This portfolio is a compilation of the work I have done this past semester, reflecting my growth as a writer through the

five major multimedia assignments. The assignments in this portfolio are great examples of the writing process, as they have been planned, outlined, drafted, reviewed, peer-reviewed, revised, and rewritten. The writing process is lengthy, as I have learned from this class. Revisions must be revised again and again, because a first draft is not good enough to hand in, it is simply thoughts on a page. All of the works in this portfolio demonstrate this process, especially the Revision Project, which is just a major overhaul of what used to be my Causal Essay. My writing has evolved throughout the semester, especially because I have realized that first and second drafts are not good enough to be turned in. Even final drafts can be improved and I am sure, given more time, I could keep working to make the projects in this portfolio even better. Being a multimedia writing class, many of our assignments involved other platforms than a simple essay. The audio narrative and the multimedia satire are great examples of how multimedia was incorporated into this class. Both of these assignments taught me a lot about rhetoric, how writing can effectively used in different styles to achieve a certain purpose. My audio narrative used visual rhetoric to create an interesting story, while my Multimedia Satire used rhetoric to satirize social medias impact on language. In addition, I found that multimedia could be used as great examples for analysis. Generally, I had never written a paper on anything besides a book, speech, or some sort of text. However, I found that multimedia, such as music, movies, blogs, and even Twitter, could be used to not only support my arguments but also to enhance my writing, by being a means to an end. Using Twitter as the genre for my satire and creating an audio essay were both lessons in

understanding different types of rhetoric and how writing can be changed to appeal to different audiences in various ways. Each of the major assignments in this course had different purposes, but all of them were focused on a specific writing, research, or rhetoric technique. The purpose of the audio narrative, our first assignment, was to effectively use rhetoric to create a visual story. Instead of having words to read, the audience had to rely on the rhetoric used by the author. The challenge for the author was to create a setting and characters the audience could be enveloped in, without having the words on a page in front of them. Effectively using descriptive language to tell an interesting story was the key to this assignment and I felt that I was able to learn about rhetoric just by listening to my own story multiple times until I felt that it was interesting enough without a paper to follow along. The next project, the Lens Analysis, was meant to analyze a new piece of writing or rhetoric, using texts we had already read in class. This assignment was kind of the opposite of the audio narrative, because we had to analyze another persons rhetoric in order to uncover something not really obvious at first glance. While the audio narrative was crafting our own piece of rhetoric, this was analyzing somebody elses. This assignment also opened the door for research and synthesis of source material, because we used already provided lenses to analyze a text of our choice. This project integrated media in a more subtle way and helped me learn more about the writing process, as well as proper writing conventions and how to write an essay with a clear purpose. The next assignment, the Causal Argument Essay, was the most difficult for me. This project required a lot more research than any of the previous assignments did. The information needed for this assignment not only needed to be researched, but also had to

be synthesized in order to establish a valid argument. This essay had the least to do with multimedia, though what I was analyzing were trends in media. I had no trouble with finding information, but I did have some issues with synthesizing it into my argument. This paper taught me a lot about the writing process because even with multiple revisions, I was not sure that this paper was exactly what I wanted it to be when I turned it in. I also learned about research and how to properly use it and incorporate it to create a strong argument. This assignment is the one I chose for my revision paper, because I wanted to completely rewrite it so I could have a stronger argument. The Multimedia Satire was my favorite assignment, because it brought back the creative reign and the focus on rhetoric I enjoyed so much with the audio assignment. This project focused on a different type of rhetoric. Language was used to make a point about a certain social issue, but in a subtle, more creative way, rather than directly, like in the previous two papers. The hardest part about this assignment was coming up with an idea, but after that, I had no trouble with research and writing. This assignment also incorporated some research in terms of the subject and the genre of the project. This research was easy to integrate because I was not writing a 5-paragraph essay. I liked this assignment because the structure was less strict and I was able to try different things using multimedia, including Twitter and Instagram. The final project was the revision I did of the Causal Argument. This assignment taught me the most about how to improve my writing and how important the writing process is. I changed the thesis of my essay so that the research would support it more and I synthesized the research into my essay even further. My original essay was not strong enough based on the research I had done, so I altered it to make the argument fit in with

my sources more. This was a time-consuming, yet rewarding process because I understood how I could improve my writing and was able to use the comments from peers and Dr. E to improve (hopefully) the original paper. In this portfolio, the project I am most proud of is my Multimedia Satire, because the project came alive exactly how I had envisioned it in my head. In addition, I had to do a fair amount of research and synthesis to make this project accurate and interesting while attempting to articulate its overall purpose. I think this work highlights my strengths as a creative writer because each of these tweets was well thought out and planned carefully so it would have a purpose but also be humorous. I also think the Multimedia Satire shows my growth as a writer because it demonstrates my new understanding and knowledge of rhetoric, something I had never discussed or learned about previous to this class. I was able to use the language in the satire effectively and persuasively, in order to prove my point about hashtagging and the brevity of our modern day language.