Welcome to my writing portfolio! I have posted here five pieces of my writing, three drafts of my essay, a reading log on Maupassant’s short story The Necklace and the final-timed writing. The work, though not perfect, still shows my gains and improvements in the advanced English writing course.

I love English writing. But before taking this class, I have been mostly exposed to creative English writing. I felt that though I could use this language to write, I did not know how to structure and how to organize my writing. I sensed a lack of knowledge in this area. When Rachel told me that this course might offer me the chance to learn formal writing, I decided to enroll.

I think that this writing course has a lot to offer. The first new term that Ron, our teacher, has introduced to me is free writing. I used to have this idea that one can only write down the things that he or she has carefully planned out in mind. But after doing free writing, I see that my old way will prevent me from keeping down all my interesting ideas. My first piece of free writing is very awkward. It is exactly like what I have done in high school English exams, three paragraphs containing some trite reasons. But towards the end of the semester, my writing became smooth and contained all sorts of ideas that randomly hit me. Free writing has made writing more fun. How to write a thesis is another important gain of this class. When Ron first talked about this term, I was at a loss as I could not find a Chinese counterpart for it. I even related it to the theme of a passage. But now, seeing all my three essay drafts finished, I have a strong sense of accomplishment. In addition, the forms and rules in writing that Ron has always emphasized are meaningful. I am embarrassed to admit that I did not regard it of crucial importance to learn how to write the date or how to cite the source. After having done the essay drafts, I realize these small factors will make my writing formal and will benefit me in my future studies and work.

Now I want to talk about these five pieces of writing. My essay draft one took me the longest time. I can still recall how hard it is for me to decide on a thesis and to support it. I finally choose to talk about my understanding of Shadrach Cohen’s unique way of Americanization and divide my essay into three major parts: the Americanization of Shadrach’s sons, the Americanization of Shadrach Cohen and how their different ways of getting Americanized help solve the family conflicts. In essay draft two, I mainly stuffed the supporting details into the relative paragraphs and added my analysis. Essay draft three is mostly about proof reading, paraphrasing the quotes and getting the form right. I post the reading log on The Necklace since I am most familiar with Maupassant’s writing. I feel I not only see the superficial things, but see the intention of the writer.

I hope that you will have fun reading my writings.

Sincerely,