29 November 2021

Portfolio Committee
Northern Oklahoma College
English Department
1220 E Grand Ave
Tonkawa, OK 74653

Dear Mrs. Davis,

The artifacts that I have selected for my ePortfolio are writings that I have written this semester
as well as two from my concurrent college classes I completed my senior year of high school. I
chose the different writing pieces as each continue to tell more about me as well as exhibit a
variety of writing styles that I have worked to adopt in my quest to become a stronger and more
skilled writer.
My first artifact is the essay I wrote for this class entitled “This I Believe.” I selected this one
because it is one of the pieces that I felt a tremendous passion to put my thoughts into words as
the subject was meaningful to me. In this particular essay, I talk about an individual who
inspired me to be who I am today and who I can still hear in my ear from time to time to keep
working to better myself every single day in all aspects of life. Whether it be school, athletics, or
just being a good person, if I meet one goal per day, it would be to be work on being the best
version of myself.
My second artifact is a memoir about my first trip to Disney World. I wanted to be detailed and
bring the reader into the memory with me as if they were there with me. I wrote this one during
my first college English Composition class during my senior year of high school. I feel like I did
accomplish the details and organization of the memoir to be able to share the experience with
anyone who reads it.
My third artifact is a piece I wrote for my criminal justice class over the death penalty. I selected
this piece as an argumentative essay in which readers will choose which side of the topic they
stand for. This essay gives examples of why the death penalty is effective as well as how the
death penalty may not be the most humane and ethical practice of criminal justice. I felt by
sharing this piece, I showed a different writing style while also giving a glimpse into a topic that
is of interest to me. I wrote this piece this semester for my Introduction to Criminal Justice class.
The final, fourth artifact in my ePortfolio is an informational piece about human emotion and
how it can be portrayed differently in person than how it is exhibited through a virtual world. It
compares and contrasts why human beings are made to be social and build relationships with
others but also discusses what it might be like for one to exist solely in a virtual world and not
have that day to day contact with other people. I wrote this for my Psychology class that I took
concurrently during my senior year of high school.
I readily admit that I feel as though my writing skills have continued to improve through this
semester. My biggest hiccup was being an avid researcher and taking my time to find the
information I needed to support my writings. I also feel this class has helped me to better
organize my thoughts prior to creating the writing piece. I feel as though the annotated
bibliography assignment will be a great asset for me to keep tucked away and reference the
format the next time I have a research paper assigned. I also feel as though my citations have
become stronger as well. I relied heavily on the citation machine as a resource when starting out
but am more confident in citing my research in the appropriate format. However, I appreciate
knowing that these tools are available to me when the time comes to write my next big research
project.
I truly believe I have grown as a writer in this class. I appreciate that the rubrics were readily
available and that you scored our essays directly on the rubric. I have not had a teacher do that
to date. It instantly showed me where I was deducted in points and why. This will help me slow
down and make certain that I am including all the required information and in a manner that is
coherent and easy to understand. One of the main goals I set for myself in this class was to be a
better researcher and finding valid research to use in my information and I feel as though I did
indeed accomplish that during this semester.
I do know that I have plenty of room to continue improving in my writing. I need to make sure I
don’t include the “dirty words” and to not get too wordy, in general. Basically, I need to write
what I’m trying to say without adding in too much extra. I had a teacher once who told me in
middle school that to be an effective writer, I need to be able to take what I hear in my mind and
put it in words on paper as if my words were me talking. That has also helped me to get the
words written down. I want to continue focusing on my details and ensuring that I have enough
supporting information to back up claims that I may make in future papers. I will keep in my
writing toolbox the following: citation machine, annotated bibliography writing for an example,
my other writing works for additional examples. I truly appreciated the student examples you
shared throughout the semester to help us. I learn very well in that manner.
Thank you again for your guidance in this class and throughout this semester.
Respectfully,
Naton Herchock