Composition 1
Portfolio Presentation
By Dan Upgren
December 2000
Introduction
• My name is Dan and I am the kind of person who
enjoys writing. I am the kind of person who
enjoys writing persuasive essay trying to change
peoples mind. During the following semester I
have learned the importance of punctuation and
grammar. These are very important if you are to
be taken seriously while writing a persuasive
essay.
What I have learned this semester
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I have learned to write an effective summary.
I know how to cite sources correctly in my writing.
I have learned four ways to organize essays.
I know the essential features of a good thesis statement.
I have learned the importance of good punctuation and
proper spelling.
• I have improved my knowledge of writing persuasive
essays.
I have learned how to write an
effective summary
• In this document it is easy to see that I have made sure that all the main
points are mentioned. Notice I stated what I felt about the paper, I
pointed out a strong opinion, and I mentioned why I wrote the paper.
I made sure that everything in this paper went in order from first or
most important to last or least important. Everything is in perfect order
from the most important to the least important
All this document really was, was a quick over view of a bigger
document. It is pretty plain to see that I am just writing a small
overview of a bigger paper.
I know how to cite my sources
correctly
• I have learned how to cite my sources. It
involves highlighting the quote, phrase, or
information. Then placing the a hyperlink
to the highlighted information.
• Citing sources is done to give credit to the
individual who gave you that information.
Without citing the source that you are using
you are breaking the law.
I have learned four ways to
organize my essays.
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Summary
Compare and contrast
Informative
Persuasive
– I usually like to use the the persuasive form
when trying to organize an essay. I feel most
comfortable when trying to convince somebody
about something when I write.
I know the essential features of a
good thesis statement
• A good thesis statement is one that reaches out to
the reader and grabs their undivided attention. A
good thesis statement will make the reader more
interested in what they are reading.
• Is there more than one season of fishing?
• This was a thesis of mine used in a comparison
and contrast essay. I feel that it is a good thesis
statement because it makes the reader want to read
on and find the answer.
I have learned the importance of good
punctuation and proper spelling
• I have learned why it is so important to use good
punctuation and proper spelling in an essay. I
usually write persuasive essays, so how is
anybody going to take me seriously if I can’t use
proper grammar. Also some of the most important
words in an essay can be the small ones that are
often misspelled. Words like “can” and “can’t”
could be mixed up, and that would cause
confusion for the reader.
I have improved my knowledge of
writing persuasive essays
• During the course of the semester I learned
several new ideas for persuasion. Like
making charts, comparing the goods to the
bad, and talking up my ideas. In the past if
a person read one of my persuasive essays.
He would see that the only thing I used to
do was put down what ever I was arguing
against.
Conclusion
• I feel that Clear thoughts and ideas are very
important and that all of them are made crystal
clear to the reader.
• Without correct sentences there would be no
correct essays. Sentence structure is very
important.
• All Paragraphs must have valid thesis statement.
If not then it is not a good paragraph, the thesis
statement should make the reader want to read on.
Writing Skill / Levels 1 & 2
• Level One:
– Expresses clearly thoughts and ideas in informal writing
contexts.
– Composes structurally correct sentences in Standard American
English.
– Generates well-developed, coherent paragraphs.
• Level Two:
– Processes information to produce writing that clearly and
accurately summarizes and/or reports.
– Writes, well-developed, focused essays.
– Searches for information and inserts research appropriately.