Estrella Munoz

English 113A
Kimberly Lewis
11 November, 2015
Reflective Preface
Dear Reader, throughout the time I spent in my English 113A class, I feel as if I
have improved on my writing skills with the help of my professor and classmates. In the
beginning I was scared stiff and did not know if my writing would meet the college level.
I wanted to feel relaxed and prepared for the challenges, and so I was. Now I have the
chance of publishing my own work on Weebly. In my Portfolio you will find my two of
my essays and a few assignments that I have completed. I will share with you how my
writing skills improved and what it took to be where I am today.
My Portfolio represents who I am as a writer and demonstrates relaxation with the
theme that I chose. Creating my Portfolio made me feel proud of how far Ive came and
succeeded. In my Portfolio you will find a Narrative essay about a memory that had to do
with language and an Argumentative essay based on Social Media where I argue how
Social Media apps ruin face-to-face interaction. Aside from the essays I have also chosen
two assignments: one is a formal letter to the dean of CSUN and the other is a group
assignment titled Reading Arguments. From these three pages that I have shared on my
Portfolio, are a form of my style of writing.
The first essay assigned to the class was a Narrative essay based on a memory that
had to do with language. I must admit that I enjoyed writing an essay of a memory from
when I was a child. The title to my essay is As A Child. It is about how my interest in
reading grew as I became older and being able to go through obstacles with the help of
my family. In this essay, my Mother was a huge help when it came to education and still
is. While writing this essay the process of revision went well. With the help of students
and my professor, I was able to recognize my mistakes and improve them. By doing so, I

noticed that my weakness was on the thesis. In the beginning I struggled to create one
and received help from various people. After I created my thesis, I was able to advance
with my essay and finish it. And after months waiting for a grade mark, I finally got the
chance to see with my own eyes how great I did. An 85/100 was my grade and I could not
have been more pleased with all the effort I put into my Narrative essay.
The next essay in my Portfolio is an Argumentative essay about Social Media. My
argument states how Social Media apps such as Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat affect
traditional face-to-face interactions between people. This essay was the last one assigned
to the class and from my point of view, the most challenging from the semester. Creating
the title was not a problem. The challenge for me was being able to make an argument
and keep the essay flowing. My title is Social Media Is Taking Over. I was not able to
create a proper outline and felt overwhelmed of the fact that I was jammed. This essay
took more of my time than any other essay I ever written. I was prepared to quit, but then
I knew that quitting did not define who I really am as a person and as a writer. So, when it
was time for peer review I received helpful feedback to continue my essay. I knew that by
providing my outside sources I would be able to lay out my thoughts and ideas. Even
though this essay was challenging, I was smart enough to detect my own weaknesses
from the beginning. One of them was not being able to create a proper outline and having
difficulties creating a work cited page. Eventually, I was capable of succeeding and
improving my weaknesses.
As for the assignments, the first one I chose was about formal and informal
letters. I really enjoyed doing these letters because it showed me how to be polite when
writing to someone professional or informal with friends. I decided to only share one of
the letters which will be the formal letter. The reason why I wanted to include this
assignment in my Portfolio is because I earned a good grade mark and I also wanted to
share my way of writing a formal letter. The second assignment that I chose was from
Progression 3, a group work. I was in a group with three other people and our job was to

read an article called "Small World: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted" and
explain the main argument, who/why and counter argument. While doing this assignment
my group and I were able to summarize the article with no trouble at all. I decided to
include this assignment because I believe that when people work as a team it is much
easier and less overwhelming.
More importantly, as a writer I learned that nothing is easy in life. When a
professor says "your next assignment is to write a 5-6 page essay" Your instant reaction is
to panic. While others find it to be easy and say "piece of cake". I learned to take it step
by step and to make a clear outline of my essay. I learned that in my writing I use many
transitional words and phrase. I clearly did not want to bore the reader and tried to make
sense of what I was writing. Towards the end of the semester I am glad to say that I have
noticed a change in my writing. I feel confident enough to say that I was able to expand
my thoughts, opinions and ideas while writing.
Overall, I believe that I have become a stronger writer and know what I am
capable of as a writer. Now that I have recognized my mistakes I will improve on all of
them and enrich my style of writing. After all, I know that I am prepared for what comes
next in my English 113B class. I am ready to meet new people and learn amongst each
other for a better life, better future and further education. Thank you for reading my
Reflective Preface and getting to know who I am as a writer.
Sincerely,
Estrella Munoz