Dear Professor Campbell,

This semester has allowed me to develop as a student and writer; being exposed to new

forms of writing, working with peers, and creating new assignments helped me grow as a

student. The inquiry process was new to me; I’ve done research projects for writing classes

before, but using the inquiry process helped me organize my thoughts better and create a strong

understanding of my topic. I enjoyed using this process more than if I was instructed to pick a

subject, research it, and write about it. The daybook freewrites, Lit Lounge assignments, peer

reviews, ePortfolio, topic proposal, and annotated bibliography all helped me develop my

thoughts and research this semester.

Throughout the semester, we would write at the beginning of class in our daybooks with

a different prompt each day. I liked these free writing assignments because they were mostly

about my thoughts on something. I had the freedom to write about how I felt or what I thought;

some of the prompts even helped me with my final project, such as writing a draft introduction or

creating a schedule for completing my assignments. Looking back at my freewrites, the ones that

are related to the final project were the ones that helped me the most. Especially since this class

was early in the morning, I think these free writes helped get us ready for the class and gave

diversity to what we would learn that day. The freewrites allowed us to focus on something

different for just a few minutes, and I feel like I engaged in the class more because of those few

minutes of freewriting.

The very first Lit Lounge that was assigned scared me, and I’m not sure why; the topic

was interesting, but I remember being nervous about sending in my two-paragraph reflection on

the reading. After the first Lit Lounge assignment, I started to enjoy them more, and I found
myself looking forward to the next one each week. These assignments allowed me to connect

with students that took the class at a different time of the week. I think it was an excellent way

for us to share our opinions and comment on others’ thoughts. I also appreciated how the

assignments weren’t just readings but were also videos of Ted Talks. The third Lit Lounge,

which was on Boredom and Brilliance, even related to my topic of social media and its impact on

mental health. I didn’t end up using this as a source in my EIP because the main focus wasn’t

social media and mental health, but I still found it interesting to learn more about social media.

The topic proposal and annotated bibliography were two assignments that were new to

me this semester. However, I had the least amount of trouble with them and found them both to

be helpful for my final ePortfolio. I found that the topic proposal helped me organize my

research better than if I created a google document and took notes of what I was learning. I was

even able to use some of the writing from my topic proposal in my EIP paper. My favorite

section of the topic proposal was where I explained why I chose my topic; I feel like I could

quickly answer this question, which proved that it was important to me. My topic proposal was

one of the most organized assignments I completed. I didn’t wait until the last minute to

complete it, and I felt good about it when I turned it in; ultimately, the assignment helped me

gather my thoughts and research for the project.

When the annotated bibliography was assigned, and we talked about it in class, I was

terrified. I remember being extremely nervous about this because I had never heard of an

annotated bibliography before. However, it wasn’t as terrifying as I thought once I began my

research and began looking at example bibliographies. This assignment was, by far, my favorite

because I started working on it very early, and I found it simple to complete. The annotated
bibliography helped me choose reliable sources. Usually, when I see a source, I’ll quickly cite it;

however, with this assignment, I couldn’t do that. I had to carefully research the author and

website, which helped verify the credibility of that source. Before I started my annotated

bibliography, I had references to use in my EIP, but this assignment proved that not all my

sources were trustworthy. I ended up using articles that were written by researchers and

peer-reviewed by others. Ultimately, this assignment reassured me that my sources were reliable,

and I think it was worth doing before I started writing my paper.

The EIP paper was hard to start; I felt like although I had all the information and notes to

write the essay, I didn’t know how to start. I waited a little later than I should’ve to begin this

paper, which showed in my writing. It wasn’t my best writing, and I think if I took the time to

proofread and research more, it would’ve been stronger. The final EIP paper was also hard to

work on because I waited a while before I started to revise my draft. It was hard going back on

all my work and editing it after taking time away from my paper. The main things I did for my

final draft was more research, organizing my paragraphs, and adding more details and examples.

In the end, I was able to complete it and create a final draft that I was proud of, and it was

stronger than my first draft.

I was very hesitant about the ePortfolio portion of this assignment. I’ve never made my

website, so I was nervous about navigating and creating the ePortfolio. However, it was much

easier than I expected, and I had no trouble using Weebly. I think that creating a website to

display all my work was better than just putting it all into a google folder; I enjoyed having the

freedom to develop my website and design it the way I wanted. It was a new experience that I

enjoyed, and I realize that I can use this experience in future classes.
 This class was more than just another writing class, and this project was more than just

writing another essay. My perception of writing has changed, and I realize that writing doesn’t

have to follow strict rules; this project gave me the opportunity and freedom to write and

research what I wanted. I was able to learn new things, like how to create an annotated

bibliography, using a daybook, and how to make a website for my work. This project allowed me

to develop myself as a writer while also being able to research a topic that interested me.

Ultimately, this class helped me gain my confidence in writing, and I’m able to use what I’ve

learned this semester in my future courses.