Bland Introductory Portfolio essay

My name is Ali Bland. I am a freshman at the University of Denver. Over the course of this year I have enhanced and developed my research skills. Through three pieces all relating to the theme of collecting and reflecting on research, I learned to maintain a clear focus throughout my writing as well as further understand how to advance personal conclusions made from research, beyond that found from scholarly sources.
The first essay, entitled, “Text-Based Paper,” I was required to write a research paper with a thesis about a topic of interest pertaining to Colorado. I was to create a textual research tool to support my argument including that of outside sources. I wrote about the injustice of incarcerating the mentally ill. I developed arguments based off of the negative and positive effects of this part of the justice system, and further supported my thesis by addressing the need for change in the way the United States government treats and thinks of the mentally ill. This paper exemplified my inexperience in citing research. My development of arguments was clear and well supported, but without the citations, my writing lacked credibility. This paper exercised the ability to gather well-rounded sources and use sources to further my personal points.
The second essay, entitled, “Qualitative Project,” I was required to use the skills developed in the Text-Based assignment and further the research towards a piece that was broken into four sections: Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion. In this project I conducted several interviews and used the support of three scholarly sources to show the links and the causes to why people believe or do not believe in religion and, or God. I did this by interviewing a skeptic, a devout Catholic, a non-traditional episcopal, and agnostic, and an atheist. I created my own interview process and later analyzed the parent’s experience with religion and how religion has played into family life. I then reflected on the current believes of individuals, when relating to their families experience with religion. The overall purpose of the experiment was to determine how people form religious affiliations and whether people believe in religion and, or God for personal fulfillment or because of the traditions and expectations of family members. The most improvement on this essay was in regard to the requirements of the process note. Using this introduction to state the purpose and process of this paper was more difficult for me then writing and analyzing the actual research collected. I found that personal bias regarding my thesis influenced how I interpreted the results of my interviews. This was an issue to work on in regard to credibility and reliability of my conclusions.
The third essay, entitled, “Proofs Paper,” was an analysis of how Wikipedia and Britannica use logos and ethos in their research. By comparing two articles from each source about Coco Chanel I was able to develop an argument to the usefulness of using these two sources. I needed to develop less of report about the two sources and use transitions to make the argument more fluid.