Essay Topic: Essay #5
As the syllabus for this course indicates, the final essay written for this course will serve as an introduction to your portfolio. In this reflective and persuasive essay, explore your growth as a writer, reader, and critical thinker throughout the semester.
What sort of information should you include in this essay?
1) You may want to begin with a very brief history of your personal writing and/or English experiences IF they help to support your thesis! Refer to Journal #1 for inspiration.
2) Briefly introduce the work you have included in the portfolio, and indicate what it illustrates.
3) Identify the two essays that you have included, and identify the strongest essay in the portfolio. Explain why these essays serve as the best evidence of your writing abilities. Describe the writing process you followed for your essays, note different techniques that you tried as you wrote the essays, and evaluate the changes you have made to your writing process through the course of the semester: What improvements have you made to this process throughout the semester? What techniques work or do not work for you? Why? What did you learn from the writing and revision of each essay? (Use your ³Critical Reflections² for inspiration!)
4) Analyze and evaluate the other works (journals, grammar, other?) you have included in the portfolio. Why have you included these particular pieces?
5) Discuss the overall weaknesses in your writing as represented by the portfolio. Then, explain steps you have taken or will take to overcome these weaknesses.
o REMEMBER: To prove your argument, you have to deal with counterarguments. No writer is perfect - an essay that does not consider areas of weakness, and/or areas that you still need to work on, will not be believable!
6) Discuss the overall strengths in your writing as represented by the portfolio: indicate what your portfolio shows about you as a writer, student, and critical thinker and discuss what youıve learned about writing, reading, and analysis this semester. (Donıt forget to restate your thesis!)
REMINDERS:
ESSAY #5 DUE: Thursday, December 18th in your final portfolio. Include all rough work with the essay!
LENGTH: 2-3 pages of writing.
Remember, as you work on your revisions
**All students are strongly encouraged to visit the SCSU Writing Center (Wintergreen Building) for assistance with this and any other essays for the course. The Writing Center is staffed by trained tutors who will work with students on a one-on-one basis for no charge!