to better depict my thought process and growth as a person. This is an excerpt that directly refers back to my first section, the email: Dear Heavenly Father In a letter to a professor who has been mentoring me, I told her, I've always wanted to do operational marketing and communications with an international philanthropic organization. What a lie. Who was I trying to impress with that one, because it wasnt you, God. (I am the mighty counselor. I am the only one who can judge you and discern what is best. I created all that is. I know the path you should choose. All you had to do was ask.) That was never my dream. Ive coveted the great works youve done through others and called it ambition. I changed my major five times between four totally different departmentsart, biology, psychology, finance/accounting, then finally marketing. I have interests, but I have never known what I wanted to do with my life and still dont. All Ive known is that I wanted to graduate from college so I can get a decent job that that pays the bills and I dont hate. To help you better understand where this comes from, Ill fill you in on a little background. Over Spring Break I had a serious meltdown. All my stress and anxieties, frustrations and worries, finally realized themselves in various forms of turmoil and I broke. I wont go into detail about every thing but long story short I hit my knees. I had to write about it. I had to finish the story I began when I shared that email because who I am today is totally different than who I was 3 months ago and that is what its like to be me. Now my assignment was a letter, pictures, a song, and a prayer. I needed an essay. I finally wrapped all these special pieces together in a short summary about what its like to be me now. That is why the first parts are

titled What its like to be me then and the conclusive essay is titled What its like to be me now The revisions made to numerous drafts of assignments throughout the course of the semester helped me develop my writing into polished works that I am most satisfied with. My revisions were made following course guidelines and considering peer reviews of my classmates, which I have included in my portfolio. Having someone else interpret your writing is helpful because you may miss something in translation to your audience that made sense if you only wring to yourself. Reading my writing outloud from a hard copy helps me identify mistakes that I might of missed silently reading an electronic version. I catch something every time I print a draft no matter how many times I read it on my computer screen. Miss Ingrams feedback offered even more insight than what I received in class swaps and peer reviews in my group. She made a lot of thoughtful suggestions that improved my drafts. She encouraged me to push my WILTBY and research paper even further and without her input I dont believe the content of either of these pieces especially would be as full-circle as I feel they are now. The trajectory of my thinking has changed through my writing in this class over the course of the semester. It was a challenge to keep up with daily assignments since in my classes for the past two years I have never had something due pretty much every single class like I did in English 1102; my core classes have been lectures with only a few major due dates for a handful of highly weighted assignments. Having to stay on top of my work each week may have been a tough transition but it was good for me. Required drafts, quizzes and blog posts may have

seemed tedious at the time but doing these things made sure I didnt skip steps and forced me to engage making my writing better and making sure I knew the material we were supposed to be learning. This has improved my critical thinking and inquiry skills so that my writing is as rich in content as it should be. I believe my portfolio is successfully completed to the best of my ability because of my active engagement in this class and eagerness to learn how my writing could be better. My e-Portfolio looks nice and is easy to navigate. All the work required is included and arranged intentionally. Overall, I am confident that my portfolio is some where between exemplary and above average.