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Cova Letta

Spencer Parsons is submitting a portfolio of 4 papers to his former teacher, Mrs. Watkins. He chose papers from different points in his academic career to demonstrate his growth as a writer. The outline Mrs. Watkins taught helped Spencer organize his arguments and research better. He believes applying what he learned will help him continue improving his writing skills throughout college. Spencer thanks Mrs. Watkins for teaching him new writing techniques that will help him succeed academically.

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37 views2 pages

Cova Letta

Spencer Parsons is submitting a portfolio of 4 papers to his former teacher, Mrs. Watkins. He chose papers from different points in his academic career to demonstrate his growth as a writer. The outline Mrs. Watkins taught helped Spencer organize his arguments and research better. He believes applying what he learned will help him continue improving his writing skills throughout college. Spencer thanks Mrs. Watkins for teaching him new writing techniques that will help him succeed academically.

Uploaded by

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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Spencer Parsons

1611 Davinbrook ln
405-714-5891
[email protected] or
[email protected]
August 3rd, 2017

Dear Mrs. Watkins

I would like to start off this letter by saying thank you for being such an awesome
teacher. I loved the way you taught the class, I just wish Id showed up more in the
spring. I chose these four papers for a multitude of reasons, one being theyre all
different types of writing. I chose one I wrote this year, and one I wrote my
sophomore year that was a research paper. I chose two from my freshman year
because I wanted to show some of the growth that Ive had as a writer. This
collection is something that Im proud of because of the work it took to make them
all good papers.

Writing is something thats never been a strong suit of mine, but for the first time
since high school I feel like I actually learned some new and better ways to put
together a solid paper. The outline you showed in class was something that changed
the way I write for the better. I have written argumentative research papers before
but it was always difficult for me to get started and get all of my points in order,
including evidence to back it up, and where to put it. When I applied your outline to
my work, it made it much easier to write once I filled out the outline. It was like the
paper was already written and it made for a much more well rounded argument
than my past research papers.

My This I Believe essay, which is titled Smile Because You Can, was probably my
favorite piece of writing. The main reason being that its something I believe, but also
because its something I struggle to do on a consistent basis. So it was good to put it
on paper and list reasons on why I should do it. Although it may have been my
favorite I think that it was the lesser of the three written for your class. I chose it
instead because I got the best grade out of all of my papers. My research paper for
World Regional Geography was very educational; I learned a lot of things about the
country of Yemen and its history that I otherwise never would have known. The time
I put into this paper and how much I learned about the country I was assigned made
it a paper I take a lot of pride in and is the reason I chose it for my portfolio. Looking
back now I wish I wouldve had or used a better outline like the one you showed us.

The paper I wrote called Road to the Show was a lot of fun to write considering I was
getting to write about and interview my best friend. It was a very cool experience to
share a story about a guy I knew personally, at the time it was arguably the best
paper I had ever written. Rereading it now I had to tidy it up a little but I feel that if I
had spent a little more time, it couldve been better. It would be interesting to see
how this paper would turn out if I used the outline that I learned in your class. The
paper I wrote for my Philosophies of Life final, was at a time where my knowledge of
writing and outlook on life were still evolving. The book that we read for that class
and the professor I had caused me to think on a deeper level than I was used to,
which made it a little difficult for me to convey my thoughts in a way that also made
sense. I chose this paper because it was indicative of where I was as a freshman
writer.

Before this class, I honestly never really made an outline to write a paper. I know
now that Ive only scratched the surface of the quality level papers I can write. So
personally, for me, Im going to need to think back to this class a lot throughout the
rest of my time in college, depending on what I do. I think one aspect of writing that
I excel at most is creative writing, making a story, using my imagination, but unless I
go into writing for TV shows or movies it wont be a skill I can really use a lot. One
aspect that I know I can improve on is just giving myself more time on a paper. I have
a very bad habit of procrastinating because I want it to be perfect, so I wind up
overthinking the heck out of it. I build it up making it this daunting task in my head,
try and do it all at once, and sometimes turn it in late instead of just taking it one
step at a time. My second biggest problem is rambling and fragments, but the outline
you gave me has helped out tremendously on organizing my ideas, and separating a
paper into parts. I dont know exactly what is next in my writing career but I have
confidence in my ability to write better because of what I learned in your class.

I want to thank you again for being such a great teacher. You gave me the tools I need
to become a much better writer. I left high school thinking that I learned enough
about writing to carry me through college. Since flunking out of college, I understand
thats not the case. This time around I have finally learned new ways to create a high
quality paper I can stand behind. I hope to keep in touch.

Yours truly,

Spencer Parsons

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