Reflective Cover Letter

Reflective Cover Letter

Dear Dr. Tinberg,

Over this semester, I have really grown as a writer. The pieces that I believe demonstrate this the most are “This I Believe”, the application essay, the profile, and “Analyzing a Trend”. I was able to express myself as a writer in all of the assignments, but in these especially.

          The first piece that I am including is the “This I Believe” assignment. The assignment was to tell a story about a belief not only relative to you, but also one that other people could relate to . I was to state my belief, give evidence of how the belief was formed, tested, or changed, provide descriptive detail, and provide closure by explaining the significance of my belief. I chose this essay because it was the first assignment, and looking back, it shows how much I have grown as a writer over the semester. It was a very personal assignment due to the fact that I had to go into detail about my beliefs and life experiences. It was difficult at first to choose a topic that I would not mind sharing. I eventually decided to use my belief of being your own person as the subject of the essay. The first draft did not have enough detail to completely fulfill the assignment. This was also a problem in my second draft. As you mentioned in your feedback, “But now you must bring your reader into sharper consideration: as I note below, you will need to provide evidence of the shift in your belief, between wanting to fit in and wanting to be 'yourself'.”

          The second piece that I am including is the application essay. This essay was similar to “This I Believe” in the fact that I was writing about myself, only this time, I was trying to paint myself in a light that would really express who I am as a person. I chose this piece because, for me, it was the most difficult assignment. I am proud of how I was able to work through the prompt until I was able to answer it in a creative way. The assignment was to answer a specific prompt from a college or university, and provide evidence of claims made in the essay through examples and anecdotes. I chose the University of Chicago's prompt “If you could balance on a tightrope, over what landscape would you walk.” At first, I though about choosing another prompt. I did not know how I would or if I could answer it, but I chose to try it. I felt as though the first two drafts were good. I was very proud of them until I went over them with Sebastian and found that I was not really answering the prompt. The prompt was actually a metaphor. I was focusing on figuratively balancing over the Grand Canyon, when really, I should have transitioned into talking about what I was literally balancing over in my life. In the conclusion paragraph, I related the balancing over the Grand Canyon to high school, but I should have been doing that throughout the paper.

         The third piece that I am including is the profile. This essay was different from “This I believe” and the application essay. In the profile assignment I was write about the life experiences of someone else. I chose this essay because this was the most interesting essay. I was able to learn something about a person that I may not have known or learned in more detail. I learned how to conduct interviews, and translate those interviews into a story. The assignment was to write a “portrait in words” about a person of interest to you who would also be interesting to others. We were to include a sharp introduction that would engage the reader, an interpretive thesis that would keep the paper focused, a physical description of the subject, quotations from the interview, anecdotes that tell their story in a creative way, and a conclusion that would leave a strong final impression of the subject. For this assignment, I decide to interview my mother who chose to leave her career as a registered nurse to pursue her dream of homeschooling her son. The first draft could have included more detail, as suggested by my partner, “ My only suggestion would be more detail about her passions for homeschooling, just as you described her passions for nursing.” She also suggested using more quotes from the people who were involved such as her son and her husband. For the second draft, I added a couple of quotes from her son, such as “'I feel like I’m getting a better education than I would at school. Mom makes sure I understand everything before we move on' he says.” I also added more to the conclusion, explaining how long she will home school him for, and what her plans on for afterwards. For the final draft I tried to incorporate your advice of asking Bernadette if there was a connection between homeschooling and nursing.

          The final piece that I am including is the “Analyzing a Trend” assignment. This assignment was different from the former three. This was a research paper in which I had to analyzing a specific trend using a combination of my own words and the quotes and ideas of others. The assignment was to analyze a trend affecting a specific group of people over a certain period of time. I was to have a thesis stating the trend, provide evidence of this trend by using quotes from at least two scholarly articles, and analyze the causes and effects of this trend. I also had to have my sources in MLA format in a bibliography, and include in-text citations when needed throughout the paper. I chose the trend of increasing childhood obesity since the 1980s. My first draft was just the bare minimum of the assignment. I was missing the effects, and I did not have a completed conclusion. For the second draft, I added the effects of childhood obesity, and I attempted to conclude the paper well. For the final draft, I changed the conclusion paragraph to stay focused on the purpose of the assignment instead of offering solutions to the problem, as you had suggested.

         I feel as though this course has caused me to grow as a writer. I am more confident in my writing then I was at the beginning of the semester, and I have learned new techniques that will help me in my future English courses, and in my daily writing.