17 June 2022

Portfolio Committee
Northern Oklahoma College
English Department
1118 West Hall of Fame
Stillwater. Oklahoma 74074

Dear Professor Davis,

I have put together a collection of my past writing assignments that I have completed during my
freshman year at Oklahoma State University including, my time at Northern Oklahoma College
attending online summer school. I have four written pieces that I choose for the portfolio because
I think they best represent my ability to write. One essay is an essay outline including an
annotated bibliography. Two essays are both informative essays. I choose these two because it
shows that I can research two topics and able to construct an informative essay. Another essay
included in the collection is an argumentative essay by showing my ability to make an
argumentative writing and my ability to use reliable sources to prove my argument.

My first writing artifact, I decided to include my essay that I wrote over the history of rock and
roll. The informative essay included information about the influence that African American
music and country had on the beginning of rock and roll. I wrote this piece for my History of
Rock and Roll class during my spring semester. I loved the class, and the assignments were
enjoyable to me. We got to learn about legendary rock songs and research famous musicians and
artists. I choose to add this piece because it shows my ability to write an informative essay over
my favorite music genre. For my second artifact, I choose to include my essay over the TED talk
video with Tony Porter because this piece explains the deeper meaning behind certain images
seen in the TED talk video. This essay means a lot to me because it talks about sexual assault and
speaking out on violence against women. Being in college, all my roommates that I lived with
my freshmen year have been sexual assaulted by men and women. There have also been times
where my roommates would be drugged at a frat party. I was honored to write a piece over what
happens in the real world because of what I have witnessed, and sexual assault and abuse
happens more often than one may think even in college. I choose to add this piece to my
portfolio because it shows my argument of the meaning behind a TED talk video with Tony
Porter discussing something that doesn’t receive much attention. My third artifact that I decided
to include in my portfolio is an essay outline with an annotated bibliography that I wrote for
composition two. I choose this piece because my outline was about food communities bringing
value to social media apps like Instagram and TikTok and it was over that I am knowledgeable in
by being a active user of Instagram myself. I enjoyed researching over the topic how the food
community on Instagram is adding value to people’s everyday lives. My fourth artifact for this
portfolio I chose to add my piece of The Wrecking Crew for my History of Rock & Roll class
my freshmen year. I decided to add this piece into my portfolio because I was not aware that
most famous song that one may know like “California Dreamin” by The Mamas & The Papas,
“Be My Baby” by The Ronettes, and “These Boots Are Made For Walking” by Nancy Sinatra
Had hired a group called The Wrecking Crew to play the instruments to get the artist the perfect
“sound” for their soundtracks.
Before starting this course, I assumed it would be an easier course since it was enlisted in the
summer, but I was quickly realizing that to receive an A for this course, I would have to be
constantly checking blackboard and doing an activity at least each day out of the week in order
to finish the assignment that is due at the very end of the week. The most difficult thing for me
was to use black board because I was not used to it and would get frustrated and overwhelmed
just by trying to access the plan for that week but the most helpful thing for me was to write
everything that was assigned down and cross it off after I completed that assignment and that
method helped me become organized in turning assignments in. But the only bad thing is if you
miss a day, you are going to be off the rest of the week and that requires making up the work
later which I am guilty of doing, Procrastination will be the worst enemy of students that take
this course. The best way I tamed my procrastination was to work an hour straight of work then
take a break until I felt like I was ready then keep working until I completed the assignment.
That break in between an assignment has been helpful to me completing certain assignments that
was assigned for this course.
One tool that I will use in my future classes that require written essays is the essay outline and
annotated bibliography that was assigned in this course. I came into this course wanting to get a
better understanding on how to format an essay the correct way and I have on top of figuring out
how to write an annotated bibliography. The outline helped me better understand how to format
an essay correctly. One method that I have learned to be useful is at the beginning of each course
I take is to print out the syllabus and then write down each due date in a planner and use that
planner to navigate your daily routine by working your schedule around your assignments if
possible. Putting my assignments into a planner has helped me visually see how many days or
weeks I have till an assignment is due. Depending on the assignment, I would have to see how
many days I can put my full effort into completing an assignment.
My development in writing throughout this course has been good. I started off less confident in
my writing since I had to retake a composition II class but now, I see what I need to work on
while I attend other classes in the fall. I can also confidently say that I can conducted a well
formatted essay that includes interesting facts that I find ways to correlate those facts with the
topic of the essay. I have been getting better at not using the “no no” words of English and
finding different words that add maturity in my writing. The only thing that I need to work on is
staying consistent in checking my planner and following the schedule of the planner with
assignment due dates. I get unmotivated or distracted by doing other things than homework at
times so having discipline would also be much needed as well.
After completing this composition II course, I believe taking this course has made me a better
writer by giving me a visual representation of how an essay is supposed to be formatted and, how
an annotated bibliography is formatted. This course has also taught me that it is important to read
all the course material provided and the syllabus is your best friend when starting a new course. I
want to thank you Mrs. Davis for helping me to better understand and learn to love writing. You
have taught me so much through these past nine weeks! My next step is to graduate from
Oklahoma State University in Entrepreneurship with a minor in Marketing. I plan on continuing
my education during college while attending cosmetology school and esthetician school to
become certified in all thing’s beauty. After I graduate college, I plan on moving to New York to
work as a makeup artist while working for a cosmetic company on their marketing team. I plan
on owning my own cosmetic company someday so what better way to become what you want by
surrounding yourself by it. In the line of work that I want to go into, it will require me to be
educated on literature and when I will be writing cover letters for any job that I apply for. It will
also require me to write blog post, come up with scripts for advertising, and come up with
beautiful description for cosmetic products, etc. I this will be beneficial to me later in life. I am
excited to see what my next chapter in life holds and I am so grateful that I had this opportunity
to take your composition II course. Thank you for spending your time this summer on me.

Sincerely,
Maggie Aguilar