COLLEGE WRITING I
ePORTFOLIO
Dear my future self,
There are experiences in your life that change you instantly.For example, a death of a loved one or the moment God stops being an abstract idea and personal to you. However, most of the things that make us who we are today are slow influences over a long period of time. These are our parents, our friends, and our schools. College will be one of these influences that will undoubtable shape the course of your entire future, and it's hard to compartmentalize and pinpoint every decisive moment and factor, because there are dozens of situations and novelties given to you every day, creating that experience which is hopefully now your wisdom. When you read this letter again in 40, 50, or 60 years College Writing may not even be a memory that you can recall, but it undoubtable altered your approach ever so slightly and sent you on a course that undoubtable has made you, you. Hopefully, this reminds you of those subtle but defineable changes.
With eyes turned hopefully forward,
Jacob McDonough
I went to an all boys Catholic boarding school.
That seems really random, but it really is not. You see, that was what defines me most as who I am today. It still is actually, and necessarily it was reflected in my writing as well. At boarding school, I was very accustomed to writing papers addressing a very specific audience that operated on a core set of principles very much my own. I knew the biggest challenge of college was going to be just this - “Audience adaptation.” This challenge was much harder than I anticipated.
The first project we tackled was the documentary project. Everything about it went against the grain of my writing style. I had to write a summary and give no opinion or no resolution of my own. I could not even take a guess at what the documentary was trying to say or implying. I had to simply relay fact by fact what was done and said. In high school, my teachers worked so hard to remove “summarization” from our essays, and teach us how to think, analyze and draw conclusions about what we read or saw, and then eloquently and efficiently convey those processes onto paper. I became so good at this I almost forgot how to write a summary, and the results were mildly humorous when I got my first rough draft back.
With every project I grew as a writer. I learned more about my audience, more about me, and more about the medium of writing that I was employing. There are indeed rhetorical papers, trying to describe and analyze a debate and draw a conclusion. But also, there are times to summarize, story tell, or simply present a question for your audience to ponder. Sometimes these things, when used correctly, can be just as persuasive.
This class was an experience. Experiences are the most important part of our lives, because it is the easiest way to learn. I already loved writing, however, I am but a small fish in a vast sea of potential. However great I am to become, I think I came a step closer. I was excited and driven in this class, so much so that is was not so much a task as a hobby at times, and I enjoyed putting in the extra efforts, because I was noticing the difference and improvement. I still have my viewpoint, however, now I posses more tools to show others what I see.
