Ward 1

Ryan Ward

Dr. Sindelar

ENC 3250

5/3/2023

Portfolio Reflection Essay

Throughout this semester, I have seen a great improvement in my writing. I feel as though this is

really evident, especially in my white paper due to the fact that it required quite a lot of revisions. While

I was revising my white paper, the thing that really stuck out to me the most was the fact that the

language that I have used did not seem professional in the slightest. It seems that in one place I even

insulted part of my audience without realizing it! I had to rewrite significant parts of the paper which can

be seen in the document that tracks my changes. This has developed through the use of peer reviewing,

as I could blatantly see the differences between my writing and that of my peers.

My goal for this course was to become a better professional writer through the use of projects

such as the white paper. I have written a white paper before in the past, but it did not turn out nearly as

well due to the fact that I disregarded the advice that I was given when it came time to revise my paper,

and I feel as though the white paper that I wrote this semester really stood out to me both in writing

and stylistically speaking.

As for which assignment I am most proud of in this course, I would have to say that it would be,

again, the white paper. I know that it is the only assignment that I have mentioned during this paper,

however I find that it is the singular most important paper due to the fact that being able to write white

papers is an invaluable skill that can help later in life. I find that the Resume project was also important,

however, there are people out there that can type an essay for you, but if you want to get anything

done in a professional organization, then being able to type a white paper is an invaluable skill to have. If

I could edit any assignment in this course, then it would be the presentation project. This is because
 Ward 2

while I scored a decent grade on it, I feel as though I could have done significantly better in the way of

public speaking and delivery. I tried my best with it, however other students used flash cards so that

they knew what to say and when to say it. I feel as though I could have benefitted from this greatly

because even though I prepared for this and did an appropriate amount of research, I have been known

to be particularly bad at public speaking so I ended up blanking and restating the same points multiple

times or mentioning a subject well before it was mentioned on the power point and having to re explain

myself. While It was overall a good power point, I feel as though I could have also expanded some

sections to explain definitions of some of the terms that the listeners were unfamiliar with, in addition

to adding a complete sources slide.