25 April 2019

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

Dear Mrs. Nordquist,

I have collected some of my favorite pieces of writing from the past two years. The selections I
have chosen are from various classes including English 3, composition 1 and composition 2. I
tried to pick and choose my favorite while also choosing a variety of different styles. My
research skills and creativeness show through these works. Among my selection, there are two
stories, which I believe will show my creativeness. There is also a letter to the president and a
research paper, which will show my researching skills. I hope the pieces I have chosen show my
best writing skills and the writer I have become.

My first writing sample was written for my high school English 3 class, the second semester of
my junior year. I decided to include this piece in my portfolio because it was voted the best in
my class. For this short story, I had to choose a fairly new piece of technology and create a
science fiction. I enjoyed writing this paper because I enjoy coming up with stories, and I believe
it is one of my stronger points as a writer. For my second piece, I chose to use a letter I wrote to
the president over a higher education issue. This was an assignment for composition 2, one of my
favorite assignments. I chose to write about the high costs of attending college and how there is
no financial aid available for middle-class citizens. I enjoyed writing this piece because it is
something I am struggling in the present. As I am a senior in high school and a middle-class
citizen trying to figure out how I am going to pay for college. I believe I did well on this piece of
writing because I gave good reasoning and backed it up as well. The third piece of writing I
chose is a research paper over the 1986 flood in Bartlesville. I wrote this paper for my
composition 1 class, the first semester of my senior year. I enjoyed writing this paper because I
was not yet born when this event happened, however, I know many people that it affected and I
was excited to learn more. I got to interview my great-grandmother for this paper, her house was
severely affected by this flood. This paper shows my research and interviewing skills as well as
tells an important story from the history of my hometown. The final paper I chose to include is
another short story that I also wrote for composition 2. This short story had to be about a job that
I had or wanted. I work in the YMCA childcare and I chose to write about what one shift is like
when working my job. This story shows my skills in making the reader feel like they are in the
story.
Throughout this class, my writing skills have greatly improved. Not only did my writing become
more organized but it also became easier to read. I have always struggled with how to organize
my papers in the correct way. My papers were also quite boring and repetitive. This class taught
me how to organize my paper in the correct way by teaching me different strategies. Creating an
outline and organizing my paper before writing it also helped with my repetitiveness. Once the
outline was created, I just had to put it into sentences. Before I knew how to correctly write and
use an outline, I did not know what I was writing about next until I was writing it.

My writing process used to consist of getting a blank piece of paper, doodling a few ideas, then
begin writing. I never used any outline or format, I just went with the flow. I also used any
website that popped up on my computer screen. One thing I would like to keep with me in my
“writer's toolbox” is the knowledge of bibliographies and the correct way to outline each paper.
Preparing an outline for each paper helps my paper tremendously in the end. They help each one
to be better organized and easier to understand. Bibliographies are something I have never done
until this class. I like doing bibliographies because they help discover information that would
have not been known otherwise. They also help to ensure that the source is reliable.

I have many strengths and weaknesses in writing. I believe one of my strengths is being able to
come up with a creative story and put it to paper. I enjoy writing stories and I think that is why
they are my strong side as a writer. However, even when writing stories I still have my
weaknesses. Although I have many weaknesses, as writing is not my strong subject,
repetitiveness and organizations are my biggest weaknesses. When I am beginning to run out of
sentences, I repeat the same concept over again just in a different order. As I have stated before,
the organization of my papers has not always been the best either. Although I am working on
bettering my weaknesses, I am not quite to the point where they are no longer bad habits yet.

In conclusion to this composition 2 class, I can confidently say that my writing skills have
greatly improved. Although I still need to address problems such as organization and
repetitiveness. Being able to write an interesting and easy to read paper is a great skill to have.
Many classes other than English require a paper to be written at some point. Most scholarships
also require an essay to be written. There are also many occupations that require essays to be
written. Although I do not foresee myself to major in anything that will require a lot of essays to
be written, it is still a great skill to have. If there happens to be very much writing in my future, I
think it would be for research. Research papers are written for almost anything. I also enjoy
researching topics that I do not know much about. I believe I am fully prepared to write any
essay in the future. Before this class I was not so sure, however, now that I have completed this
class I can confidently say that I am prepared.

Sincerely,
Kelsi Beeman