Welcome To My Portfolio!
Hey reader! I’m glad you took your personal time to look at my portfolio. My name is Danny Tran, and I’m currently enrolled at California State University Northridge. I’m a second semester freshman and a computer information technology major. This is my portfolio for my English 114B class. It contains all the hard work I've put into my two semesters in English 114. We’re using an online medium to turn in most of our assignments. It has blog posts, essays, and power points from my English 114B class. English 114 has enhanced my writing skills, and my critical thinking. I believe within these two semesters I've grown from being a high school writer to a college writer. This brings me back to the time where 2 page essays were really hard back in high school. Now 2 pages is a piece of cake! The class also improved my grammar skills. I finally understand when to put my punctuation in a structure of an essay. Back in my high school, the English department wasn't very helpful. This crucially degrades my essay writing skills and didn't lead me to honorable writing skills. English 114 however, helped me recover from my fall, and gave me a hand on my weaknesses.
The class itself gives a friendly hand in the beginning of each semester. The professors give the students a couple months before our first essay. They give us material that help us write our essays, and polish it. After the first essay, the class gets a bit harder. However, the exercises they give the class is mostly research and peer reviews. They give us an insight on how to think on our own and find material we could use for ourselves.
I chose three pieces for my portfolio. These pieces I believe were the best work I’ve done in my semester as an English 114B student. I chose my Project Text essay, and my Project Space essay. These essays were my most favorable and best work. The third piece was a field report that we had to do previous to the project space essay. I believe these works are worth mentioning in my portfolio.
The Project Text essay named “Consumption” is valuable to me, because it was the first college essay that included a novel. The novel is called “Feed” by M.T Anderson. At first glance, this was my last choice to pick from the other novels. After reading several chapters I started to adapt to it, and it grew on me. I felt that this essay was my most powerful one. It contained a decent amount of evidence that brings my thesis together. I felt like I could’ve written the essay with just using the quotes in the novel, but we needed outside sources. This essay would be my most purposeful piece in my portfolio.
The Project Space essay named “Metro Nation” is a powerful essay. I give explicit details on what I’m trying to invoke. I’m very clear on my thesis and I bring it up with a superfluous amount of evidence. I have sources from a peer-reviewed journal article that give statistical information which helps enhance my thesis. I did implement some pathos in the essay, where my personal life can relate to the essay. This essay would be my most evidential piece in my portfolio.
The Field Report piece is very observant. I’m also very detailed on my “journey”, on the metro station. In this piece, you could feel as if you’re with my on my adventure through Los Angeles. Although I’ve ridden the metro a decent amount of times, I still get a new experience every time. This assignment gave me a different perspective on taking the metro. I felt as if I was being observed and not the observer. This assignment would be my most analytical piece in my portfolio.
Overall my experience in classes English 114A & B won't be a waste. The class taught my proper writing and critical thinking. Although , I believe I won't use writing alot in my future occupation, it is still a good skill to have. Most of the assignment made me think of why people write, and how it affects them as a person. It gives me a notion that everyone has a purpose in writing , and not just famous writers but everyone. I think that's what English 114 is trying to teach me, that everyone has a purpose in their text. This is what English 114 has taught me!
