Dear Reader Letter

Dear Reader,

I know you have been waiting so patiently this quarter for yet another E-portfolio, but wait no longer because you, as well as I, have made it to the end once again, and officially making it through my second quarter at Everett Community College. Coming from English 97 last quarter, I thought that this class was going to be a breeze since last quarter was sort of a refresher course for me learning such writing skills as grammar, punctuation, and formatting. It turns out that I was wrong. Although I have learned how to write persuasive, and compare and contrast papers before, it was difficult for me to come up with interesting and intriguing topics. However, I believe that with much thought, I chose topics that have surprised even me, like defining the word Gay, debating herbal medications versus pharmaceutical medications, and how I think the internet is on the rise to becoming more advanced than television.

Majority of this quarter was focused on writing a paper in which you can support your main points with researched information, examples, opinions, and book citations. Our major writing assignments this year consisted of a compare and contrast paper, a definition paper, and an argumentative paper. The hardest one for me was the definition paper because we had to define one word in three to four pages. To do this we used actual definitions, our own interpretations, modern day usage, and the history of where the word had originated.

Some of the other pieces I have chosen this quarter vary from a summary of an essay, a seminar quote reflection after reading the book “Touching the Void,” and our very first assignment, an inventory of being poem. I chose drastically different writing assignments to show what else we have learned in this quarter. Writing summaries of essays was new to me because it taught me to read something and really understand the main points and objective of the piece. The reflection on the other hand taught me how to analyze a story or quote and find my own interpretations and conclusions to the meanings behind what I am reading.

I have learned a lot during this quarter and I hope that it reflects in the diverse pieces I have chosen to showcase. I enjoyed writing these pieces and I hope you enjoy reading them.