Justin Trifari

Professor Malcolm Campbell

UWRT 1104

April 23, 2019

Dear Professor Campbell,

I’m excited to finally share my thoughts on this amazing journey of exploration through

your UWRT 1104 class. It seems like it was yesterday when I sent you my “Dear Malcolm”

letter. This was the first of many assignments that shaped me into the writer and critical thinker I

am today. Throughout my academic career, I wasn’t able to write about whatever I wanted.

However, you provided me the opportunity to write on what matters to me. That is why I believe

I improved greatly throughout my time in your class. My E-portfolio is a collection of all my

assignments throughout the semester. It serves as a reminder for all my hard work and research

that I have accumulated over the course of this semester.

The first element of my E-portfolio is the “Dear Malcolm” letter. The “Dear Malcolm”

letter was the first assignment and its objective was to learn more about me as a person. This

assignment was amazing as it allowed me to write about what I wanted and not what a teacher

wanted me to. The assignment helped me understand that this UWRT class would focus on what

I’m interested in and not what others want me to be interested in.

Another crucial part of the class focused on daily day book entries. The daybook entries

were free writes that were guided by topics related to our research, EIP, or writing process. The

objective was to expand our minds to new ideas and hopefully write down something useful that

can contribute to any of the assignments throughout the semester. As I continued to write my

daily entries I soon fell in love with the process. What started as a tedious task quickly turned
into a pleasant daily experience. Free writing empowered me to unload all of my thoughts and

ideas without fear of ridicule. I noticed my free writes were extremely formal at the beginning of

the semester but as time passed, they shifted to be more informal. Surprisingly, the informal

writings proved to be more joyful to write and useful to me. I learned that writing is powerful

whether it’s formal or informal.

The first major assignment that’s included in my E-portfolio is the topic proposal. I

believed this assignment would be an easy A. However, after seeing the template I soon realized

the task would be harder than I first imagined. The goal of the topic proposal was to pick a topic

of interest and to generate questions for inquiry that could change throughout the semester.

Although the assignment was hard, I believed it was extremely important. This assignment

helped me realize that sometimes your initial questions aren’t always the best. After extensive

research, I found no sufficient information to make an argument and opted to switch what I was

researching moving forward with the rest of the semester. This taught me a valuable lesson. No

matter how lost you may be, you will find a way. An interesting quote that I found really inspired

me, and it ties into the lesson I learned while completing my topic proposal. Ellen DeGeneres

said, “You just have to keep driving down the road. It’s going to bend, and curve and you’ll

speed up and slow down, but the road keeps going.” This quote to me shows although there

might be a something blocking or slowing you down you will slowly get back into things and

find your way.

The second major assignment was the annotated bibliography. When I first started

composing the annotated bibliography it proved to be a difficult task. Everyone that took the

class previously stated that this would be the hardest and most tedious task of the semester. The

assignment composed of researching, citing sources, summarizing sources, and elaborating on

why those sources are important. Throughout my academic career, I never had done an

assignment quite like this. I’ve always struggled using MLA formatting and citing sources.

However, after completing the first two sources I understood the formatting which made the last

two sources seem like a breeze. Although each of the entries was extremely time consuming,

they created a basis for what the rest of my research and EIP would consist of. The assignment

was long, but it was much needed as it created a basis for my research and composed sources

that I could use within my EIP. The annotated bibliography taught me that with hard work and

consistency something you thought was impossible turns into a manageable and even enjoyable

experience.

A small but meaningful section in the E-portfolio is my blog. My blog is where you will

find my thoughts and reactions to an abundance of sources such as newspapers, videos, articles,

pictures, and many other things. I enjoyed this aspect of the class as it allowed me the freedom to

write how I wanted without restrictions. It also enabled me to create and design my own blog and

react to anything I wanted throughout the semester. I found most of the topics interesting and it

expanded my mind to new ideas and values that I wouldn’t have otherwise been exposed to. My

favorite blog entry dealt with the debate on grades within the school system. Being able to

express how I felt without any restrictions was an amazing experience. Without the blog, I feel I

wouldn’t have become a better critical thinker. The blogs made me reflect on what I learned and

provided me an avenue to generate questions.

Perhaps the most important component of the E-portfolio is my extended inquiry project.

The EIP was a semester-long project that allowed me to research a topic of my choosing

extensively and become an expert on it. All of the other assignments were helping me gather

information to compose my EIP. This assignment proved to be that hardest and most daunting.
This was a major assignment and as such, I wanted to produce an amazing paper. However, I

simply didn’t produce a paper that I was happy with. My first draft of the EIP was an 87. I

understand this is a good grade, but it didn’t meet my expectations. I understood after reviewing

the comments why I received the grade I did. My first draft lacked a conclusion and there were

careless errors spread throughout the paper. With this in mind, I made it a priority during my

revisions to eliminate as many careless errors as possible. In the final draft of my EIP, I added

more extensive research and included a more thorough conclusion. I also eliminated as many

careless errors as I could find.

Another element of my E-portfolio is the studios. The studios were assigned to help

create an outline for the EIP. I loved the studios because they build upon each other. For

example, studio one was called the “Writing Process”. The assignment consisted of reading

“Shitty First Drafts” and writing about my writing process. After that came Studio two “E-

portfolios”. This gave me insight into what other E-portfolios looked like and allowed me to find

their mistakes so that I don’t make the same careless errors. Studio three “Research One”

enabled me to gather information and brainstorm ideas for my EIP. Studio four “Research Two”

built upon this by making me summarize, evaluate, and analyze the sources I will be using within

my EIP. Then came studio five “Writers Moves”. This was crucial as it helped me generate more

sophisticated ways of writing down information within my EIP. And finally, studio six

“Revisions”. This studio is in place so that I can revise my work to improve it. Each studio was

strategically due on a certain day to allow me as a student to continue on track with my progress

on my EIP. I believe without the studios I and many other students would have procrastinated

and not have done thorough enough research.

 Drafts and peer reviews were also an essential part of the class and within my E-portfolio.

Prior to this class I hardly engaged in peer review. I happened to dislike the process at first due to

the lack of help I was receiving. I felt like I was giving a lot more than what I was receiving,

which I perceived as being unfair. I understood it was required and as such, I wanted to give

ample feedback when I could. However, the quality feedback didn’t reciprocate back to me at the

beginning of the semester. As time passed and more assignments were being completed, I found

myself wanting help. I had conflicting views on peer view because of my prior experience at the

beginning of the semester. However, I’m fortunate to have been paired with one person who did

give quality feedback and made the process more enjoyable and helpful. As we started

collaborating and giving feedback, I understood why this process is crucial. Sometimes having

an extra set of eyes can spot careless errors and mistakes. And having other people’s opinions

can help expand my mind on more ideas and questions that I could add in my writing.

The final component of the class was building my E-portfolio. As I spoke on before the

E-portfolio is a collection of all my work throughout the semester. The process of creating my

website tested my organizational skills and creativity. Towards the beginning of the semester,

this part of the class was extremely worrying. The assignment seemed enormous and unbearable.

However, after strategical planning and utilizing my daily reflections in class the assignment was

not as bad as I initially thought. I understood that in order to succeed on this assignment I must

not procrastinate and go through vigorous reflection throughout the semester in my daily

daybook entries. In the end I did enjoy this assignment as it allowed me a space to expand on my

creativity and create a website that I’m proud of.

Overall, I learned a lot about myself as a writer and critical thinker throughout this

semester. With my extended research and blog, I have transformed into a new writer and
developed more skills that I will be able to use in my future endeavors. I learned that critical

thinking is essential to succeed and continue my growth as a young adult. Each of the

assignments helped me to understand the importance of the inquiry process. This process can be

applied to any field of study and it promotes the use of questioning and determining new ways of

doing things.

I would like to thank you, Malcolm, for all the hard work and time you put into this class.

You have truly helped change my views on the writing process and how to become a better

critical thinker. I loved that you let the students choose what we wanted to write about and

supported us every step of the way. I also appreciate the amount of time you allowed us to use

during class to help build this final project. Without this class, I feel my writing would have

continued to be what I consider “robotic”. You enabled me to be creative and write freely on

many topics that spurred my interest and made me want to learn more about them. I’m honored

to say that I believe I have improved writing abilities and I owe that to you.

Sincerely,

Justin Trifari