English 280 Portfolio

Introduction

This Portfolio will serve as a record of work samples done in my English 280 class entitled, "The Journalistic Essay" The samples provided on this website and my in-class folder will fall into the following categories:

1. In-class writing: These midterm samples showcase my informal writing skills. One of the samples I chose to include is a piece on my perception of what journalistic writing is. I chose this piece because it was one of the first in-class writing assignments and it was based on my first impression of what this class and the semester was going to be like and I am interested in how that perception has changed, and how it will continue to change during the second half of the semester. My other piece is a travel piece that I wrote on King Richard's Faire. I chose to include this piece because it is a different type of writing than my other samples included in this portfolio. It is also longer, so it shows off my informal writing more so than my first shorter piece. My final portfolio writing samples that I chose to include are my brainstorming sheet for my magazine article, and a response to Why School?, the book that I worked on with my book club this semester. I chose to include the brainstorming sheet for a few reasons. One is because I had not a clue what I wanted to write about at first and this feature ended up being one of my favorite pieces I've written for this class. I also wanted to display how I plan and brainstorm my ideas before writing my paper, because that process is equally as important as writing the paper itself, and sometimes writers (including myself) forget that. I chose to include my Why School? response because it is about style, rather than what the book is about. I think my response gives some insight to what I have learned this semester. This class has taught me to not only read the story for the plot, but also for style, and word choice which again, is equally as important as the plot.

2. Profile Essay: My profile essay is focused on my neighbor Tony, who is an immigrant from Italy. During our interview, we discussed life in Italy versus life in the United States, some of the challenges he has faced, and how he has risen above them to create a happy, successful life here in the US. My rough workshop draft is included in the in-class folder and the essay on this website is the revised edition. After I revised the first version of the paper, I only had a few corrections to make. Within the profile, there were a couple instances where I provided my insight to Tony and his life. However, a profile is supposed to be focused strictly on the subject, so I took those sections of insight out.

3. Talk of the Town: My talk of the town essay focuses on New Bedford's annual chowder fest and how it benefits the community and the down town water front. My rough workshop draft of this essay is included in the in-class folder, and the version included on this website is the revised edition. I only had a couple of revisions to make and those were some of the paragraph placements.

4. Magazine Article: My magazine article entitled "5 Jobs You Never Thought an English Major Could Get" is a list of five somewhat unconventional careers that English majors seem to do particularly well in and why. My rough draft of this essay is included in my folder, and the final draft can be found under the "Magazine Article" tab at the top of the webpage.

5. Newspaper Article: My newspaper article entitled "AHA: Celebrating New Bedford" discusses AHA night held in Downtown, New Bedford. AHA night is a monthly event dedicated to celebrating the Art, History, and Architecture of New Bedford. This feature is a collection of a small bit of research, a ton of personal experience and some testimonies from some faithful AHA night attendees. The rough draft is included in my folder, and the final draft is found under the "Newspaper Article" tab at the top of the page.

6. Blog Posts: Also included are two blog posts that I have done in class. My first post is about an essay we had to read entitled "Mrs. Kelly's Monsters." The second is about the discussions my group has at a book club meeting. I included my Ferguson response for my third post and for my final post, I included a reflection on one of the later book club discussions my group and I had.

This class has definitely helped me in non-fictional writing. I have been exposed to different styles of non-fiction writing that I have never really utilized. I think the most important skill I have learned and developed through this class is to look for style and word choice. I look forward to continuing my improvements that I have made thus far and to exploring more styles of non-fiction writing.