23 April 2019

Portfolio Committee
Northern Oklahoma College
English Department
1118 West Hall of Fame
Stillwater, Oklahoma 74074

Dear Professor Nordquist,

First, I am thankful for you pushing me on writing my essay when I needed your help to
understand them but, foremost I’m really thankful for you for helping me out this semester of my
freshman year of college. I enjoyed being in your English class this semester and your reading
class last semester. Being in your class was exciting because I met new people and I got to learn
new ways of how to write an essay. I’m leaving freshman year in college knowing I had a great
teacher helping me out on my work but now I understand how to fully write one. You have
helped me with some of my strength in writing, but I also still have my challenges. Knowing my
writing process before and now helps me notice more about my strengths and weaknesses that
would help me go into OSU and the future.

The most challenging paper we’ve wrote was the letter because of how we were supposed to
demonstrate, what form it was listed to be in, and the exact amount of pages it’s supposed to be.
And I also had to do more research on how to properly write a formal letter based on the topic
which made it really complicated. Although the formal letter was the most challenging one for
me I know I will have to know how to write a formal letter in the future. But my favorite paper
was the annotated bibliographies because it was easier to comprehended and I got the hang of it
after I learned how to do them. The other reason why the annotated bibliographies was my
favorite is because it had more information to it that had me think of some good reliable sources
on how Coca Cola products has a part of why people around the world is becoming obesity. My
strengths are giving my full, honest opinion about a subject that I don’t agree with or what others
think about the topic instead of talking about it out loud or in person because I feel that my
words would get mixed in the wrong order because it is hard to explain. But my weaknesses is
not fully comprehending what’s the difference of each sentence and structure of a body
paragraph that is written to make it a complete thought without any run-on’s or fragments in one.

I think the most challenging part as a writer is procrastination. For me when it comes to writing I
automatically procrastinate with my work because I’m so used to doing it. This makes it really
difficult to fully understand the meaning of the topic or subject that is giving or what is it about. I
also think commas are another challenge for me because I can sometimes misuse them or put
them in the wrong order. And lastly, using simple wording like, for instance, something,
sometimes, doesn’t, don’t, and know. My writing process takes two to three days because my
brain can’t think about a certain subject instead of freely doing my own subject but now as a
college student, I still feel the same way about it because I’m not used to writing essays like this.
At times, I do approach writing differently because of the different structure each essay has to be
written in and what form it has to be in to get a better understanding of it.
If I had a writing toolbox, I would include from Stephen King reference is to turn off the tv
because I get distracted easily and lose my train of thought, but also stick with my own style,
lastly avoid adverbs. When I write I notice that I use the same patterns as like, stuff, things,
sometimes, something, and everything patterns in the subjects that I’ve chosen. In my comp I
class it was easy because I knew some of the basic but, some of my essay were difficult because
I would usually have comma-splices, fragments, and run-ons. In comp 1, professor Diana
Watkins taught me all types of essays that has something to do English and she had me write
them in my own way that I understood. Comp II, you taught me how to properly write a formal
letter and what was needed. You also taught me, how to fully read and comprehend what is the
true meaning of writing essay for English and give good support to back up my topic sentence.

In conclusion, I just wanted to thank you again for all the help you gave me all this semester I’m
leaving here knowing how to properly write essay and formal letters. I have also learned my
strengths and weaknesses, and a lot of challenges that I needed work on in the future. Coming
right out of high school I didn’t know anything about how to properly write a paper but now I’m
leaving as a freshman in college knowing how to write letters and essay because of you. I
truthfully enjoyed having you as my reading and English teacher as a freshman.