Student
Writing:
Final
Portfolio Cover Letters
Angela Killilea's Cover Letter
Angela Killilea's Cover Letter
May 11, 2000
Dear Ms. Viti,
In each of the four papers I wrote this semester, I formulated and
proved theses about the films we watched. All of the papers involved
some scene analysis, so I learned to write about the cinematic aspects
of film, something I had never done before. The first two papers,
"Criminal Law: Objective or Personal" and "Religion
Interpreted by Reverend Brown", involved extensive scene analysis.
My documented essay, "The Role of Prejudice in To Kill a Mockingbird",
required integrating film reviews and critical essays. For the last
essay assigned, "Contrasts in scenes of Adam's Rib and
My Cousin Vinny", I had to use the technique of comparison/contrast
to prove a thesis about the two scenes I discussed.
For my portfolio, I revised "Religion Interpreted by Reverend
Brown" and "The Role of Prejudice in To Kill a Mockingbird".
I made stylistic changes to both, mostly correcting word choice or
technical problems such as misplaced modifiers and proofreading errors.
Though most of my revision was stylistic, I changed the conclusion
of the documented essay to include my opinion. These changes made
the final products more coherent. Including some of my own opinion
made for a more engaging essay.
I feel that my writing in general is organized and sophisticated.
My diction and sentence structure give my ideas coherence and easy
readability. Sometimes I feel that I write sentences with too many
clauses so the reader cannot keep track of the main subject and verb.
I include many appositives and modifiers and tend to overuse the same
types of sentences. Most of my sentences are complex or compound;
this is why my many clauses sometimes confuse the reader. If I had
more time, I would look over my essays once more and try to vary the
sentence structure. This makes the writing less monotonous.
The course's emphasis on writing for different audiences changed the
contents of my papers. Depending on the given audience, I had to provide
background information on the films before proving my thesis or define
film terms that readers with no knowledge of film would not know.
It was helpful to write a description of the targeted audience before
starting to write so I could tailor the paper specifically to that
group.
In the long-term, I want to work more on research writing. I feel
comfortable with my writing stylistically when I write based on my
own ideas and perceptions of film or literature, as I did in this
course. However, when I write based on research I have done on a historical
event for example, I feel that my papers are not engaging. Most often,
I impersonally throw facts at the reader. This makes me feel like
it is not actually a cohesive piece of writing, but something that
more resembles a laundry list. Formulating a debatable thesis beforehand
may help this. Keeping a clear idea of what it is that I am trying
to prove will help the writing sound more like a persuasive, personal
piece than the book from which I took the information.
Yours truly,
Angela Killilea
Meagan Sway's Cover Letter
Friday, May 19,
2000
Dear Professor Viti,
This is my last cover letter for your class!
In my portfolio, I have chosen three pieces of work from the end of
the semester: United States v Nixon, Planned Parenthood of
Southeastern Pennsylvania, and my cover letter from Campell v Acuff-Rose
Music, Inc.
In my paper about Nixon, "The President’s Power is Not Absolute:
The Supreme Court’s Ruling in United States v Nixon,"
I attempted to correct my passive voice problem. This is a problem
that continues to plague me, and that I will continue to work on for
years to come until I master the active voice. I did not work too
extensively on this paper, as I felt that it was fairly good. I just
tried to insert active verbs into all the sentences that you circled.
I left some of my "was" sentences as they were, because
they really were exactly as I wanted them to be written. I also changed
the title, because "United States v Nixon" is a very
boring title indeed.
My second paper, "The Undue Burden Standard: A Burden on Lower
Courts" took me more time to revise. I basically went through
the essay and clarified all my paragraphs. I neglected to even explain
Casey in the original essay; now I hope that I have elucidated what
the Court decided sufficiently. My original final draft read more
like a first draft, but I hope that it now is in final draft form.
My cover letter displays my writing when I am somewhat relaxed. Actually,
it displays my writing when I am sleepy, but I find that I am usually
most relaxed when I am about to drift off. It is not spectacular writing,
but it is how I am, nonetheless, when I am being honest and forthright,
and that is very much an extension of my personality.
This semester has taught me the glory of rough drafts and final drafts.
I never believed in them before. That being said, it seems as though
in the essays that I revised thousands of times I did as well grade-wise
as I did with the papers I merely revised once. That frustrates me
greatly. It will not deter me, however, and I hope that I will continue
to make several drafts f the papers I hand in. I cannot make any promises,
since I am a renowned procrastinator. But I will try.
I cannot tell you what I would do to these papers if I had more time,
because there is not much that I would do. I am sick of these papers,
and do not want to look at them ever again. This is a strong statement,
and I may take it back later, but for now, I am done with the Supreme
Court and all the papers associated with it!
Thanks for a great semester!
Sincerely,
Meagan Sway