PORTFOLIO: REFLECTIVE LETTER

Dear Highline Writing Department,

When I began the course of writing 101 this quarter, I must admit that I was hesitant about the style of writing that was proposed. Since I was a child I have dreamed about being a writer and have always challenged myself to improve my writing. On the other hand, I have always been very wary about adopting or implementing other people's ideas or styles of writing for fear that they would damage the creative honesty and integrity of my own writing. However, I will admit that my own initial decision to be open to new ideas during this course has broadened and, or at least I hope, strengthened my writing. I have never been an individual to believe that writing can be something taught, but also have not been certain if it is inane either. This course has definitely helped me come to a more clear conclusion about my writing philosophy and my writing process. [As an individual, I have progressed and improved greatly concerning my writing philosophy and my writing style during this course.]


[Previous to this course, I had a very specific, yet unstructured writing process that I used for my writing.] For any sort of writing that I did, whether it was creative, academic or personal, I approached what I had to write the same. Generally speaking, I never did very much formal preparation before I began writing and rarely did I thoroughly edit my writing in a fashion that the end result was very different from the beginning. I despised the idea of outlining previous to this course because I thought it distracted from my stream of thoughts as they were flowing from my mind. I also disliked the idea of templates or any sort of implementation of another individual's ideas because I felt that it constricted the creativity of my own writing. So, in that respect, I think in retrospect, one of my greatest weaknesses was my lack of a proper writing process or my fear of other people's ideas. However, at the same time, my writing in clarity or organization in my final draft was one of my strongest points in my writing.


[For my portfolio, I chose two of the essays I have written this quarter that I feel best reflect my improvement and progress, as well as my own personal strength as a writer.] The first essay that I chose was one that I wrote on the topic of Bacon's Rebellion, which I personally was very proud of and felt that the implementation of new ideas in it really produced an end result that was unlike any other that I had had before. This first essay that I wrote was a real exploration in my writing ability where I experimented with ideas and styles I had not before. For instance, for this essay I completed a detailed outline, something I have never done for a paper, and I believe that it really helped organize my thoughts in a cohesive and concise manner. Additionally, the amount and type of research that I did for this paper was very different than any history type research paper I have done in the past. The level of intensity that was put into this paper was vastly more than any other paper that I had ever worked on in the past. The writing style that I used for this paper was intensely different and I was really proud of the end result that I came up with because of the level of effort that I put into this. This was an essay that I really felt accomplished on because of this.

[The second essay that I chose was one that reflected my ability to write creatively and persuasively.] It was one that showed my ability to collaborate with another individual, since it was a partner assignment where I was required to speak on the part of a loyalist. Because this essay required taking on the personification of a character, it was one that needed creativity and well-research. I was very proud of this essay because I felt that it really demonstrated my creative talent as a writer, one of my greatest strengths in writing. Additionally, it taught me how to work and prepare collaboratively for an essay and really fostered a strong working relationship with my partner and I. Because of the preperation that I did for this essay with outlining and drafting, I was able to produce an end result unlike I might have otherwise.


[Because of these two essays that I wrote, I feel that I really progressed and improved as a writer.] The reasons for this was the level of intensity and exploration that I put into writing these papers. I really made an effort because of this course to experiment with new styles and ideas to incorporate into my writing style. For instance, the way that I prepared for an essay was vastly different with writing an outline and doing several drafts for my Bacon's Rebellion Essay. Additionally, it helped the way I quickly think, which would be the opposite of the first, and am still able to produce a solid, well-structured essay. So, I built upon one former strength that I had previous to this class and really developed the second one, which would be the preparation before the essay.


[Because of this class I feel that as a writer I have really progressed in several ways.] I have become more organized and learned to outline in a way that makes my essay better structured. I have learned to research in a way that makes my essay credible and intelligent as it should be. I have learned how to write several drafts, to edit and to decide what is necessary and what is not. I am really proud of the struggle that I put forth to experiment with my writing and the decision I made at the beginning to allow myself to be immersed with new ideas. Because of this course, I feel that I am much stronger as a writer in many ways and that I have progressed a lot. I've learned to write not just from my heart, but from my mind as well, which I think is what I can say that this course has helped the most with.

Sincerely,
Ashley Burman