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Evalee Anderton

ePortfolio Assignment

ENGL 2010

April 17th, 2019

ePortfolio Assignment

Coming into English 2010 after English 1010, to me, was drastically different. In English

1010 I learned how to compose a well written five-paragraph essay. I quickly learned that this

model of writing is more effective in a timed environment rather than it being used as a template

for any essay. It was interesting to find out that different countries believe if they have trouble

reading an article it’s the reader’s fault and not the writer. Whereas here in the United States if I

write a piece that someone doesn’t understand it’s my fault for not portraying it effectively. In

general, rhetoric greatly impacts everybody from advertisements to persuasive essays but to be

considered they have to be directed at an audience.

Originally when I would write something I did not put any consideration into who would

read my work because I knew only my instructor would read it, maybe a peer or two but no one

outside of school. That isn’t the case in the real world because there are a lot of different

audiences I can write to which I never really thought of before because all these things I’ve

created were only for school.

The project that changed my outlook of who I wrote to was the Taking Action

Assignment. Targeting a specific audience was challenging for me and really made me rethink

ideas I had. This assignment made me do major edits to it to have it fit with a specific audience. I

started with an older audience such as high school and college students, that I would try to

persuade through an infographic. I had trouble effectively getting my point across this way.
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That’s when I flipped the whole project around gearing it towards kids. Having children as my

audience was easier for me to identify a visual piece to persuade them why girls need to

participate in sports as well as having people support the girls who will become professional

athletes.

Besides having this major turn around in my project, I did minor changes to my paper

explaining the details of it. At first, I had a hard time expressing the reason why I chose specific

colors for my visual intervention as well as the layout and just other details of the design. Having

a peer review is always beneficial to me because I can’t always see the dilemma. Doing revisions

of my assignment can easily make or break the audience's decision on the topic at hand.

The essay I chose to showcase is my Taking Action Assignment. I chose this essay

because I felt that I wrote it pretty well. Essays, where I can write about my experiences and

opinion, are easy because I don’t have to do too much research because that’s where I struggle. I

want to find reputable sources to get my information from and cite them correctly so I’m not

plagiarising. In my Taking Action essay, I thought my flow was easy to follow because usually,

I’m jumping from place to place with so many different ideas.

English isn’t my best or favorite subject but I will absolutely be taking away a lot of

useful tidbits. I can apply a lot of information I learned to other classes. I won’t be using a five-

paragraph essay for all my assignments now but I will have to work on building a strong thesis.

The resume and cover letter portion will absolutely be beneficial to me applying to jobs. I like

the idea that I can keep building on these assignments throughout my days of working.