Kelly Terry_Introductory Essay Draft

Writing has never been my “forte.” I’ve always struggled with research papers and analytical writing… it was difficult for me to clearly organize my thoughts and put them onto paper understandably and confidently. However, my freshman year of college, and specifically this course, forced me to focus on my writing skills and develop as a writer. Granted, I still have years of work to do to become an “exemplary” writer, but I have improved immensely with my organization skills, my understanding of analyzing and using credible sources, and my time management skills. To demonstrate these qualities, I am including in my portfolio three pieces of writing from this year: “The Freedom to Choose,” “The Tipping Phenomenon and the Correlation Between the Perceptions of Servers and Students,” and “Christmas Lights: Holiday Spirit or Global Warming Contributor?.”

The first assignment of the year was a text-based research paper. The class was instructed to research a topic of interest and argue one side of an issue supported by researched evidence. I chose to research the controversial topic of abortion. I chose to argue the pro-choice side of this argument. However, even though I argued pro-choice, I provided my audience with information about the pro-life argument of the issue. I attempted to educate my audience about to the national controversial topic of abortion. Even though I provided a counter argument to my individual belief, I attempted to write in such a way that the reader is convinced by me to share the same beliefs.

The next piece of writing I will use to demonstrate the writing skills I've developed over the year is the qualitative research paper. For this assignment, we had to be the primary researchers for our paper. We had to use observations, interviews, and other forms of research to prove or disprove our hypothesis. I chose to study the restaurant business and the servers in this industry.