Thompson 1 Alexandra Thompson Luann Henken ENC 1102 30 November 2010 Self-Assessment The average college student takes

ENC 1102 for one reason and one reason only. It is a required course. If they were like me they figured that they would take the course, have only a few simple papers to turn in, complete their Gordon Rule requirement, and all in all breeze through with an A. Well, from my experience I can testify that this is not the case. ENC 1102 is a course that strengthens a students writing skills and helps them become a more persuasive and effective writer. Over the length of the semester each student undergoes a journey in which they develop their writing persona. By the end of the course each student can consider themselves as an aware writer. Through my personal experience in the course I can see an improvement in my revision process. Once I receive feedback I effectively reevaluate what I am trying to say, how it should be said, and what is the appropriate approach to writing my message. I have also improved in effectively removing ineffective information. Another writing technique that I have improved is keeping my audience out of mind but not complete ignoring them. Previously, I would be concerned about how my professors would grade, or what they were even looking for. Professor Henken chose to give us very genetic descriptions which allowed us to take our writing in any direction we saw fit. This at first glance seemed to be a disposition for me but looking back, it was actually advantage that helped each student, especially myself, develop as an effective writer.

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Do not be mistaken! There is still and will always be room for improvement. As Novelist William Styron stated, Lets face it; writing is hell. Thus, it is only natural to have flaws as a writer. One writing technique that I still struggle with is properly MLA formatting my works cited page. I must have missed the week in all of my previous courses where we went over how to perform this task because I am completely illiterate when it came to this task. I could also improve in finding my authentic voice. I find myself so occupied with using all of my information that I become a droid spitting out information that is irrelevant to my message. However, though these are still problems that I face I am confident in the piece I selected for my portfolio. My first three pieces are of course my Core Assignments. My rhetorical analysis was the piece I had the most trouble with and wish I didnt have to include the most. After I revised it I did see an improvement in my writing process and organization. The commentary essay is the one I thought would be the simplest. I was proven wrong by my professor because I had not been able to focus on a main message. I hope you see the change in my last revision. Last, my proposal for a solution essay is the one I am the most excited about. I believe that I selected the perfect audience and median and because of my choices you will be able to see my improvement as a writer. All three of those writings were selected of course because they were required. The next three essays that I selected were my I believe statement (Please note that you have my original) and two of my favorite peer prompts. I selected my I believe statement because it was a piece that I received a good grade on and it was one of the assigned writings that I got to write from the heart. The two peer prompts that I selected were peer prompts number two and seven. I chose these two for my portfolio because they were the most fun to write and I received tens on

Thompson 3 each of them. I also chose those two because though I did receive an addition five points on a few of my other responses these two I enjoyed reading the most when I looked through all of them. This course can best be described as a writers journey to self-discovery because that is what we are challenged to do. Discover ourselves as writers! With that said, I hope you enjoy my portfolio!