Jeff Elliott-Portfolio draft

The first paper I chose was the first paper I was assigned in Writing 1133. This was a text-based research paper. The goal of this paper was to come up with a clearly stated research question to write on. Another criteria for this assignment was to discuss both sides of the argument rather than just the side we supported. For this piece of writing I decided to argue against the practice of “fracking” for natural gas. When first writing the paper I did manage to include both sides of the argument. However, upon revision I realized I needed to add more to and elaborate on the counterarguments to my own argument.

The second paper I chose for this portfolio was the Qualitative research assignment. In this assignment we were supposed to research and observe a phenomenon in the outside world. This was not to be a traditional research paper where I find sources on the Internet and just start to write. For this project I had to come up with survey questions and actually go out into the world to get my research for this paper.

The third paper in my portfolio is the Mapping the Local project. We did this using Google maps. The goal of the project was to map out a theme in the city of Denver. For our project we chose places to research where University of Denver students could access trails to do adventure activities like hiking and mountain biking. The readers being University of Denver freshman the purpose is to show these students how close and easily accessible these trails are.

For the writing process it started with my group and I visiting these areas. While there we hiked the trails observing our surroundings as well as the people using the trails. After we went to the places we sat down and started drafting our writings about each place. I went through a couple drafts at first to make sure my writings would match the assignment. I had to revise because my first few writings were more focused on background of the places and facts about them, rather than my own personal experience. To fix this I wrote these pieces as if I was writing for a newspaper or popular media to be more exact. This reworking my papers in this style helped me focus the papers more on personal experience, which is what the assignment required.

The in class work especially assisted me in the process of making this project. First of all learning how to make a Google map was especially helpful. As well as feedback from my peers that made me realize I had to write the sections based on my personal experiences. Another help was being able to ask individual questions to the professor. This being such an alien assignment it was difficult at first to grasp what needed to be done but after a class period or two of workshop and explanations, the assignment became clearer.