Presented By:
LaWanda Brewer
CMA 106
April 27, 2001
 
 
 
 

My first reason is that used the information provided in class to compose my portfolio.  During my research I consulted with the library to get books and any other information that I could for my topic.  My search was very successful and I obtained a great deal of information to support my claim.  Also I used the dictionary to look up words that I had difficulty spelling.  Not only did this help with the correct spelling, it also helped me to determine if I was using it in the correct part of speech.  I made use of my Ready Reference Handbook with helped me with citing sources and how to use an attributive phrase.  After I completed several drafts I consulted with my group members.  After they had read over my paper I asked them to critique it.  Using their suggestions I made several changes to my argument, hopefully for the betterment of it.

Next, I used several recommendations presented by you to improve my web page.  I began by make changes to my background and font color.  I changed the background to a dark color and the font to a lighter color so that one would not “drown out” the other.  Also, I rearranged my portrait so that it would blend in better with my index page.  You also recommended that I elaborate on my personal essay and I did.  I added in several facts that didn’t go into a lot of detail or really didn’t clarify what I meant in my initial page.  I also added in several others factors which I thought would be interesting to know like my experience as being a full-time mother and a full-time student.

Lastly, I am able to effectively use what I have been taught in class.  Before this class I really had never used an attributive phrase.  But by the time I finished my causal claim I was very much educated on what they were.  Here is an example from my causal claim to take a look at.

Jean Soderlund notes in her book, Quakers and Slavery, the most distinguished Quaker to denounce slavery was William Edmunson, who in 1676 announced his own detention of slavery from Newport, Rhode Island(3).

Here is proof that not only do I know what an attributive phrase is but I can actually use it in the correct manner.  The next item that I have definitely improved on is how to paraphrase.  Prior to this class I thought that all you had to do was change a few words in the sentence and that was a paraphrase.  But now I know that not only do you have to change the words but you also have the change the order that they are in.  Citation has always been a problem for me but I found that by the time I finished writing my causal claim I was getting very used to it.  In the past I never used a primary source and really didn’t know what it was but for the first time I used one in my causal claim.  Let’s take a look at it.

Lauter, Paul. The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1998.

This was not the original book that the primary source wrote but it contained his writings in it.

Conclusively, I feel that I have made a definite effort in this class on trying to incorporate everything that I had learned along with recommendations provided by you and others to make my works better.  If I had no made a definite effort to attend most classes I would probably had missed out on some of this valuable information.  By participating and asking questions I not only learned from others but I also learned from myself.  So, in the end I think that I have all the necessities to lawfully gain a B out of this class.