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Joann Chavis
Cris Longhurst
English 1010
25 November 2015
ePortfolio Reflective Cover Letter
This English 1010 class was nothing like I expected it to be. Prior to taking this class, I
felt like I had a general sense of everything that I needed to know about writing papers.
However, this class has made me realize that there is so much more to writing a paper than just
simply researching what you need to help write your response. This semester, I have learned so
much about writing a quality paper that I had never learned before. I was not only taught certain
writing styles and tools that helped expand my knowledge of writing., but I was also taught how
to use it clearly in order to communicate my ideas effectively.
Some of the techniques and skills that I have learned include incorporating different
rhetorical strategies, how to create a good thesis, as well as locating and analyzing the usefulness
and credibility of sources that obtained from different mediums. The assignment that really
helped me understand the different types of rhetorical strategies was assignment #3 titled
Questions for analyzing your rhetorical situation. In this assignment, we filled out the
questions that were provide in our English book to help us understand the rhetorical situation for
the writer, reader, text, and medium. Secondly, the assignment that helped me understand how to
write a working thesis was assignment #4 titled Establishing a Working Thesis. Before taking
this class, I knew that I needed to find a better way to establish my thesis. This assignment did

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just that. We were asked a series of questions that would help us determine the focus and goals of
our paper making us understand why the thesis is so important when writing a paper. Lastly,
assignment #5, Citation for Source, taught us how to correctly cite a source in order to avoid
plagiarism. The assignment not only taught me how to analyze my sources but also helped me
figure out that sources are the best and most credible. In fact, I feel like this assignment was so
important that I decided to make it my signature assignment.
The signature assignment that I chose to share is my Annotated Bibliography. I choose
this as my signature assignment because this is something that I will be using in all my future
classes that will require me to research a topic and write a paper. Knowing how to correctly write
an annotated bibliography will make sure that all my future sources will not only be given credit
but are reliable, and current. The annotated bibliography also highlights the importance of
credibility. Credibility is important when it comes to Select the best sources possible. As a result,
I will become a better student and writer for my future classes.
Overall, my English 1010 class will tremendously help me become a better student for all
my future classes because this class has helped me improve my writing skills as well as my
research skills due to the fact that most SLCC class require students to write a paper or report.
Before writing a paper a student must first be able to research the topic well. This class taught me
what sources I should use as well as analyzing the sources author, and credentials in hopes of
writing the best paper possible. Moreover, this class has taught me to work well with others as
we has worked in groups to give feedback on other papers. Most importantly, in this class we
wrote many papers including a research proposal, summaries, annotated bibliography, rhetorical
analysis, argumentative paper and many more. Having experience in all these papers not only
builds my confidence as a student but helps me be able to write stronger college level papers.

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In conclusion, this class has taught me to become a universal writer by giving me plenty
of hands-on experience on different papers. These strategies are immensely important for my
education and I consider myself lucky to of had taken this class with Crist Longhurst. Everything
I have learned in this class, I will be using to continue my education at SLCC in hopes of
becoming a Physical Therapists Assistant.