My English Writing Portfolio, Essay Example

The completion of my English writing portfolio provides the opportunity for reflection on what I learned both during and after the composition of the respective pieces. When thinking about my strongest work and most effective revision, I can identify general writing and researching techniques that I have acquired during the process. Furthermore, I am able to understand which areas require improvement with my future goals in mind.

Identifying my strongest piece of writing is pertinent, because this provides a synopsis of what I consider to be the most important things I have learned in the quarter. I believe that my strongest work was the informative essay, particularly because of its thematic, or in other words, the content of the essay. The informative essay was a specific text about entrepreneurship, and this allowed me to conduct extensive research in a field that is of great interest to me. Furthermore, the assignment provided me an opportunity to develop some preliminary ideas for a company that I would own and manage in the future. Some of the specific concepts that the essay helped me become familiar with include risk analysis, cash flow forecasting and SWOT analysis.  These concepts should be of great benefit to me in my future career. I also became familiar with many problem-solving techniques, which could prove to be invaluable when I will be faced with the inevitable problems that come with being responsible for my own business. This essay thus provided me with a general overview of how to think about the field of business.

The informative essay, I believe, was also an example of my most effective revision work. During the revision process, I was able to investigate more thoroughly some of the key concepts of entrepreneurship, and provide a clearer account of them. The revision process made it evident that thoroughly thinking about new ideas takes time. I also learned that a significant aspect of the revision process is about improving ideas through clarity and good formal explanation. In addition, the revision gave me a chance to concentrate on improving my writing techniques and to think about how the form of an essay is important, as opposed to merely the content. Furthermore, this essay allowed me to recognize both the importance of feedback and how to incorporate feedback within the revision process. The objective perspective that is presented in feedback provided an excellent opportunity to improve the work through the application of a different viewpoint. I believe that I effectively utilized the feedback to improve upon the original work.

The writing and revision work, along with the other pieces I have written for my portfolio this quarter, have been valuable didactic tools. They have helped me to think about writing in a different light, such as the importance of good form and how the objective perspective of feedback can improve a work. In addition, I have learned how thorough research helps improve the content of a piece. On a personal level, I began to understand the importance of perseverance in the writing process. Things will work out if one takes the time to reflect on their work in a thoughtful manner. Certainly, at times I felt intimidated by both the task of trying to write a perfect paper and continuously trying to improve upon it. In addition, initially I was not receptive to criticism, however, I learned that this is an integral part of the writing process and all works are subject to revision and feedback. The key to understanding criticism and feedback positively is being able to learn from it: it is important to recognize my mistakes so that I can make improvements.

The English class was important for me, because it helped me learned the basics of writing. In addition, I became familiar with how to write APA papers, develop a research topic and navigate the Internet for relevant information. In the future, I will be able to use the tools I have acquired in class to not only write texts, but to perform more effectively both in college and the business world. During the class, the importance of the fundamentals of education was underscored for me and the entire writing process encouraged me to continue with my college education.