Dear Michelle,

Prior to taking this class I definitely felt worried and nervous about enrolling into my first
college English class. English has always been my weakest subject in school. Writing essays
and reading books bored me throughout high school. For this reason, I never put in much effort
into my writings because I never had a sound writing process. My final drafts were basically the
same as my first drafts as I never made many revisions to my writing. As my writing progressed
this quarter, I realized how important the element of revision is to an essay and how much better
it makes writers. After taking this course I can confidently say I developed my skills in
researching and processes.

This picture represents how I felt about writing. I always had a negative energy towards writing
because I considered it to be my weakest subject. (Source:
https://essaysonline.wordpress.com/2016/03/16/why-do-students-hate-writing-essays/)

Upon being assigned the Wikipedia project, I was relieved to be doing a “research
paper.” Often in high school, I had done research assignments so writing research papers were
more in my comfort zone. The most helpful part of writing this paper was the peer review
process. The peer review process helped me realize the mistakes I made in the language and
tone of my essay. In my first draft of the Wikipedia project, I wrote in an informal tone using
language that did not follow an informative purpose. I was using words and phrases such as
“currently” and “till this day” all throughout my essay. In some parts of my essay I explicitly
stated my opinion and used language as if I was talking to my audience. My peers and you
yourself helped me understand that my writing needs to stay consistent with my purpose. The
readers of my article are here for information on Jenny Lin. They’re not reading this to hear my
opinion or for a casual conversation. This helped me realize that I needed to eliminate my
opinion and my informal language in the article and include “timeless language” to help readers
better understand the information even if they are reading my article in the far future. With this
new understanding of writing for an audience, it allowed me to strengthen the peer and self-
review step of my writing process.
 The peer review process benefitted me the most as a writer. It helped me notice my common
mistakes and what to look out for in my essays. (Source:
https://blog.pixton.com/articles/2018/02/12/get-students-finally-successfully-peer-edit/

The next project after the Wikipedia article was the podcast project where I improved
upon my skills in researching. I have never written a paper where I had to analyze and turn my
own research into a story. My lack of knowledge in doing this showed in the first draft of my
essay. My first draft was structured terribly as I didn’t make any concrete claims from my
observations. I had a good thesis, but my body paragraphs were basically just descriptions of
my observations which didn’t support my thesis. After seeing the comments you made on my
2nd draft of the podcast project, I realized that my problem was in building upon my
observations. I needed to draw some insight from my observations that I could share with my
audience. When revising my draft, I made sure that each supporting paragraph had a claim,
evidence, analysis and a discussion of new insight. This provided good structure to my thoughts
and it forced me to further evaluate my observations. As seen in my final draft, I included a lot
more information that supported my thesis rather than useless descriptions that had no benefit
to my audience. Being an aspiring engineer, this skill will help me a lot in my career and future
laboratory classes. The ability to collect and analyze data is a useful skill used by many
engineers. If I continue on this career pathway, then this definitely won’t be the last time I do
primary research.
 Research was a huge skill that I built upon in doing my podcast project. I learned how to
conduct primary research and create a deeper meaning from my observations. (Source:
https://think360studio.com/ux-research-first-step-ux-strategy-start-launch-product/)

Throughout this class, I’ve certainly written pieces that I am proud of. Although they still
may not be perfect, I think that these pieces really showcased my development as a writer in the
processes and research areas. I chose these pieces of writing because I feel like my best and
hardest work was put into these essays. I hope that my e-portfolio can act as a time capsule for
my change in writing. One day, I wish to look back on this page and see how much better I got
as a writer. Right now, I feel like this is just the start of a new me as an author. Overall, I am
truly happy that I enrolled in this class. Without a doubt, this class has helped me gain more
confidence in my writing since the start of the quarter. Thank you for all your hard work this
quarter and most importantly, thank you for helping me become a better writer.

After going through this course, I truly believe that my writing abilities have improved and most
importantly, I’ve gained a lot more confidence in my abilities. (Source:
https://www.sourcecon.com/finding-your-voice-finding-your-confidence-be-valued-and-be-you/)

Sincerely, Justin Quach