The Collection

           Like the title of Part II of Portfolio Keeping, I have truly seen the effects of shifting from “Process to Product” through working on this writing portfolio this semester. I will admit that I was leery of this project at first, but through working towards completing it, I have come to realize benefits that I did not anticipate. One of these benefits has been discovering the effect that true and purposeful revising has on a piece. For this reason, I believe that the most important aspects of my writing portfolio are the pieces I provide under the “essays” tab and the reflective essay because these are areas that you can actually see the physical effects and benefits of keeping this portfolio.

         When assigned this portfolio at the start of the semester, we were told that we would need three revised essays. I choose one older essay from the first semester and decided that the other two would come from this semester as I wrote them. I have enjoyed revising these essays because I feel that by doing so, I am sharpening my skills. Every time I revise a work, I take notice of patters in my writing, so of which are not conducive to effectively conveying my message. Once I pick up on these patters or habits in my writing, I can then try to stop them before they happen in the next paper that I write. By choosing a paper for last semester that was previously revised as well as two works that are from this semester, one can literally track the progression of my writing skills. This aspect of my portfolio is the most important because by seeing all the drafts of these pieces, you are allowed to make a comparison of my writing throughout this year and see the growth of my writing.

          Similar to the revelation that arose from my revised essay, a similar effect can be seen in my reflective essay. For this part of our portfolios, we were asked to revise this essay three times in its self. If revising a piece one time is a little tricky, to revise it three times if more like a Rubik’s Cube. Though you ae not privy to seeing all three drafts of this one essay, to see the end result is good enough to know that a great deal of effort was put into it.