Dear Professor Campbell,

Welcome to my ePortfolio, the last, cumulative assignment of the Fall 2019 semester. I

chose the theme “Your Community Matters” as that is the greatest lesson I have learned in my

college career thus far. Coming from Baltimore, Maryland, I was nervous. I knew practically no

one at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte prior to this past August, and I had forgotten

how troubling making new friends could be. At first, day-in and day-out, I would wake up, go to

class, and return to my dormitory to study. My life was mostly mundane. However, I took the

chance to audition for this institution’s premiere a cappella group, Codachrome. I sang in an

all-male a cappella group in highschool, and I realized that I wanted to pursue this interest of

mine throughout college. After successfully passing the audition process, I learned that each

individual member of Codachrome had their own passions, dreams, and ambitions. I felt

out-of-place. From a cappella festivals and competitions to local community performances at

Camp Northend in Charlotte, I slowly grew closer with the other singers in the a cappella group,

but I was not sure as to how I should express myself. Nevertheless, my fellow singers made sure

that I became a part of their family, now, our family, so I dedicate this ePortfolio to my new

family. Every section-page features a picture from our Fall Showcase from this past November,

and I hope you can see how much fun I have had with the group thus far.

On the first day of class, I knew my first writing-intensive course in college would be

different. Aside from the frequently dropped expletives, your ability to induce comfort in myself

and my classmates dumbfounded me. Never in my academic career have I had an instructor with

such a talent for engaging with his students. For this experience, I thank you, Professor

Campbell. Additionally, I seldom had a teacher who ushered their students to think and write
freely ​without ​paying attention to grammar. Your daily inclusion of “free-writes” forced us to

pour our thoughts into our day-books. Initially, I struggled with the free-writes. The open-ended

prompts, such as “I feel like...” or “I know of…”, encouraged us to think and write on the spot,

but I honestly felt somewhat uncomfortable writing or listing all of the thoughts in my head.

However, as the semester progressed, I felt more comfortable with each and every free-write,

and some of my most recent daybook entries feature illustrations! The free-writes turned into

activities that I looked forward to every class.

In addition to the daily free-writes, I developed my informal writing through our weekly

Lit Lounge forum posts. Similar to the daybook entries, my informal writing was actually quite

formal. My early, formulated responses included a basic overview of the article or video at hand

with little-to-no personal connection. I tried my best to refrain from including my personal

opinion(s), but I learned that without the mentioning of my personal attachment, I was not

receiving the whole informal writing/Lit Lounge experience. As you may see, my most recent Lit

Lounge entries may feature a personal anecdote or loose thoughts on the given topic. I most

enjoyed the “Free Speech on Campus” Lit Lounge forum as I related to the issue of free speech

in academic institutions. For example, in the seventh grade, I first became cognizant of the

importance of free speech in a school or university. Since I incorporate this Lit Lounge

discussion in the “Informal Writing” section of my ePortfolio, I will not ruin the rest of the story.

Until very recently, I never realized how greatly my informal writing this semester has

affected my formal writing, such as my topic proposal. Never before had I written topic proposal

for any class or project. Previously, my instructors either assigned me a topic, or we chose a

topic without question. However, although this experience was foreign to me, I still enjoyed
completing the topic proposal. By compiling sources and questions, I strengthened the

foundation of my Extended Inquiry Project as I had an understanding of my research prior to

writing the research essay itself. Speaking of questions, most of my initial inquiry questions were

closed-ended, yes-or-no questions. While those closed-ended questions were useful, most of

them could have been answered with a simple Google search. My lack of open-ended questions

halted the steady progression of my early ideas.

Fortunately, my annotated bibliography helped to reshape and advance the narrative I

was looking for. Even by this point in time, I was not sure if I wanted to pursue an explorative or

an argumentative essay, and this fact troubled me. Regardless, I followed the directions for my

annotated bibliography and used three types of sources: a news article, a reputable website, and a

peer-reviewed journal article. I would like to believe that my annotations were my best writing

up to that point in time in the Fall semester. I was able to uncover the systematic effects of

domestic abuse, such as the effects of witnessing and/or experiencing domestic abuse as a child.

Furthermore, the perspective of male prison inmates added the often disregarded aspect of men’s

mental health. Overall, I enjoyed the process of constructing my annotated bibliography. I was

able to emotionally connect with my data and statistics, and I began to scientifically understand

how domestic violence had affected my life and the lives of millions of people around the world.

However, my deep connection with the domestic abuse may have also negatively impacted my

research capabilities. At times, reading article after article about the horridness of domestic abuse

triggered forgotten memories and visceral reactions that may have inhibited the efficiency of my

completion of the annotations. Simultaneously, I would like to believe that my connection

pushed me to find more research on domestic violence. I strove to find more answers about what
I could do for my fellow victims of domestic abuse, and I decided that I wanted to write an

argumentative research essay for my Extended Inquiry Project that would display how I and

society could help the victims of domestic abuse.

Ironically, my Extended Inquiry Project First Draft was largely explorative. I defined

domestic abuse and its primary forms, such as physical, emotional, and financial. I explored its

effects on one’s physical and mental health by using first hand accounts of patients and inmates.

I presented figures on the rates of domestic abuse in primarily American life. By including the

starkly low rates of legal action against abusers, I could relate to that experience of other

survivors, and I used my personal accounts to introduce and conclude the first draft of my

Extended Inquiry Project. However, I concluded with, “​but larger, dominant figures, such as

employers and politicians, of everyday society should seek to implement education about

domestic abuse to uphold every person’s physical, emotional, and financial health.” ​ While this

statement included the argument for a need for better domestic abuse education, I did not include

examples of efforts for or against this argument. In retrospect, I could have approached my first

draft’s conclusion more holistically, providing political action, social movements, or the actions

of organizations combating domestic abuse; thus, my research essay would have been more

argumentative.

In my Extended Inquiry Project Final Draft, I mainly focused on developing my

conclusion; however, I also made minor grammatical adjustments. I learned the most about the

aid for domestic abuse victims from the Violence Against Women Act (1994). Shockingly,

domestic violence has only been a federal crime for the past twenty-five years. Previously,

individual states could decide upon the punishments, or lack thereof, for domestic violence.
Additionally, this act created national funds for domestic violence victims’ shelters, rape

prevention, and national organizations, such as the ​National Organization for Women and the

National Domestic Violence Hotline. Most notably, I was impressed by Massachusetts’ Intimate

Partner Abuse Education Program (IPAEP). Not only does this program empower victims of

domestic abuse but it also seeks to reform the abusers through a rigorous education process,

including group therapy, individual intervention, and consistent emotional assessments. Thus, I

proposed a nationalized plan for the IPAEP. Unfortunately, I did not mention the costs,

employment and facility necessities, or any other statistic relevant to the practicality of the

nationalization of the IPAEP, and, in hindsight, those figures most definitely could have

strengthened my argument. Although, overall, I am satisfied with the current state of my research

essay. While, in the future, I could make edits to better its quality, I fulfilled my goal to present

an argumentative essay on domestic abuse, and I was able to confront my own domestic abuse

experiences with grace and professionalism.

Finally, thank you, Professor Campbell. You helped me to break the mold of the standard

thesis essay, and you encouraged me to pursue a different style of writing that, to me, has best

exhibited my writing skills. Your quick, thoughtful feedback on every assignment pushed my

writing and researching capabilities to new heights, and your flexibility, especially in my

family’s time of grief, as an instructor eased the stress from my mind. Genuinely, I hope I have

the honor to be your student in the future, once again.

Sincerely,

Saad Jalisi