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Krishna Polasani Ms. Ingram English 1102-024 12th October 2012 Letter to Friend Dear David, English 1102 is a writing intensive course which involves the synthesis of different writing styles into one class. The class consists of using different forms of technological databases to convey writings about research, arguments, and rhetorical pieces. Unlike other English classes, English 1102 consist of students formulating cover letters. Even though cover letters are a little more tedious work, they really accommodate a paper and allows for students to receive help in order to make a paper better. In fact, this is the first class I have used cover letters and so far, I have found them effective with my writing. Another element of English 1102 I really enjoy is the use of electronic-portfolios. Electronic-portfolios, commonly known as e-portfolios, allow a teacher and student to see growth in a students writing skills over a semester. It mainly creates a base of comparison for the teacher to see changes in the composition of a student as the semester progress. As a result, students in classes in which portfolios are used have been proven to be more effective and students receive higher grades which facilitates a better learning environment. One of the most important writing assignments in this class is to create an elaborate inquiry project based on the thematic question for the course: what does it mean to be healthy?

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For my inquiry project, I am composing a paper which involves the benefits of meditation and yoga on people. Another project we have finished thus far in English 1102 includes an essay known as what is it like is to be you. This essay was one of my favorite assignments conducted in the class because after years of writing papers upon papers about analyzing different works and writing about research topics, it was nice to drift away from those themes and write about myself. This paper allowed me to be introspective upon myself and was different from any of the essays which I wrote in the past. The format for this paper was based on what I thought would best convey the message of this essay for the audience which was my teacher and classmates. The best avenue for me was by separating the paragraphs based on three main lessons which I have learnt through my life. Then to improve upon my lessons, I portrayed occurrings in my life as examples to the audience. The intended audience necessarily did not affect the writing of this paper because I would have written this paper in the same format and style regardless of who is reading my paper. In addition, the what is it to be like you paper allowed me to work on my transitions and flow of writing which were a few of my goals as stated in my introduction letter in the class. The what is it to be like you essay was not that difficult to write because it was written about me. In this case, that was my forte and therefore was not that hard to create. For this paper, I took one main risk which was using poetry in my writing to conclude my essay. This was the first time I ever included poetry in my writing in a formal paper, but I think the poetry aided the overall purpose of the essay and made the essay flow better. After finishing the initial draft of the essay, I went back and added a few more examples and made a few grammatical changes which made it closer to the final draft. Based on writing this essay, I found out I enjoy

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writing in new styles and including different variances rather than traditional essays because it allows me to be creative. The what is it to be like you assignment was based on a book called Peace, Butter, and Jelly. This short book is one of the only texts you read in this class. It is a quick and unique book which explores the life of the author, David Mark Seidel, in his attempt to examine his life. He uses a distinctive style and tone which promotes the book and is the reason why I enjoyed the book. In conclusion, English 1102 combines different concepts of writing into one class to provide for each students growth in the writing process. As a first semester freshman in college taking this course, it is entirely different from any high school English class. The format in which the class is set up in promotes critical thinking and independent inquiry because it allows for students to explore topics and styles rather than being assigned one. In addition, through students creating cover letters, it allows for them to be responsible on their own learning because cover letter help in the revision process and point out cons in the paper. This will in turn cause students to make changes when it is time for submission. After a long time, I try to take risks in my writing for the reason that it is an essential component of this class. While composing these papers, other students in the class and more importantly, the instructor, thoroughly reads the assignments and add comments on a students progress. This has obviously helped me in the revision process. All in all, this class has evolved me in the writing process and made me a better writer thus far. From, Krishna Polasani