Natalie Aparicio

English 115
Portfolio 2014
Professor Kubler

Im Natalie. Im 18 years old. Im a cancer

My favorite color is burgundy. Im the oldest of 3.
I am majoring in Business: Management. I love
music; going to concerts is one of my favorite
things to do besides shopping and spending time
with my loved ones.

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Writing Development

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I have some weaknesses which consist of

not giving enough evidence or examples
to support my claims; when I do, I sometimes use wrong quotes that dont support the claim I have just stated. I also
have a hard time memorizing what way
youre supposed to cite titles. I put quotations around the wrong titles and so
on. I need to elaborate my claims. Sometimes Im all over the place with my
thoughts. I need to be more clear on
what ever it is Im talking about.
Despite my weaknesses, I also have
strengths in my writing. I dont make
any grammatical errors. I have good
intentions upon the claims I think of. I
can come up with anecdotes and sources
quite often. I enjoy writing.

Over the semester, I believe that I have improved my

writing skills. I learned how to cite properly. I was introduced to a quote sandwich which is the proper way to
introduce a quote and support is afterwards. My mind
started thinking outside the box while being a part of
this class. We covered interesting topics which made
writing essays easier. I am able to write summaries so
much quicker. Before this class, I believed that writing
back-to-back summaries and essays was a hassle, but it
turned out to be a fun challenge.

The most important thing I learned

this semester is knowing how to properly
structure an essay and not repeat the same
thing over and over. I learned how to get
straight to the point of topics. I learned to
write essays easily even when theyre topics
that dont interest me.

Progression 1

In this essay I wrote about the conflicts that come

along with religion in our society today. We see
all types of things dealing with religion.
Conservatives have their own decisions on
certain topics, but once they start interfering with
ones rights is when I start to believe they dont
understand what they are doing to others.
Business owners should leave their religion out of
their business because it interferes with the flow
of their business. Not allowing a same-sex couple
to receive service just because they are gay is
discrimination. There are other situations that
deal with religion. There are certain rules to
abide by in certain cultures. In the graphic novel,
Persepolis, we see a girl, Marji, go through the
challenges religion offers her and her family. I
chose to write this essay because I, for one,
believe that religion should only be used in a
positive way, not negative.

In this essay, I wrote about what the world is

coming to with all of this expression of a
hyper-sexualized society. Young, innocent
children are being exposed and are growing
up, watching their television sets, seeing that
it is normal to show so much skin and seeing
couples being abusive to each other. The
question that I raise is if morality even exists
anymore. We have all of these celebrities that
children are watching and idolizing which certainly arent role model material. Our society
praises the wrong messages. I chose to write
about this because I believe this is true. Its
happening in my very own living room with
my younger sisters. I dont want anyones
younger siblings thinking its ok to act like Miley Cyrus or Nicki Minaj. We need to change
todays definition of normal.

Progression 2