To whom it may concern:
This is a complete online writing portfolio for the Spring 2009 semester. This is for my expository writing class with Dr. Trey Conner.
This page has all the links for my course portfolio. On this page you'll find the links to the first half of the semester, including my Vinyl vs. Digital definitional Argument. You will find a page that has my causal argument called The Ripple Effect. You will also find my final project! This semester I got to explore different avenues of writing that I hadn't previously considered. And I am glad to have gotten the opportunity.
Sincerely,
Lydia Beljan
Writing Vinyl vs Digital l helped me to better under my audience. It became clear to me during the writing process that I needed to identify with my audience. Some people don't listen to records, or understand anything about them, therefore to truly identify with my audience I had to explain what vinyl is and why I love it. I had to do the same while speaking of the digital side. I also had to learn how to find my expository voice which is something I haven't done before. I had to become a persuasive writer in order to truly understand this assignment. By doing peer reviews, I had to see another writers perspective to understand their audience. Overall, this semester has taught me how to write a clear argument that has a personal touch but can relate to a large audience.
The books that Dr. Conner gave us to read this semester really made me think about how to be more persuasive. By reading books about genres (such as comics) that don't get a lot of recognition helped me to better understand how to write. We also had to develop arguments. I decided for my causal argument to write about a situation at my work. Writing The Ripple Effect, taught me how to take a personal experience and make it universal, and I did it in a satirical fashion. By doing a draft workshop, I got feedback from my peers that helped me to further develop my piece. I also gave feedback to my fellow students about where I felt they could improve, not only did it help me as a writer, it helped me learn to evaluate someone fairly.
My writing process can be very complex. I've been a journalist for several years, so it was hard for me to expand on something I feel I've all ready perfected. Dr. Conner had us do draft workshops so we could get inspiration from our peers. I learned a lot about my writing process in those workshops from words I've always spelled wrong to words to the way I write sentences. The draft workshops helped me improve my voice. I was also able to assist others by offering up my skills as a journalist. I taught several classmates to read their pieces out loud so they could hear mistakes when they made them, and they could learn to understand their voice by hearing their words. This class taught me a lot about brainstorming and to jot ideas down when I had them in my head. I improved as a writer because of this course.
Through further developing my writing process, I learned about a lot of the mistakes I generally made when I was writing. Throughout the semester, my storytelling improved, my punctuation improved and my spelling improved. I think I really grasped the point of the class which was to be able to write arguments in a respectful manner. I feel that my writing quality has improved, and I do feel able to hook someone into anything I write within the first paragraph or two. I feel that this class improved my writing skills.
Lydia's Definitional Argument Vinyl vs Digital