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Hao Hoang

ENGL 1301-122

Dr. Sharity Nelson

12/1/22

English 1301 Was A Challenge

A portfolio is made up to record the growth of an individual student throughout the whole

course, allowing the individuals to recognize their development throughout their course. At first

glance, one might think that a portfolio is not a necessity for growth; however, individual growth

can’t only be represented through numbers but rather only by seeing the progress yourself can

you reflect. During the time that I was building my portfolio, I learned a lot of my mistakes that I

wasn’t able to recognize while I was writing my essay. I learned that I wrote a lot of unnecessary

essays, I learned that I had to clarify my topic sentence, and I learned that I have to restructure

my essay. The portfolio didn’t just allow me to reflect, but it allow me to improve myself and my

writing skill within the course.

When I revised my first essay which is the text genre analysis, it was quite easy

recognition of where to focus since the essay was set up by me with careful consideration;

therefore, I immediately pinpoint my topic to be an immediate weakness. I wasn’t able to fully

set up a solid thesis statement that would allow me to connect it to the topic sentence within the

body paragraph. I first revise my thesis statement by clarifying my sentence which will build a

foundation for me to implement change to my topic sentence without having the problem of an

unclarified main idea. After I change my topic sentence and thesis to clearly state my claim, I

revise my conclusion to review all of my ideas without forgetting to include the use of the

information to my audience.
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My visual analysis essay revision was harder than my previous one albeit it was similar

in the area that I had recognized that it require revision. It requires a reframing of the thesis

statement and a revision of the topic to fully clarify the body paragraph since my explanation of

the topic in which I wasn’t able to fully clarify throughout my body paragraph. I chose to change

the structure of my introduction and lead the topic sentence into the body paragraph which it had

fully improve my clarification and help define my essay to the audience and further establish a

foundation for my writing based on the explanation of the topic within my body paragraph.

While the previous two were much more manageable, I encountered a huge obstacle

during my peer-review article analysis essay. Since the essay was a much more difficult essay to

write due to the genre, I encountered much trouble while I was in the process of building the

essay; Therefore, I wasn’t able to fully elaborate on my topic which result in my essay not being

able to be fully clarified. It result in the essay logic being in a complete jumble causing the

revision to be extremely difficult since I would have to revise all of my thesis statements and

completely reframe my whole body paragraph. Furthermore, I revised my whole conclusion

because the preview was not accurate anymore, changing the schedule I had in store for the essay

to be turned in.

The website was built on a platform called Weebly which I wasn’t familiar with it at all,

and I had to learn everything from scratch. Therefore, I wasn’t able to focus on the design of the

website at all during my planning stage of the website causing it to be quite plain at first glance.

Because I saw that my lack of design was a weakness that need to be immediately fixed, I

immediately look for assistance from my peer through various emails and calls. I was able to

redesign my website in such a way that was much more interesting. Within the website, The first

thing I laid out was the theme of the website, and I found that the theme that I chose seemed to
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be a smooth white with a touch of blue paint in the background. It’s a plain theme that lacks the

impact of a strong impression; therefore, I redesign the theme with a more vibrant color with the

theme of a jellyfish accompanied with a vibrant of color to emphasize the colorful light that

shines at the bottom of the ocean giving the impression of a tranquil impression. I made the

theme with an impactful design then I work on the menu to make it much more convenient for

use since the website seem to be quite confusing at first. I changed the menu to where the item is

listed in categories depending on what part of the portfolio it belongs to which made the website

much more user-friendly.

I was reminded of multiple homework and activities that were assigned to me throughout

the course, and I remember that out of all of those activities there was one that assisted me the

most through the development of this portfolio and that was the reflection essay that was

assigned to me after every single essay. Revision of visual analysis requires me to clarify my

topic sentence and reframe my introduction, and I was able to reflect on this weakness since I

wrote a reflection essay. Albeit the reflection essay is such a hassle to write after every single

essay, I wouldn’t have been able to recognize the little detail of error within my essay if it was

not for my reflection essay. The reflection essay allowed me to reflect both on the essay and

improve on my writing by being more careful in the next essay which allows for more progress

to be made each essay like a checkpoint through every single essay.

I learned that I can apply my analytical skill from both my visual and text analysis essays

since I can apply this to writing a report on another course or analyzing a visual record of a

historical figure. An example of this would be writing a report in my history course about Rosa

Park. I know that writing this report would require me to analyze any textual record of her and

any visual record of her achievement; therefore, I would have to apply both of my analytical
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skills to use from reading text record of what she had to achieve from either the course book or

doing research online through a trustworthy historical article. Also, I would have to analyze the

map of where she had brought the slave from the book and wrote my analysis on the path

whether there was a better path or transportation. I would have to analyze many records about

her and fully understand her decision before writing a report about it since I have to have actual

support evidence to establish integrity within an essay and that requires my analytical skill.

Albeit I learned a lot in my English 1301 course that I will be able to apply to another

course, I won’t be able to apply my rhetorical technique analysis skill to another course because

the author's rhetorical technique is irrelevant in other courses. A biology lab report article can be

written by the author to research a condition or illness, and I won’t be able to use my rhetorical

technique analysis to analyze the author's rhetorical technique since it’s irrelevant for the sake of

researching a condition. I will be more likely to analyze the author's record and decipher its

meaning, not the technique he uses in his text. I would be required to have an in-depth

understanding of the research that was being carried out by the author rather than the report of

the author through his way of writing and such; therefore, the analytical skill I learned in peer

review article essay won’t be much use.

My writing has greatly enhanced over the course since I was able to have much hands-on

practice with various essays that I wrote throughout the course. During the writing of my

reflection essay for my peer review article essay, I was able fully to elaborate on explaining my

topic and example without confusing my audience. My writing clarity improved over the course,

and I didn’t encounter any problems with writing clarity as much as I had before. In addition, I

was able to fully elaborate on my writing without missing any detail. With the essay being so
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great of a detail I think had made a lot of progress in my writing though it’s not much; however,

it’s still great progress.

My weakness has got way better since I was able to fully refine my essay to be a much

better version of an essay rather than having a confusing essay to read throughout the whole

context. I was able to fully develop the essay without having to revise it and cause the context to

be inaccurate to the point that it would be unnecessary or confusing. My visual analysis essay

was the prime example of how I was able to fully wrote an essay without having to completely

reframe it for my final draft since it had most of the material needed to complete the essay

without a problem.

There were a lot of challenges during developing the portfolio for my English 1301

course; however, I found the tight schedule that was overwhelming for me. I acknowledge the

fact that I was given a lot of time during this portfolio including the knowledge of the final

project ahead of time; however, I wasn’t able to fully complete my revision for my final

reflection essay due to my overly anxious personality that would freak out even with the smallest

detail. I encountered a lot of problems with the amount of time, I have to work on the portfolio

with a hasty attitude which cause the quality of my revision to not be at the level of my liking.

The least challenging aspect of making this website is the framing of the website due to

the program setup being extremely convenient. I was building the frame for the website during

my website build process. I usually would like to think that building a website usually takes a

little longer since I would more than often associate building a website with having to program

everything from scratch. However, I was greeted with the pleasant surprise of not having to start

my website from scratch, and I didn’t encounter any problem framing my website. Though I did
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have very limited choice on my theme, it was enough for me to frame a fully functional website

that is sufficient for my course portfolio.

English wasn’t my first language, so I didn’t expect for me to be able to be any good at

writing an essay or even communicating in the language. I come into the course with around 6

years of English under my belt; therefore, I wasn’t confident with my writing ability. I wasn’t a

good writer or an excellent reader, but I was able to learn a lot after English 1301. Since I got to

experience firsthand so much writing practice that I wouldn’t usually do before the start of this

course. I can observe and see that throughout the course, I had made a lot of progress with many

stumble along the way of course; however, I was able to complete the course with much

assistance from both my professor and my tutors. I was blessed with a lot of assistance.

Throughout the course, I was able to refine my writing capability while improving my reading

skill just by reflecting on my essay. I was able to complete multiple stages of writing an essay

that I wouldn’t have imagined being able to complete before. The courses changed me both as a

writer and an individual. It teaches me that the English language would not be impossible to

learn rather it’s a fair game where you will progress through inputting a lot of effort and

dedication.

English 1301 was a huge journey from the beginning of September to the start of

December; it was a journey with many great obstacles that require a lot of dedication to the

course, but just like any other challenge, the course reward me with a lot of tools under my belt.

The course changed me as a writer, improving me as a writer. From my writing clarity to

narrative writing, and analytical skill. Everything was a huge challenge for me. I was challenged,

and I have to say that I have completed the challenge.

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Work cite

Hoang, Hao. “The FLO recruit poster” September 20, 2022. ENGL 1301, Texas A&M

International University, the student paper.

“The FLO recruit poster” September 15, 2022. ENGL 1301, Texas A&M International

University, the student paper.

“The FLO recruit poster” September 8, 2022. ENGL 1301, Texas A&M International University,

the student paper.

Hoang, Hao. “The Breath of the Wild on Nintendo Switch Advertisement” October 13, 2022.

ENGL 1301, Texas A&M International University, the student paper.

“The Breath of the Wild on Nintendo Switch Advertisement” October 11, 2022. ENGL 1301,

Texas A&M International University, the student paper.

“The Breath of the Wild on Nintendo Switch Advertisement” October 4, 2022. ENGL 1301,

Texas A&M International University, the student paper.

Hoang, Hao. “The Breath of the Wild on Nintendo Switch Advertisement” October 13, 2022.

ENGL 1301, Texas A&M International University, the student paper.

“The Breath of the Wild on Nintendo Switch Advertisement” October 11, 2022. ENGL 1301,

Texas A&M International University, the student paper.

“The Breath of the Wild on Nintendo Switch Advertisement” October 4, 2022. ENGL 1301,

Texas A&M International University, the student paper.

Hoang, Hao “Visual Analysis Experience” October 18, 2022. ENGL 1301, Texas A&M

International University, the student paper.

Hoang, Hao “Genre Analysis Experience” October 18, 2022. ENGL 1301, Texas A&M

International University, the student paper.

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Hoang, Hao “Rhetorical Analysis Reflection ” October 18, 2022. ENGL 1301, Texas A&M

International University, the student paper.

Nelson, Sharity Reflection essay 1 September 15, 2022, ENGL 1301, Texas A&M International

University, student activity.

Nelson, Sharity Reflection essay 2 September 15, 2022, ENGL 1301, Texas A&M International

University, student activity.

Nelson, Sharity Reflection essay 3 September 15, 2022, ENGL 1301, Texas A&M International

University, student activity.