Morkowski 1

Anika Morkowski
Ms. Winter
British Literature, Period 2
12 May 2016
Writing Introduction
The following pieces of writing are a collection of multiple different types of writing I
have completed the past two years of high school. The first essay is reflective essay which is a
letter to freshman giving them advice about high school. This piece gives an insight to what I
have experienced during high school and all the things I have learned over the four years at El
Dorado high school. My next piece is my senior research paper. The novel the paper is focused
on is Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. In my research paper I compared the locations in the
novel to the Victorian ideals expressed at each location and how this affected the characters in
the novel. I really enjoyed writing this piece because I got to dive deeper into the authors
thoughts and what she was trying to portray through this book. Bronte shows how the pressure of
Victorian ideals greatly affects characters, especially women. Another writing example is my
literary analysis of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. This was a great novel to read and brought up
great ideas about society and how society treats outcasts. In my analysis I discussed the power of
language and words and how this power can be dangerous. The creature in this novel is a prime
example of how gaining language and speech can give someone power. My senior portfolio also
includes a lab report from my junior year physics class. My group did a lab where we gathered
information about momentum by sliding a car down a slope. By recording the cars mass, time it
took to stop, and the distance it went, we were about to find the velocity and momentum of the
car at different weights. The lab write up gave our group a way to express our finding in an

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organized fashion so others could see our results. Completing a lab write up after completing
labs is important in science because it is the only way to report your results to others and pass on
new found information. My last piece of writing is my creative writing. I included my Grendel
rewrite which I completed after reading the poem Beowulf. For this writing sample, I rewrote the
story of Beowulf from Grendels perspective. This assignment gave me the freedom to write
however I wanted and interrupt the character in any way I wanted. I wrote the character Grendel
as a very dark and evil villain. This gave me the opportunity to write a very dark story from the
perspective of an evil character. This was a fun piece for write because there was a lot of freedom
with the assignment and I could be creative with my writing.
Whenever I am about to write an essay or assignment I like to plan out what topic I am
going to discuss in each paragraph. I find this makes it easier to write a complete thesis. Also
knowing exactly what I am going to discuss in each paragraph gives me a starting point for
quotes. Since I know the ideas I am going to discuss I just have to find quotes to back up my
idea. Another strategy I use while writing papers is having multiple other people read it over. I
have trouble reading over my own paper sometimes because I read what I think it supposed to be
and sometimes not what is actually there. Having another person read over it helps catch little
mistakes like spelling and grammar.
Through my many English classes, I have had the opportunity to read some great novels
that I probably would not have read otherwise. Some of my favorite were To Kill a Mockingbird,
1984, Wuthering Heights, and East of Eden. While all of those books were great, the most
influential book would have to be Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. This book discussed the
morality of science and how society treats outcasts. It really made me think about how society
puts people in boxes with labels and effects peoples lives. After reading this book, I thought

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more about names and labels we give people every day and how this could be positive and
negatively affecting people. I hope to keep the ideas this novel discussed in my mind and be
conscious of what I say to people. Even if it may seem harmless it could be effecting someone
more than I can tell.