Nearing the end of the quarter, I have been able to reflect on how I have both

improved and changed as a writer. My knowledge and understanding in regards to writing

has grown massively throughout this quarter. Initially starting this course, I was a decent
writer. Like everyone else, I had both my strengths and weaknesses when it came to writing.
Upon nearing the end of this course, I have been able to improve my writing effectively.
The work uploaded in my portfolio includes examples on how I have been able to grow as a
writer. There are visible changes in both structure and word diction. Seeing change and a bit
more allows one to see improvement.
Having the ability to grow as a writer is extremely important because it allows one
to communicate information successfully. There are several steps that can be taken to
improve as a writer such as changing word diction, reviewing and editing, getting feedback,
proofreading, and etc. Following these steps, I was able to improve my writing little by little.
I also realized that in order to better myself at writing, I have to be okay with failing.
Accepting failure and being able to receive feedback in my writing allows me to make
improvements that benefit me. Receiving feedback from peers in our writing workshops
allowed me to see flaws in my writing and take their advice in order to make improvments.
One of the other things that struck out to me my journey of becoming a better writer was to
make several drafts for any kind of writing piece. As much as one may think that drafts are
useless or waste time, they actually really help. Being able to grow in many aspects of
writing allowed me to implicate these improvements into my other classes. It has helped me
be able to write essays for my archaeology class as well as my comments for my climate
crisis class. I have been able to draw connections more effectively and be able to analyze
prompts more easily.
Like every writer, I have both strengths and weaknesses. One of my weaknesses as a
writer is leaving my writing vague and simple. In my project builder 1.B, I wrote about
what genres I liked for my topic. What I wrote was very straightforward and easy to
understand, but there was not much to it. It seemed to be too simple and just very bland. I
have been able to improve this weakness by using analyization techniques. Adding more
analysis makes my writing much more significant due to having a deeper aspect to it. On
the contrary, one of my strengths is being able to put my ideas, connections, and personal
experiences into my writing. In my genre translation and reflective essay for my writing
project one, I made sure to include personal experiences connecting to the topic I was writing
about. I believe this is a huge strength when it comes to writing because it helps make
meaning of what one is reading and allows the reader to be far more engaged with the text
itself. Both strengths and weaknesses contributed to making changes and adding a lot more
to my writings.
One of the things that helped me improve my writing were the resources provided to
us in this course. The style tips given to us in class were a lot of help because they gave us
problems that were present in writing and provided us with the solutions. The other thing
that helped was the articles assigned to us. They were all a huge help because each talked
about writing in a different way.For instance, “Annoying ways people use sources” by Kyle
D. Stedman was one of the articles that helped me immensely. I have always struggled with
being able to incorporate my sources in an accurate and correct way. This article talked
about several annoyances and writings with writing and gave us solutions on how they
could be fixed. Another article that helped me was “Shitty First Drafts” by Anne Lammot.
This one was particularly helpful because it talks about how drafts play a significant role in
one's writing. Drafts allow oneself to construct something and play as a guidance into
making a better writing piece. The last article that struck me was “Backpack vs. Briefcases”
by Laura Bolin Carroll. This was one of the first articles assigned to me that helped me since
the beginning. Carroll opened up another view when it came to rhetorical analysis. She
talked about so much in the article that I was really intrigued. I learned so much such as
how to create rhetoric and how to act in a rhetorical situation. It was very helpful to me
because I was able to make judgement on what to include and write about.
 With all of this being said, I have my final and revised writing pieces in a portfolio.
My portfolio consists of this reflective cover letter and my two revised writing projects. My
first writing project talks about body dysmorphia. In my writing piece, I talked about how I
was going to talk about body dysmorphia in a genre that is not as common. I made sure to
include writing pieces of other authors to support my topic as well as the genre translation.
Along with the writing aspect of it, I also created a website that talks about body
dysmorphia.. The website consists of facts, experiences, and resources. For my second writing
project, I talked about the difficulties of choosing between paraphrasing and direct quoting.
In the writing piece, I wrote it in a conversation style so the audience could be a bit more
entertained. It consists of several authors' thoughts about the topic as well as my own. It is
pretty short and straightforward. Both writing pieces are very significant in my
improvement as a writer, hence them being included in my digital portfolio. If I had more
time in this course, I would have loved to improve my structure when it comes to writing.
All in all, I hope you enjoyed my portfolio and seeing my writing projects. (:
 Bibliography

Stedman, Kyle. Annoying Ways People Use Sources. 2010.

Lamott, Anne. Shitty First Drafts Anne Lamott from Bird by Bird. 2005.

‌Carroll, Laura. Backpacks vs. Briefcases: Steps toward Rhetorical Analysis. 2010.