This is an introduction to my e-portfolio for English 250. During this semester I have learned a lot about my reading and writing skills and how I can perfect them.  My skills have progressed in each of the following area’s, written, oral, visual and electronic. My main weaknesses were word choice, analyzing, simplification, and citations.

On my Visual Analysis essay, I lacked proper word choice and from reading my feedback I worked on it by using a dictionary and thesaurus for more appropriate word choice for my future essays. Another way I made sure my essay flowed is by having  it peer reviewed. My rhetorical analysis on the Uncanny Valley lacked analyzation. Instead of analyzing the Uncanny Valley more, I summarized it. By understanding my weakness, on future assignments I write notes about the topic, deeply analyze it and make connections that can tie my paper together. I think of my weak spots as areas of improvements and I have become a better writer because of this. My composing process has gotten more precise and I now take more time to complete my assignments.  Now in my writing process I work on an outline and figure out a plan for my paper before I start it. I found that this helps me get my thoughts written down better, as well as organizes my paper.

Before this class I did not know rhetoric goes that deep. I only ever used it when I was asking a rhetorical question. After this class  I think rhetoric is an art of persuasion that uses logos, pathos, and ethos. It’s something that everyone can use in logical and regular conversations. I think my understanding on rhetoric has improved with every assignment. Although, I still have trouble fully comprehending it. In the future I will read more on rhetoric because I think it’s interesting skill to have when persuading people.

My strong areas in communication are visual and electronic. On my visual analysis I did a good job connecting my visuals to my thesis statement. Visuals are helpful for the audience because they provide a clear description of what the writer is talking about. When using visuals I use my electronic skills to find appropriate pictures for my paper that will help the audience comprehend and recollect the material. Throughout the semester I worked on citations and in-text citations because they were a weak spot of mines. Fortunately,  this has become a strength of mines not only in this class but others as well.

Overall, I have came a long way as a writer, thanks to my professor and his great feedback. I took all the feedback on my writing skills and worked to improve my main weaknesses. In the future I hope to implement all my communication skills in the work field to maximize my value and assist others as well.