Ryann Duncan

Final Portfolio Essay

Introduction:
Before taking this class I felt very insecure as a writer. In my mind, my weaknesses
always outweighed my strengths. As I said in my letter to Ms. Ingram on one of the first few
days, writing has never ben my strongest class. In high school, it was always one way or
you were wrong, there was never a way to be able to put your own spin on it. In this class, I was
not only able to discover my own writing style, but I realized that it is okay to be different.
Therefore, I am confident in saying UWRT 1103 has helped me become more secure in my own,
unique writing style.
My e-Portfolio is the evidence of all of my learning and progress this semester. When
deciding how to organize my work, I decided to put the major class assignments in reverse
chronological order. My major tabs include: a home page, the Final Portfolio Essay, the Blog
Page, the Inquiry Project, the Midterm, the Exploratory Essay, and an extras page. I focused
mainly on linguistic, spacial, and visual communication. Linguistic mode seems to overpower all
the others due to it being a portfolio for a writing class. I used spacial communication through
my use of dividers to keep each document separate. Lastly, visual communication is shown
through the few images I chose to put on my home screen and the black and white dandelion that
is represented on each page. The black and white image of a fully petaled dandelion represents
all of my goals and aspirations. I chose a black and white image to represent that this is just the
beginning and all of my goals are just a wish thus far. Once I reach my goals, the flower will
become bald and the image will become colorful. Additionally, when creating my blog I wanted
the audience to be able to get a sense of who I am as a person and as a writer. I included a funny
list of 10 random things about me so that the readers could better visualize my outgoing

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personality. The extras page includes other artifacts that participated in my learning in UWRT
1103. The rest of the tabs include final drafts of each major assignment along with possible
processed work artifacts.

Blog:
The seven blog posts I completed throughout the semester were extremely helpful. They
always kept me on my toes and required me to do the necessary background or post-work for the
bigger assignments. In fact, Blog Post #7 allowed me to practice for my Final Portfolio Essay.
My first blog post allowed me to master the independent inquiry and curiosity key concept. I
searched through the class syllabus and developed thorough questions about the class and its
requirements. My favorite question I developed was, As far as final grades go, it says under the
schedule tab that our final exam day is the only day we will be able to discuss our final grade. I
will be working hard to achieve my ultimate goal which is an A in the course. If you were taking
this course what would you be doing on a daily/weekly basis to ensure that you would be
successful? I feel like that question also showed my mastering of the responsibility for your
own learning key concept. My second blog post emphasized two key concepts. It focused on
critical reading, however, some aspects of independent inquiry and curiosity were used. It
was in this blog post that I perused through the text to try and determine how I could use such a
small book to make myself a better writer. When scanning through the text a particular passage
stood out to me. On page 4 of Who Says?, the author writes, youve likely heard about the
process for scientific research, by which scientists establish a problem, examine aspects of the
problem using prior information, create a hypothesis, compose a research methodology, and then
set about proving the hypothesis. Your task, while not necessarily scientific, is similar.. This

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Final Portfolio Essay
passage really connected with me because I am a pre-nursing major and the scientific method is a
process I use all the time. This metaphor really stuck with me through the completion of my
inquiry project.
The third blog post was one of the most helpful because it helped me decide what I would
spend the next month researching. Through the completion of this assignment, I instantly
realized that I wanted to research something in the medical field. It is intriguing to look back on
my Top Pick paragraph from this blog post and realize that I was able to make a very effective
Multi-Genre Project with this specific topic. I am also fascinated by how much I have learned.
For example, in my Top Pick paragraph I wrote, I also know that telemedicine is on a
constant rise, however, I am not sure exactly why. I now could name a whole list of reasons as
to why telemedicine is beneficial and why it is constantly gaining popularity. When looking at
my fourth blog post I notice my engagement with the critical reflection key concept. In this blog
post I was able to reflect on my peer and teacher feedback from my exploratory essay. It was also
nice to already have my last editing finished by the time the blog post was assigned, so I could
feel ahead. Blog Post #5 was the most challenging blog post I completed all semester. Not only
did it take a lot of time, but it took lots of critical thinking and in my opinion, some getting out
of my comfort zone. This assignment forced me to extend my thinking beyond what I was used
to. It emphasized how important my audience was and also, that there were other opinions I
needed to take into consideration. This caused me to have to dig into my research and find
sources that required more time and thought. Blog post #6 was extremely helpful in turning my
plans for my Multi-Genre Project into reality. Although it was only a rough outline, I still was
able to refer back when creating both of my genres and my reflection essay. Blog Post #7

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practiced the critical reflection key concept and helped me to understand what I would be doing
here in my Final Portfolio Essay. This blog post proved that my confidence as a writer has
increased throughout the semester. Overall, the blog post assignments helped me to grow as a
writer by offering a secure place to voice my thoughts and opinions where there would not be
any judgement.

3 Column Notes:
Although I have chosen to group my 3 Column Notes and my Multi Genre Project
together under the same tab, Inquiry Project, I think it makes more logical sense to separate
them in my Final Portfolio Essay. This will allow me to reflect at a deeper level on each one.
Firstly, I will explain why I chose 3 Column Notes. Some people chose the easy way out
due to their fear of Prezi, however my reason was different. I am a very organized person and
there is something about seeing all of my information and research on one document and in one
central location that I found appealing. Additionally, I really liked how the 3 Column Notes
offered that last column. This is the column that allowed me to make connections and determine
what my next step was. As an example, this is what I wrote in the last column for one of my
sources:
I found this .gov website and was instantly interested because it is a functioning
network. Additionally, there are comments written by parents offering their love for
telemedicine. One says, I love telemedicine! I get to see the doctor right here where I
live. It's like the doctor is here in the room. The best thing is I don't have to travel and it
saves time. This emphasizes that there definitely must be some good to telemedicine. I
also liked that it had some of the same benefits for the children I have found in my

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Final Portfolio Essay
previous research, but it also lists a few reasons why telemedicine can benefit the
professionals. I think now I should try and find more specifics about how a hypothetical
telemedicine visit would go.
The formatting for my 3 Column Notes was all chosen purposefully. I chose to only put
one source per page because it reminded me of what I would put on a notecard. This allowed me
to print out my ten sources on ten different sheets of paper and organize them in the way that I
wanted to help me plan for my Multi-Genre Project. The three different columns all had different
fonts. This allowed myself and anyone looking at my 3 Column Notes to easily know what
column they were reading without even having to look up to trace down what column he/she was
looking at. For the first column, I chose Times New Roman to match the professional tone of the
APA citation. For the second column, I chose Helvetica as just a plain font for the summary
portion. Lastly, I chose Marker Felt due to its informality to express my thoughts and
connections. I chose to make CSHCN red throughout my notes to emphasize my target
research group and to help make connections within the sources.
I included my warm up from October 22, 2015 as one of my feedback artifacts. I chose it
because this is what helped me develop my final draft of my 3 Column Notes. It was also
encouraging because minus a few errors with formatting my citations, I was told my research and
notes were thorough. I even wrote some of my own notes when we discussed feedback in class. I
then used this sheet as a great resource when drafting my final draft. The main changes I made
for my final draft were editing my citations, adding URLs where necessary, and adding two
more sources.

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Final Portfolio Essay
As I refer back to the assignment sheet for the Visual Bibliography/3 Column Notes I see
that a few of the purposes listed were, to inquire into your topic as you look for answers, to
build your understanding of how othersexperts, scholars, informed observers, anyone whos
invested in the topicare answering your initial inquiry question, to see how sources/texts/
voices connect to each other I can honestly say that each of these purposes were fulfilled in
my 3 Column Notes. I did find answers to my initial questions in Blog Post #3 along with any
others I developed along the way, I did develop understanding of many different opinions
through my use of a variety of sources with varying viewpoints along with my completion of
Blog Post #5, and I used the third column of my 3 Column Notes to connect sources together.
The main key concept I believe I encountered through the completion of my 3 Column Notes
was the making connections key concept. I constantly researched and found new important
information, but in order for it to be important in my Inquiry Project, I had to connect it back to
my other sources by using critical thinking skills.

Multi-Genre Project
I am proud and satisfied with the way my Multi-Genre Project turned out. My purpose
was very clear and it was presented in an effective way for my chosen audience. However, this
assignment challenged me the most. I remember sitting in front of my computer and staring at a
blank computer screen trying to figure out what the most important information was to put in my
powerpoint presentation. As I stated in my reflection essay, The purpose of my Multi-Genre
Project was to inform and persuade parents that have special needs children that telemedicine is
great way to enhance their childs healthcare along with add a great deal of convenience to their

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Final Portfolio Essay
lives. I chose to fulfill this purpose my making a powerpoint presentation and a matching flyer
that the parents could take home.
In making the powerpoint, I first began by just making headings of all the topics I needed
to hit. I then went back and filled it in with long sentences and no pictures. Upon my conference,
it was suggested by Ms. Ingram and my peer reviewer that I go back in and change my paragraph
format and long sentences into bullet points to make a more effective argument. For my final
draft, I added a few informative images and I changed my paragraph formatting into bullet
points. I did, however, leave the one slide about telemedicine vs. face-to-face traditional care in
short sentences because I think it loses ethos when you just bullet point. I believe it deserved a
more thorough explanation. I also underlined and bold faced words that needed to be emphasized
to my readers. I used mainly linguistic communication for my powerpoint because I knew I
wanted to use mainly visual communication for my flyer.
The flyer is my favorite piece of my Multi-Genre Project. In my opinion, the flyer can
stand alone. The pictures speak for themselves and with the little text box named Why even
bother with telemedicine?, this document fulfilled my entire purpose. The layout of my flyer
was chosen effectively as I wanted the viewers to look at the images first. Additionally, the color
scheme of my document was chosen purposefully. In my Reflection Essay I wrote, I used the
colors in the images to help determine the colors of the headings in order to create a unified
document.
The Research Assignment Sheet seemed long and rather intimidating at first. However,
with bold words and an effective layout I was able to work through it and get the information I
needed. In fact, one particular group of words stood out. Located in the first paragraph, Ms.

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Ingram wrote, What do you want to say and to whom? By using the rhetorical knowledge
and multi-modality key concepts, I was able to say what I wanted to say to my target audience.

Midterm:
I was extremely stressed about writing my midterm when it was first assigned. Knowing
that it only had to be five-hundred words was the only thing giving me hope. However, now that
I look at my midterm I see that it was well over five-hundred words and it was not as hard as
expected once I got some words on paper.
Reflection pieces have always been hard for me because I am generally great at saying
what I need to work on and not so great at talking about what I am doing well. For the key
concepts I claimed I was doing well, I chose key concepts that did not necessarily make me a
strong writer, but rather a student that really cared about doing my best. For example, I chose the
taking responsibility for my own learning key concept. Although this is a great skill to have, it
does not solely make you a strong writer. Critical reflection was another I listed under the
strongly engaging with category. This also emphasizes my point that I do well at pointing out
what I am doing wrong and how I can make it better. The key concepts getting out of your
comfort zone and multi-modality of print and digital texts were two key concepts I wanted to
improve upon. Consequently, through the completion of the Inquiry Project, I really think I
improved my engagement with each of those key concepts. The list of key concepts have
provided a great check off list for myself to realize how much I have grown as a writer this
semester.
I have chosen to include my midterm feedback/current course grade sheet as one of my
feedback articles. This is my favorite feedback article because it was great to compare the letter

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Final Portfolio Essay
grade I thought I deserved at that point to the grade that Ms. Ingram believed I deserved.
Additionally, it was encouraging knowing that the hard work I was putting in was getting noticed
and if I kept putting in the work and effort, I could possibly end up with an A in the course.

Exploratory Essay:
The Exploratory Essay was by far my favorite assignment of the semester. More than all
of the others, this essay encouraged me to be myself and to do so with only a few parameters. As
a result, this assignment was the most influential in finding myself as a unique writer.
Additionally, I really liked that this assignment allowed us to fully workshop each draft.
When I initially looked at the assignment sheet and all I saw was, What are you so
passionate about that you cant ignore?, I was honestly a little nervous. In high school, I was
used to such specific directions and a full rubric explaining what each paragraph should entail.
So now, looking at this sheet, I was unsure what to do with all of this freedom. Questions such
as, How would I start my essay? How long did it need to be? How many paragraphs? Does it
need a thesis statement? were running through my mind. However, I soon realized how
beneficial it was going to be for myself, as a writer.
The first draft of my essay was a bit rough. It focused mainly on the background story of
what inspired me to become a Nurse Anesthetist. However, it seemed to lack the personal feel I
needed to convey to my readers about why nursing is such a passionate topic of mine. In
planning for the second draft of my essay, I wanted to work on adding that personal touch I
thought I was missing. I included my brainstorming for draft two as a process work artifact to
help give a visual of how draft one transformed into draft two. On this brainstorming sheet I

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wrote, My plans for draft 2 are to add a paragraph about what I need to do to get me to my goal.
Details such as where I want to volunteer to gain field experience, what grades I need to get to
get into nursing, etc. Draft two of my essay is much more similar to my final draft. Firstly, I
added more detail to my background story. The Seeing the Moment activity we did in class
really helped me to do this. I included this document as a Wild Card Artifact to show proof of the
great influence it had on my writing. For my second draft, I also added a paragraph about why I
want to become a nurse along with a few sentences about how I am going to get myself to that
point. Also, I separated my last four sentences and used them to create a conclusion paragraph.
My final draft reflects my hard work through two drafts, two peer workshops, and Ms.
Ingrams critiques. My main focus was to clean up awkward words and lengthy sentences to
allow my paper to flow easier. When deciding whether or not to delete the few sentences about
why I think I could be a great nurse, I revisited what my peer commented. It read, Almost
reads like a resume. Maybe change up the wording? After some thought I decided to leave them
because I agreed with Ms. Ingram that it is okay to be proud of your own strengths. I also
decided to not add any more dialogue because as I said in my fourth blog post, I am hesitant to
add more dialogue because I do not want my whole essay to be my excerpt story. I do not really
want it to be any longer than it is now. I want my essay to mostly be about why nursing is my
passion; I just wanted to reinforce that idea with my personal anecdote.
The key concepts I engaged with through completion of this assignment were getting out
of your comfort zone and composing processes. The first day our first draft was due, Ms.
Ingram asked us to read our essays out loud. I did not yet know my group very well and I was
nervous to share my personal essay with them. However, this assignment made me realize that if

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Final Portfolio Essay
you keep to yourself and do not step out of your comfort zone, you will not get the help you
need. As far as composing processes, this essay was my only essay of the semester that changed,
in a somewhat drastic way, twice before the final draft. Each of my drafts made sufficient
progress which led to my final copy.
This essay is easily one of my favorite essays I have ever written. Besides it being honest
and true, I feel like it is written clearly and effectively. It accurately represents me as a person
and as a unique writer. Each time I read this essay, I feel proud of myself and excited for my
future.

Extras:
The extras page on my e-Portfolio allowed for space to put some of the important
documents that were helpful to my learning in UWRT 1103. The first document I included was
the 10 Things Every College Professor Hates notes I wrote down. I chose to include this as a
Wild Card Artifact because it helped me to get a feel for what college classes were going to be
like in UWRT 1103 and in all of my other classes. It instantly made me realize the importance of
the responsibility for your own learning key concept. The next two artifacts deal with peer
review. Peer review was extremely important to my growth as a writer in UWRT 1103. My peers
were always there for me to either answer questions or to make suggestions. I included my Dos
and Donts list because it was something I always referred back to throughout the semester.
When I read a peers paper and found myself wanting to change every little thing I would look at
my donts list and see, Dont try to change it to your style. The next artifact I included
regarding peer review was my favorite page of the "Responding-Really Responding- to Other
Students' Writing article written by Richard Straub. This particular page includes my favorite

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Final Portfolio Essay
sentence about peer review that has stuck in my mind throughout the entire semester. Straub
writes, Challenge yourself to write as many praise comments as criticisms. I think this is a
great way to look at peer review because it is not only about making negative comments.
Positive comments can be just as helpful. With the being said, this pointer definitely helped me
when peer editing others works. The last artifact I included on the extras page was my rough
draft of Blog Post #4. I chose to include a rough draft of one of my blog posts to help prove that
each one of blog posts always had a rough draft before I posted it to my e-Portfolio. For each
blog post, I first wrote it out on a blank word document, then I printed it out to complete my
editing, and lastly, I fixed any errors before I uploaded it to my blog page.

My Grade Reflection:
Overall, I am very proud of myself and the work I have produced in UWRT 1103. I can
honestly say I have done everything I could possibly do to succeed in this class. I have worked
extremely hard and have completed every homework assignment, blog post, and rough draft to
my best ability, I created my own deadlines for bigger assignments to ensure my best quality, my
e-Portfolio is complete and effective, and my Final Portfolio Essay fits all the criteria for an A on
the e-Portfolio Grade Scale. My e-Portfolio is complete and easily navigable, I have
extensively quoted from my own work and from others, I have discussed many key concepts I
feel I have engaged with, and I have done my absolute best to leave no unanswered questions
about my work or about my journey through the semester. Therefore, I truly believe I deserve an
A in this course.

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Final Portfolio Essay

Conclusion:
It is so exciting to be able to look at my e-Portfolio as evidence of all the hard work I
have completed this semester. When UWRT 1103 was added to my schedule in July, I was
positive it was going to be my worst class and the class I felt the least secure in. However, that
has ended up being the furthest from the truth. This class has not only developed my confidence
in my own writing, but it has also made me a better student in my other classes.