Emily Truelove

Ms. Ingram
UWRT 1103
December 2015
Reflection of My UWRT Efforts
When the e-Portfolio assignment was first introduced at the beginning of the
semester it just passed through my mind because I initially had no understanding. It was
something I was unfamiliar with and I did not recognize its purpose or grasp its
importance until I actually began the the process of developing my site. Gratefully, my ePortfolio is finalized and its come a long way. It was not a linear process. It involved a
series of steps, similar to those of the writing concept composing processes. Before
building my website I viewed examples of other students E-portfolios to get a better idea
of the project. I also researched and explored the different website makers, but decided
to go with Weebly since it offered an easy build and design process. To completely
create a website from scratch was challenging, but it soon became enjoyable creating
my site. Although, because I am a perfectionist, my editing and revising efforts were
accompanied with a lot of indecisiveness, along with perpetual determination and time
spent on my site throughout the semester. Satisfyingly, I carefully structured and
designed my e-Portfolio to effectively reflect who I am, and it displays my writing in an
intrinsic, but also in an appealing, way.

The Structure of My e-Portfolio

I chose a layout with an undemanding and simple white background so that my
work would visually be the focal point. I decided to segment my assignments into six
tabs that are arranged on the top of my website from left to right in a specific order. To
explain, the Home page is listed first, then the FPE tab since it needs to be easily
viewed, and following that is the Midterm, since it is a major mid-semester assignment.
Beside the Midterm tab is the Blogs tab, consisting of blog posts completed throughout
the semester. The next tab over is the Exploratory Essay page because it was the first
paper assigned, and then a tab titled Research Essay, for the second essay. Lastly, the
More tab drops down to a page listed as Additional Assignments, where my additional
artifacts are located.
The Design of My e-Portfolio
My Home page is the first thing my viewers will see. In the header, it says ePortfolio, along with my name in a smaller text underneath. I included a link to the UNC
Charlotte womens soccer page as well, because it is relevant to the introduction of my
website, to help convey my personal background. In my introduction I included my
name, where I am from, and what led me to come to UNC Charlotte. I also thought it
was necessary to include additional aspects about myself, such as my major and that I
am a player on the soccer team here at Charlotte. Underneath the introduction are
pictures of me with my friends and family. My introduction and the pictures give my
audience a face and personality to match with my writing, which make my e-Portfolio
more personal.

As stated above, my FPE and Midterm are significant assignments, therefor I

wanted their pages to have a minimal design so that my audience only views the written
content. I simply embedded each essays in its own separate page.
The seven blog posts that were completed throughout the semester are located
on the Blogs Page. They appear in chronological order, with the most recent post on top
of the page and the very first blog post at the bottom.
In my Exploratory Essay pages header, I wrote the title, My Passion to Travel.
This gives my viewers an idea to what my essay is about. Furthermore, I placed an
enticing picture of myself in the header, where Im overlooking the view from a mountain
during one of my travels, because its complimentary to the whole idea of my essay. To
the right of my essay I included three pictures from a vacation that I wrote about in my
essay. I believe the three pictures and my header picture put an emphasis on the
content of my essay. On the bottom of the page you can find two artifacts, one of them
is my first draft and the other is feedback.
Next, my Research Essay and underneath the essay are my sources embedded
in three column notes. In the header of the page I included a quote that I also
incorporated into my essay. The quote conveys my topic of the paper and is a useful
way to engage my viewers.
My Additional Assignments pages has pictures of six artifacts with a bolded
caption underneath. The four remaining artifacts that are purposely located elsewhere in
my e-Portfolio are clearly labeled as well. I decided to choose a picture that represented
my first thought when the word artifacts came to mind, which is a picture of ancient
Mayan Ruins. I thought it added an engaging affect to the page.

Analysis of Each Assignment

The purpose of the midterm was to reflect and absorb my experience in this
class. This written assignment enabled me to value reflection. I wrote about five key
concepts that I integrated into my work, explaining what I was doing well and what I was
also struggling with. For instance, I wrote about the concept, getting out of your comfort
zone. In my midterm I explained how Ive always played it safe with my writing. In my
midterm, I said, I feel comfortable with what I know and through my writing I keep it
simple. By actually typing out my thoughts and explaining this, I realized how I could
improve. Through the power of reflection, my midterm allowed me to see how I could
further develop my writing.
On the same page as my midterm, I embedded a feedback artifact beneath it.
The feedback I received was from my first draft of my midterm, which was to add
quotes. Placing this artifact on the same page as my final draft allows a comparison, to
show how I implemented the feedback.
At the beginning of the semester, the very first blog post assigned, titled Blog
Post #1, had me explore the syllabus to inquire questions and thoughts I had about the
class. Blog Post #1 proved that an inquiring mind is crucial to success, which is a major
concept in this course. For example, by probing the question, Whats the importance of
peer groups?, it allowed me to foster my curiosity. Asking this question allowed me to
recognize the purpose of peer groups, and therefore, gave me success in this class.
Blog Post #1 also had me think about literacy and my territories within reading, writing
and other ways Im literate, such as playing soccer and listening to music. By listing
my territories I understood the meaning of being literate.

In Blog Post #2 I answered important questions, regarding Chapter 1 and 2 of the

book Who Says The Writers Research. For instance, I explained the authors idea of
foster students synthesis of ideas, as stimulating how a writer acquires their own
objectives and intentions when writing. By answering these questions I analyzed and
interpreted the concepts of rhetorical knowledge and making connections, since it was
prevalent to my exploratory essay and my first blog post. I had to make connections
about the meaning of information literacy and in what ways Im literate, which I listed in
Blog Post #1.
In Blog Post #3 I listed topics that interested me, which I later chose from to
decide on a topic for my inquiry project. This enabled me to figure out the best possible
topic that interested me most for my exploratory essay.
Blog Post #4 had me review the feedback given to me from the first draft of my
exploratory essay, which was mainly to add more of a personal conveyance. I was
informed to, slow down a few important passages with detail and dialogue. This
suggestion helped me further develop my essay by emphasizing more on one specific
experience.
To enhance my research essay, in Blog Post #5, I created a round table to
discuss and analyze the viewpoints about my topic. This gave me a reason to figure out
what my inquiry question was exactly, which led me to create a purpose for my research
essay. The assignment for Blog Post #6 should have been completed prior to that of
Blog Post #5, in regards to the writing process of my research essay, but proved that
the process of writing is in fact complex.

For my research essay, in Blog Post #6, I planned the outline and finalized what
my purpose was, along with choosing the appropriate target audience. This basically
provided me with a strong direction for my essay, although I did alter the outline in my
final draft. I considered Blog Post #6 as an artifact, since it was process work and
brainstorming for my research essay, and I noted it at the bottom of the post.
Blog Post #7 was a mass reflection of all of my previous blog posts. I explained
how each assisted me in implementing my best work throughout this class. I concluded
the blog post by saying, I now realize the importance of each blog post and how it has
affected the overall development of my writing. In recollection of my blog posts, the
growth of my writing is evident. I am more confident and show a better recollection of
the information learned.
The purpose of my exploratory essay was to convey a passion of mine. Traveling
is something I love to do. As I said in my essay, I will never get tired of traveling and the
feeling it provokes. I enjoyed writing this essay because it allowed me to reflect on
memories from all of my travels. Expressing this interest of mine allowed me to become
engaged in this course from the beginning. It sparked an initial eagerness to advance
myself in the class.
On the same page as my essay I included two artifacts. The first was a process
work artifact, which is my first draft. A peer advised me to vary sentence length and
flow and to sound more personal, so in the second draft I included a specific
experience from one of my vacations. My second artifact is feedback from my second
draft. In my final draft I further elaborated on that specific experience to make my essay
more personal. I originally did not give that specific moment the justice it deserved, but

by adding more detail and dialogue, I intensified the imagery and it became more
compelling.
My research essay was on a topic that is not only interesting to me, but relative
to who I am. It is about introverts vs extroverts and specifically, how introverts are
misunderstood in society. It was challenging to write about, because I wanted to
accurately inform my audience of this issue (because Im an introvert) and I wanted it to
be interesting. I had some prior knowledge but had to take responsibility for my own
learning. I had to learn more about introverts and extroverts and why they are the way
they are to portray my purpose in a suitable way. I had to take ownership of this
assignment to gain a well rounded understanding of my topic. My research essay was
produced through an elaborative process. My first draft was minimally completed and I
was not satisfied with the outline. The second draft I finalized the layout and had content
under every headline. In my third and final draft I added quotes and in text citations, and
further elaborated in the paragraphs headlined Introverts in the Workplace and
Introverts in School.
The three column notes are located on the same page below my research essay.
This was beneficial because it organized all of my thoughts and sources. In my first draft
I had three sources. In my second draft I had to fix some of the sources to ensure that
they were all in APA format and by then I had eight sources. Finally, there are ten
sources in my final draft. My favorite source was a TED Talk by Susan Cain, who I
quoted throughout my essay.
Lastly, my remaining artifacts on the Additional Assignments are from
assignments in class, such as writing from my writers notebook, along with process

work, and two wild card artifacts. One of my Writers Notebook artifacts is a Dear
Reader which explained to my peers how I edited my second draft. The second Writers
Notebook artifact was a warm up, where we were simply told to draw a fish. This
exercise proved that everyone has a unique interpretation and mind than everyone else,
because no ones drawing was similar. This relates to how the content of certain topics
wont be all the same and author driven. I included the Genre Analysis activity as an
artifact because it also assisted with the idea of genres and how they are specific by the
means of their author and content. My group and I had to examine and analyze a
shampoo bottle to figure to consider the genre. We had to understand the authors
choices to figure out the genre by using the concept knowledge of conventions. To
come to a conclusion, we had to point out the audience, purpose, whether it appealed to
us ethically, pathetically, or logistically, and we had to recognize the modes of
communication.
The Rhetoric Situation visual from the book Who Says? The Writers Research
was helpful with assisting me in understanding the concept of rhetoric. Another artifact
was process work from brainstorming for my research essay, to figure out my target
audience, overall purpose, and working thesis, that I later ended up changing.
Lastly, I included a piece of process work. The assignment was called speed
dating, where we discussed and asked questions about our inquiry topic one on one.
After reading my inquiry question, which is Are introverts misunderstood in society?, I
was able to see my peers initial notion and their judgment first hand. Most of my
classmates were confused and surprisingly, had no previous knowledge about the word
introversion. This gave me motivation to write my research essay so I could further

inform my audience on this topic. I liked this activity because I gained insight on others
thoughts and ideas that supplemented my research and writing process for my essay.

The Grade I Deserve

UWRT 1103 profoundly expanded my perception about the writing process and
justifiably, refined my writing. As I reflect on my experience in this class, I believe that I
established an understanding of the concepts of the course, and I accurately utilized
them within my writing. Throughout the semester I engaged myself in the editing of my
own work, as well as my peers. I aimed to improve each draft and made any necessary
revisions. I took pride in the content of each assignment and truthfully, dedicated my
time and effort to project my best work. I have never been the type of person to settle
for mediocrity and in correspondence, I am satisfied with my e-Portfolio and the
composition of each assignment. I believe that I have adequately earned an A in this
course.