Lauryn McLaughlin

2310 west 23rd Avenue

Mrs. Tammy Davis

Northern Oklahoma college
651 N Monroe Stillwater OK 74078

December 2

Dear Mrs. Davis,

I’ve enjoyed sharing my writing with you during composition class. My writings are a
glimpse into who I am, my personal experiences and my passion for writing. I have many
strengths and still some weaknesses in my writing, but I have used this class to become better. I
have a creative mind and don’t have problems coming up with things to write about. This helps
me in writing both essays and creative stories.

My first two writings are more about me and how my learning disability has influenced
my writing. Having dyslexia has shaped who I am as a person and has a had direct impact on my
work ethic. My learning disability forced me to work harder in school and has shown me if I
didn’t do my homework or spend enough time studying, I wouldn’t do good in school. This work
ethic helped me be successful in softball. It taught me to never give up and keep pushing
through to achieve my goals. These writings are my favorite because they tell my story and
shows all the hard work I have put into school. My last two writings are research papers, one was
about a new experience in college and the other was about a place I would like to visit. I did not
know we had a Mosque in Stillwater; I was able to visit the Mosque and learn more about the
Muslim religion. It was a different experience for me as I grew up attending a more traditional
Baptist style church. The visit was still interesting and its was a cool experience in my
Geography class. I recently did a research paper on a place I would I like to visit, which was
Ireland. In the past I’ve been more comfortable writing about personal experiences, research
papers challenge me to write about something new. My last two papers that were fun to write and
expanded my knowledge in writing. Both personal and research papers still challenge me to
think creatively. No matter the style of writing I still want to be creative and hope the readers
enjoy the topic.
I realized during my first composition class I had much to learn about writing in college
When I first went into basic composition I was not a great writer. I had many mistakes in my
writing and it took me a long time to get it right. Even though I still struggle with my writing I
have improved as a writer over the years. The outline that Mrs. Davis let us use is a life saver, it
helps me understand how to structure an essay for composition and other classes. Writing in a
journal isn’t the same thing as writing an essay or research paper. Composition was a hard class
for me because I was more comfortable writing in an informal style. I also had to learn to get out
of my comfort zone and learn other styles of essay writing to be successful in college.
Composition class helped me understand how important structuring an essay is along with
editing, and more editing. Composition 2 is a challenge, but in a good way. At times I’ve felt like
Composition 2 has been in both hard and easy at the same time. The annotated bibliography
project was hard, but the letter of intent project came easy to me. I enjoyed the letter of intent
project because it gave me an opportunity to give my opinion on how Stillwater Public Schools
could improve their Dyslexia programs. The annotated bibliography was hard, and I really don’t
want to have do another. However I know it will be useful and I’m sure I’ll have to do another at
some point. I learned many things from this essay so I will know how to correctly structure and
site one in the future. Both classes have given more knowledge and tools to be a better writer. I
hope everything I have learned will ultimately show in my own stories. .
The first step in writing an essay is creating an outline, the outlines help me with my
writing and to structure paragraphs. Structing an essay is more difficult without a good outline to
follow. I have a bad habit of putting in things that do not belong in the essay. After getting the
outline in place I begin to work on adding details to the essay and sometimes I do struggle with
adding detail that don’t need to be in there. Once I finish with the main body of information, I
will begin to edit. I usually begin by eliminating words I do not need then sentence structure.
Making my outline into a rough draft and then basically doing the whole editing process over
again. I then do the final draft and before turning in I will go through the essay and edit one last
time, looking for misspelled words and grammar mistakes. I try my best to eliminate those
mistakes but sometimes I still make them. I know I’m still not the best writer, but I also know if I
do these steps and continue to push myself to write I will keep improving.
My writing has improved over the years but my biggest weakness is still correct
grammar and sentence structure. I have a hard time understanding the rules of grammar and
repeating myself. When I get tired, I will mix words up and my sentences become a jumbled
mess. My dyslexia can make writing difficult at times and makes spelling a challenge, it also
makes reading and editing a little more difficult, I tend to get tired faster, and it gets frustrating
because I know what I want to write on paper, but my dyslexia prevent me from writing it
correctly. This can be very time consuming and usually leaves me mad and frustrated. My
strength in writing would have to be my creativity. My creative mind lets me explore many
different ideas to write about, for instance when I write a fantasy story. I enjoy adding lots of
adventure because those are the things I like to read in a good book. For me writing is a way to
escape the world, especially when things get frustrating, even with my challenges I still have a
passion to write and be creative.
Mrs. Davis I just wanted to say thank you for taking the time to read my portfolio. I have
learned many things from you and hope to retain them when I leave this class. I still dream of
becoming a writer and a Special Education teacher. I want to share my story and write books for
kids who struggle in reading or just have a fear of reading big books. I want them to enjoy
reading my books and show them reading can be fun. I also want to write both romantic and
adventure stories for every demographic. I love writing and I can’t wait to see what my future
might hold for me.

Sincerely yours
Lauryn McLaughlin