Reflective Cover Letter

Brian P Schmitt ENG101: English Composition Reflective Cover Letter April 20th, 2021

Dear Professor Angela Shaw-Thornburg,

Thank for the time you will devote to reading the materials that I have corrected and incorporated into my portfolio. I respect this time and appreciate the effort you will put forth while reading all of the included assignments. Prior to being enrolled in this course, I was certain in my writing propensity as a technical writer. I often wrote nuclear procedures, technical requirement sheets, and engineering specification papers. My main focus during the completion of this English Composition course has been to become an effective academic writer; gaining a firmer grasp of formatting papers as well as the tools and research needed to properly write an effective essay. I have made substantial gains throughout your English Composition course in APA formatting and essay development. In my portfolio and as noted on this reflective cover letter, I will show this progress as evident in the submittal of my corrected research essay, rhetorical analysis, power point slide presentation and, my reflective essay to my portfolio.

The structure of an essay in the formatting style of APA is mandatory in this course for the organization of the content that you are writing about. The need to freely express, without apology, the subject content of your essay is just as important as the structure that you use. Balancing the two to find an effective and useful way to express a convincing argument or opinion without feeling constrained by the rigidness of APA formatting is tantamount to writing successfully. Following the correct writing steps, accurately and in order was concerning to me. I used to worry about this. APA formatting was the tool required for this correctness and structure, however, even with this tool, the development of required information and the organization of the rhetorical essay was a challenge for me. When writing my rhetorical essay, I looked-for a way to definitively express the original author’s opinion on the topic of his/her article, and present an impartial view of the subject matter contained within. I thought that stating as many facts as possible in the analysis was needed to present the impartial view stated above, however, that is not the case. Using the process of rewording the article in order to articulate the content of the article and the developed thesis was more effective than directly quoting the article.

Developing the structure for my rhetorical essay was a challenge bringing a few more gray hairs to my head. Proper usage of quoting, summarizing and paraphrasing as well as citing these learned tools, posed a moderate test. I was able to practice and define my knowledge of the specific dissimilarities between quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing. All three are similar, but the summary is a succinct explanation of what you read, where a paraphrase is conversion of the authors words to your words then stating the same information that was presented by the author. All three are invaluable methods of source integration when writing using information

sourced from scholarly articles, however, paraphrasing will be the strategy I use most often in this type of writing.

The MEAL plan was a new concept that I had never even heard of before the completion of this course. I gained an understanding of the incorporation and the organization of a MEAL plan and its use in the development and writing of the various sections of my research essay. Utilization of the MEAL plan in the different paragraphs of my research essay, helped me streamline my arguments in support of my thesis and provide the supporting documents needed for this proof. Along with providing proof for my thesis, I learned how to take my emotions out of my arguments, and hypothesized from a factual perspective only. I gained the knowledge of how to strengthen my thesis by providing better, more supporting documentation and facts in my essay. My thesis was also strengthened by inserting an opposing view or counterpoint in direct contradiction to the assertion in my thesis.

When integrating all the information from my research topic on the build cycle of a Virginia class submarine into a PowerPoint presentation, I was educated on the proper formatting and citing of the images that I included on the slides of my presentation. For me, the information used in my presentation was more easily displayed through a Power Point type arrangement instead of a photographic essay. At first, the citing of images was difficult to understand, however, as I performed more research into the correct way to cite images, the easier it became. In conjunction with the citing of the images, I found it was useful to bullet the main points of my essay on the slides of my presentation. This bulleting of information allowed for highlighting the main arguments of my essay, without overly complicating the specifics and arguments contained throughout my research essay. Overall, the presentation assignment was very helpful and beneficial to me as a writer. I gained an understanding of how important it is to present images that capture the factual content of my research essay. The presentation of information to match the images on the slides is needed to establish and maintain the tone of the essay as you progress through the slide presentation.

In this collection, you will see evidence of my progress as an academic writer as well as showcasing the recently acquired skills I have obtained. This course, English Composition 101, has aided me in achieving better writing abilities as applied to APA formatting, rhetorical essay organization, creating an accurate thesis, MEAL plan development, understanding the differences between quoting and paraphrasing, and finally being able to correctly cite photographs in a photo presentation. This course has facilitated my growth as a writer by giving me confidence and self- assurance when it comes to writing. Additionally, I intend to employ my writing talents during the balance of my time in college, in the performance of my duties in my professional livelihood, and in my everyday life. Angela, I welcome your analysis of my portfolio and look forward to the insight and feedback that you will provide.

Sincerely,

Brian P Schmitt