Tammy Davis

Northern Oklahoma College

English Department
615 N. Monroe
Stillwater, Oklahoma 74074

11/22/19

Dear Mrs. Davis,

I put the writing samples I have chosen in a very specific order. I have placed them in
chronological order starting from one which is the oldest paper then all the way to four which is
my most recent paper. I believe by doing this one can see either the growth or diminishment of
their writing. This collection of writing shows how far I have come along with my pieces. The
collection I chose shows how I can also be very dynamic with what I write.

Starting off with my first writing sample I wrote this piece my senior year of highschool.
This paper was written during my forensic class, we had to choose a serial killer and talk about
his/her life before, during, and after the crimes were committed. I love these types of papers
because I have a huge interest in learning about people's lives. You also get a glimpse inside why
they have commited the crimes they have. My Second piece I chose was written during my
Comp 1 class at TCC. This piece was another research paper and I spent long and hard about
thinking which person out of billions I could write about. I finally decided on Louis Vuitton
because he is such an influential person and if you do research on him you can learn alot. Vuitton
started his own business in 1854 and his intricate designs are still around to this day. My third
piece was an argumental piece over abortion written in my ethics class this semester. I decided to
include this piece because it is around the first time I wrote a formal argumentative paper. In
highschool all we ever wrote was more of research papers that you can not really include your
own opinion. The main thing I learned about writing this paper is that it feels good to get your
own opinion out there and it could eventually affect someone for the good. My final piece I have
chosen to share with you is a piece that I wrote in my Comp 2 class this semester at NOC. The
work is titled cultivating empathy, I chose this paper because it was my most recent paper that I
figured would fit right with my other choices. This piece was all about empathy, I talked about
how to cultivate empathy in yourself, how to spread it around others and also how technology
affects empathy in either a good or bad way.

Every since I was born my parents would read to me, Obviously I don't remember it but
helps developing that part of the brain. Around the age of five I could start reading all on my
own. I got tired of the little cardboard books with the same stories so I started reading chapter
books as soon as I could, I started off small and then slowly worked my way up. My grandma
would make me read to her 24/7 while we were laying in bed, or she was working, but I will
always remember reading to her in the car on road trips ( mostly to keep her awake but I liked to
believe she truly enjoyed hearing my voice for hours ). Since I started reading at a young age I
have grown greatly as a literate person. I am able to use bigger more enticing vocabulary within
my papers. Most importantly detail, I've learned to use the right amount of detail within my
papers not overdoing it while at the same time not leaving anything out.
 The very first thing I do when I receive a writing assignment or a paper I always think I
will start on it right away, but I don't. First I will think about the topic, if we have a choice of
multiple different topics I will shape them out in my head and then choose which paper will fit
my personality and style the best. Second, I will try to make an organized outline on paper but
my thoughts are usually so jumbled, random stuff will just appear on the page ex. A nice sketch
of the tree outfront. If the paper happens to be a research paper I will visit hundreds of different
websites and videos because I am an indecisive person. I like to watch videos over the topic I am
writing about because I will focus more and not get so distracted. Third, Once I finally have done
all that work, I will get to work on the actual writing of the paper. I mostly just jump right in and
go for it without thinking and I believe that's how I work the best. Finally, before turning in any
paper always reread out loud what you have written because I promise you will find some
mistakes. If I had a writing toolbox like stephen king the things I would include would be always
write what you want to say not what will make other people happy, its okay to be stuck and ask
for help, put on a movie and get some snacks, and most importantly just like stephen himself said
take breaks.

I have grown greatly as a writer. I attended private schooling as a child all the way up to
highschool and they were having us writing three - four page papers. Most students do not begin
writing out papers until highschool so I believe I had a little head start in this department. I've
had many teachers that harshly graded papers and I enjoyed it. Corrections are amazing when
you have someone revising/grading a paper because you will try and not make that mistake
again. I believe my most valuable strength is having reliable and fun research within my papers. I
have always loved doing research over a variety of different topics. Learning new information
makes you a more educated and reliable person. My weakness would have to be organization. I
have never really been strong on the organization aspect of writing. My process of writing is
very all over the place, I rarely ever make a full outline and when I do I have a hard time
following that so called outline. I have always just threw together some stuff and worked from
there, I believe this is how I work best because I just go back and revise what needs to be fixed.

This will be my last composition class I will have to take, I will be moving on to more
science classes for my degree. There is not much more to be addressed except to what I will be
moving onto next after Composition 2. I love writing and creating papers but I do not foresee
writing these kinds of pieces in my future. I will be writing more papers over scientific topics
and lab reports which is a different format from MLA. I have only learned MLA my whole life
which is different from APA which is used for scientific papers and lab reports. I feel like I am
prepared for my future of writing but I will have to learn new formats and much more other
things just like everyone else.
You can contact me by email: tannerhoffman03@gmail.com or Phone: 918-706-5894

Sincerely,

Tanner Hoffman