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Stefano Zanella
UWP 001, section 001
Mr. Aaron Benedetti
Portfolio cover letter

End of The Quarter Reflection

Portfolio cover letter

After 10 weeks of studying, we reached the end of the fall quarter 2017. Looking back at it, it

was quite a journey. I started this period with a particular idea about writing, which changed almost

completely by the end of this course. Through the assignments I chose to insert in my portfolio, the

close reading and the research project, I think I am able to show how I got better as a writer by meeting

the requirements for this course.

First of all, in my portfolio, I chose to include the close reading project and the research paper. I

decided to include these because of the topic used for them and for what I was able to show and prove

in my essays. I feel like the topics that I picked, for both of my papers, even though very challenging

for some aspects related to different cultures and articles used as sources, were still very fascinating

and intriguing. The findings allowed me to explore personal reflections that underlined very interesting

concepts.

The reason why I decided to include the close reading is mostly its topic and its following

analysis. The Divine Comedy, topic of the close reading project, represents a very large portion of my

high school education. Dante, one of the best poets and writers in the Italian literature, is studied vastly

during the high school period of all the Italian scholars. His works are seen as a sort of milestone, on

top of which build culture and knowledge. Moreover, studying Dante is a sort of connecting cultural

point which links what my parents studied at their times in high school and what I studied. Even though

many other topics got removed or introduced into academic teaching, Dante and his Divine Comedy

were, are and will be also studied. On top of this, I decided to include my close reading project because
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of the analysis it allowed me to do, both on the poem and on my personal interpretation of this allegoric

journey, which made me figure out aspects of the Divine Comedy I did not have noticed in my previous

readings of this book.

I think the topic I chose for my research paper is very interesting as well, and this is why I chose

this paper for my portfolio. I am very fascinated by the concepts of dialect and discourse. These two

realities are really tight together and really related to my culture. I chose to include the research paper

in my portfolio for this specific reason (to be clearer, I would have included the research paper even if

we were not obligated to do so). In this paper I was able to explore connections and relations through

things that I never suspected being related. The same concept of dialect allowed me to make reflections

on the far more complex concepts of discourse, identity and sense of belonging.

Thanks to these two papers I can now show how much I improved as a writer and also how I

met the learning outcomes for this course. First of all, in both of the papers, as we can notice from the

previous drafts uploaded on Canvas (the internet site used by this course), we notice an extensive work

of revision, on both the contents and the form of the essays. I used fully all the comments and feedback

available, from both peers, instructor and office hours. In addition, both the papers show application of

important rhetorical concepts, extremely significant for academic writing. Mostly the research paper,

but in minor part the close reading project as well, show effective research. I used both primary and

secondary research, since each one allowed me to explore and analyze different concepts and ideas.

The combination of the two got me to the findings of the research paper. For the close reading, since it

was not required, I preferred not to make an extensive use of research, even though some research was

made. I feel like the metacognition aspect of my paper is really strong. Both of the papers show broad

reflection on the rhetorical choices I made, on the topic chosen and on the language used.

As I specified many times in my essay writing is a fluid process. It never stops evolving and

changing, and this is what makes it fascinating. This being said, in my opinion even good papers could
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get further revision and improvements; these parts could be harder to find compared to first drafts or

worse papers in general, but something to improve can always be found. In my essays, in particular in

the research paper, I would add a couple of paragraphs on a new example, like a new article or

research. By doing this, I would create more room for reflection and research. This could help me make

the findings of my paper even more evident, in order to help the reader understand them even more

deeply.

UWP 001, like other college courses, taught me something. Apart from teaching me how to

become a better writer, fundamental skill for my future college and working careers, I feel that this

course made me practice one of the skills which I believe are most important for and individuals life:

adaptability. UWP made me exercise this skill by making me write different papers of different genres,

compose multimodal projects, write short time writings and so on. As a student, this skill could be

considered vital. An adaptable student is able to reinvent him or herself to the different courses and

exams he or she will face in the future, making his college career easier and less stressful. As an adult

individual however, this skill remains very important. People who own it will have less difficulty in

adapting in new jobs, new cities, new environments and new context never faced before. Overall, I am

glad UWP made me exercise this important skill. I feel this course, apart from making me a better

writer, made me a better student and person in general.