Successful college writing, Eighth edition - Kathleen T. McWhorter 2020

Essay examinations and portfolios
Academic and business applications

In this chapter you will learn to

✵ prepare for and take essay examinations

✵ create a writing portfolio

Writing Quick Start

ANALYZE

The cartoon on this page humorously comments on the process of taking tests. No doubt you have taken tests throughout your school years, and they are an important part of college classes as well.

WRITE

Assume you are taking a short, fifteen-minute, timed writing test. Write about your experiences with taking tests. You might write about how you prepare for exams or share test-taking tips, for example. You have fifteen minutes to complete the writing test.

CONNECT

In completing this timed writing test, did you feel pressured by the fifteen-minute limit? How did you decide what to write about? Did you have as much time as you would have liked to organize, plan, develop, and revise your ideas? Probably not.

Essay exams require students to use more advanced thinking skills than they use when taking a multiple-choice or short-answer test. For instance, an essay exam for a history course might require you to pull ideas together to analyze historical trends or compare two political figures.

This chapter will help you prepare for the timed essay exams you will encounter in college as well as the other kinds of writing assignments you need to complete under time pressure. This chapter will also help you prepare a portfolio of your writing.

TIMED WRITING AND PORTFOLIOS

IN COLLEGE AND THE WORKPLACE

✵ For the midterm exam in your philosophy of religion course, you have one hour to answer the following essay question: “Contrast the beliefs of Islam with those of either Judaism or Christianity.”

✵ For a business communication class, you are asked to assemble a portfolio that illustrates your mastery of the six course objectives.

✵ As a freelance artist, you need to prepare a portfolio of your illustration styles to help art directors evaluate your work.

Prepare for and Take Essay Examinations

Doing well on essay examinations involves not only preparing for the exam, but also analyzing and answering the exam’s questions clearly and fully.

Prepare for Essay Exams

Because essay exams require you to produce a written response, the best way to prepare for them is by organizing and writing.

Create study sheets to synthesize informations

For more on synthesizing sources, see Chapter 22.

Most essay exams require you to synthesize, or pull together, information. To prepare for this task, try to identify the key topics in a course, and then create a study sheet for each main topic. Study sheets help you organize, consolidate, and study complex or detailed information.

To prepare a study sheet, draw on information from your textbook as well as from class notes, handouts, previous exams (look for emphasized topics), and assigned readings. You can organize a study sheet in a variety of ways. For example, you might

✵ draw a graphic organizer to create a visual study sheet

✵ create a timeline to connect historical events

✵ write an outline to organize information

✵ construct a comparison-and-contrast chart to see relationships among different topics

✵ develop a list of categories and use them to organize information

Whatever method of organization you use for your study sheet, be sure to include key information about each topic: definitions, facts, principles, theories, events, research studies, and the like.

Here is part of one student’s study sheet for a speech communication course on the topic audience analysis:

Sample Study Sheet

Topic: Audience Analysis

1. Demographic characteristics

o — Age and gender

o — Educational background (type and level of education)

o — Group membership (people who share similar interests or goals)

o — Social and religious activities

o — Hobbies and sports

2. Psychological characteristics

o — Beliefs (about what is true or false, right or wrong)

o — Attitudes (positive or negative)

o — Values (standards for judging worth of thoughts and actions)

EXERCISE 25.1

PREPARING A STUDY SHEET

Use the preceding guidelines to prepare a study sheet on a general topic that you expect will be covered on an upcoming exam in one of your courses.

Predict essay exam questions

Once you prepare study sheets for a particular course, the next step is to predict questions that might be asked on an essay exam. Although essay exam questions usually focus on general topics, themes, or patterns, these questions generally also require you to supply details in your response. For example, an essay question on a psychology exam might ask you to compare and contrast the James-Lange and Cannon-Bard theories of motivation. Your answer would focus on the similarities and differences between these key theories, incorporating relevant details where necessary.

Use the following strategies to help you predict the types of questions you might be asked on an essay exam:

1. Group topics into categories. Review your textbook, class notes, and study sheets to devise categories. For example, if you find a chapter on kinship in your anthropology textbook and several entries in your class notes on this topic, a question on kinship is likely to appear on an essay exam for the course.

2. Study your syllabus and objectives. These documents contain important clues about what your instructors want you to learn during the course.

3. Study previous exams. Notice which key ideas are emphasized in previous exams. If you had to explain the historical significance of the Boston Tea Party on your first American history exam, you can predict that future exams will ask you to explain the historical significance of other events.

4. Listen to your instructor’s comments. When instructors announce or review material for an upcoming essay exam, pay close attention to the key topics they reveal or to the areas they suggest that you study.

5. Draft possible essay questions. Use Table 25.1 (p. 700) to draft possible essay questions using key verbs that hint at how you must answer effectively.

EXERCISE 25.2

PREDICTING ESSAY QUESTIONS FOR A COLLEGE COURSE

For an upcoming essay exam in one of your courses, predict and write at least three possible questions your instructor might ask about the course material.

Draft answers in outline form

After you predict several possible essay exam questions, the next step is to write a brief, rough outline of the information that answers each question. Be sure each outline responds to the wording of the question; that is, it should explain, compare, describe, or do whatever else the question asks (see Table 25.1). Writing a rough outline will strengthen your recall of the material. It will also save you time during the actual exam because you will have already spent some time thinking about, organizing, and writing about the material.

Here is a sample essay question and an informal outline written in response to it:

Essay Question

Explain how material passes in and out of cells by crossing plasma membranes.

Informal Outline

Types of Transport

1. Passive — no use of cellular energy; random movement of molecules

a. Diffusion — molecules move from areas of high to areas of low concentration (example: open bottle of perfume, aroma spreads)

b. Facilitated diffusion — similar to simple diffusion; differs in that some kinds of molecules are moved more easily than others (helped by carrier proteins in cell membrane)

c. Osmosis — diffusion of water across membranes from area of lower to area of higher solute concentration

2. Active — requires cellular energy; usually movement against the concentration gradient

a. Facilitated active transport — carrier molecules move ions across a membrane

b. Endocytosis — material is surrounded by a plasma membrane and pinched off into a vacuole

c. Exocytosis — cells expel materials

EXERCISE 25.3

PREPARING AN INFORMAL OUTLINE

For one of the questions you predicted in Exercise 25.2, prepare a brief informal outline in response to the question.

Reduce informal outlines to key-word outlines

To help you recall your outlined answer during the exam, reduce it to a brief key-word outline or list of key topics. Here is a sample key-word outline for the essay question about cells:

Key-Word Outline

Types of Transport

1. Passive

o — Diffusion

o — Facilitated diffusion

o — Osmosis

2. Active

o — Facilitated active transport

o — Endocytosis

o — Exocytosis

EXERCISE 25.4

PREPARING A KEY-WORD OUTLINE

Reduce the outline answer you wrote in Exercise 25.3 to a key-word outline.

Take Essay Exams

Once prepared, you should be more confident about taking an essay exam. The following general guidelines will help you when you confront the exam itself:

1. Arrive at the exam room or log on with the exam link a few minutes early. You can use this time to collect your thoughts and get organized.

2. Choose your work area carefully. For in-person exams, sit at the front of the room, where you will be less distracted. For online exams, choose a quiet place that has good reception, where you are unlikely to be interrupted.

3. Read the directions carefully. Some exams may direct you to answer only one of three questions, whereas other exams may ask you to answer all questions.

4. Consider your audience and purpose. For most essay exams, your instructor is your audience. Since your instructor is already knowledgeable about the topic, your purpose is to demonstrate what you know about the topic. Therefore, you should write thorough and complete answers, pretending that your instructor knows only what you tell him or her.

5. Preview the exam and plan your time carefully. Read through the whole exam to get a complete picture of the task at hand and then plan how you will complete the exam within the allotted time. If you have fifty minutes, spend roughly ten minutes planning; thirty minutes writing; and ten minutes editing, proofreading, and making last-minute changes. Begin by writing a brief thesis statement. Then jot down the key supporting points and number them in the order you will present them. Leave space under each supporting point for your details. If the question is one you had predicted, write down your keyword outline. If an idea for an interesting connection or an effective example comes to mind, jot it down as well. At the end of your allotted time for writing, reread your essay and correct surface errors.

6. Notice the point value of each question. If your instructor assigns points to each question, use the point values to plan your time. For example, spend more time answering a 30-point question than a 10-point question.

7. Choose topics or questions carefully. Often you will have little or no choice of topic or question. If you do have a choice, choose the topics or answer the questions that you know the most about. If the question asks you to write about a broad topic, such as a current social issue, narrow the topic to one you can write about in the specified amount of time.

8. Answer the easiest question first. Answering the easiest question first will boost your confidence and allow you to spend the remaining time working on the more difficult questions. Generally if an exam contains both objective and essay questions, get the objective questions out of the way first.

9. Remember that your first draft is your final draft. Plan on writing your first draft carefully and correctly so that it can serve as your final copy. However, you can always make minor changes and additions as you write or edit and proofread.

Analyze Essay Exam Questions

Essay exam questions are often concise, but if you read them closely, you will find that they do specifically tell you what to write about. Consider the following sample essay question from a sociology exam:

Choose a particular institution, define it, and identify its primary characteristics.

The question tells you exactly what to write about — a particular institution (you get to choose one). In addition, the key verbs define and identify tell you how to approach the subject. To get full credit for this essay question, then, you would have to give an accurate definition of the institution you chose and discuss its primary characteristics.

Table 25.1 lists key verbs commonly used in essay exam questions along with sample questions and tips for answering them. As you study the list, notice that many of the verbs suggest a particular pattern of development. For example, trace suggests using a narrative sequence, and justify suggests using argumentation. For key verbs such as explain or discuss, you might use a combination of patterns.

Write Essay Answers

Use the following guidelines to write the answers to essay questions:

1. Since your first-draft essay exam is also your final draft, write in complete and grammatically correct sentences from the start. Supply sufficient detail and follow a logical organization. It is acceptable to cross out words or sentences neatly and indicate corrections in spelling or grammar.

2. Add ideas neatly. If you think of an idea you would like to add to your answer, write the sentence at the top of the paper and draw an arrow to indicate where it should be inserted.

3. Provide a brief introduction and, in some cases, a conclusion. Depending on how much time you have, the introduction may consist of only your thesis statement, or it may also include necessary background information on the topic. Write a conclusion only if the question seems to require a final evaluative statement.

4. If you run out of time, jot the unfinished portion of your outline at the end of the essay. Your instructor may give you partial credit.

Write your thesis statement

Your thesis statement should be clear and direct. Identify your subject and suggest your approach to the topic. Often the thesis statement answers the essay exam question. Consider the following examples:

For more on writing a thesis, see Chapter 5.

Your thesis may also suggest the organization of your essay. For example, if the question asks you to explain the differences between primary and secondary groups, you might state your thesis as follows: “Primary groups differ from secondary groups in their membership, purpose, level of interaction, and level of intimacy.” Your essay would then discuss membership first, purpose second, and so on.

EXERCISE 25.5

WRITING THESIS STATEMENTS FOR ESSAY EXAM QUESTIONS

Write thesis statements for two of the following essay exam questions:

1. Define and illustrate the meaning of the term freedom of the press.

2. Distinguish between the medical care provided by private physicians and that provided by medical clinics.

3. Choose a recent television advertisement and describe its rational and emotional appeals.

4. Evaluate an episode of a current political podcast in terms of its breadth and depth of coverage, objectivity, and political and social viewpoints.

Develop supporting details

For more on topic sentences, see Chapter 6.

Write a separate paragraph for each of your key points. For example, in an essay answer distinguishing primary from secondary groups, devote one paragraph to each distinguishing feature: membership, purpose, level of interaction, and level of intimacy. The topic sentence for each paragraph should identify and briefly explain the key point. For example, a topic sentence for the first main point about groups might be: “Membership, or who belongs, is one factor that distinguishes primary from secondary groups.” The rest of the paragraph would explain membership: what constitutes membership, what criteria are used to decide who belongs, and who decides.

Whenever possible, supply examples to make it clear that you can apply the information you have learned. Keep in mind that your goal is to demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of the material.

Reread and proofread your answer

For more on editing and proofreading, see Chapter 9.

Leave enough time to reread and proofread your essay answer. First, reread to make sure you have answered all parts of the question. Then reread your answer, checking it for content. Add missing information, correct vague or unclear sentences, and add facts or details. Next, proofread for errors in spelling, punctuation, and grammar. A clear, nearly error-free essay makes a positive impression on your instructor and identifies you as a serious, conscientious student. An error-free essay may also improve your grade.

EXERCISE 25.6

WRITING A COMPLETE ESSAY EXAM ANSWER

For the essay question you worked on in Exercise 25.5, use the preceding guidelines to write a complete essay answer.

STUDENTS WRITE

Essay Exam Response

Ronald Robinson

A model essay exam response was written by Ronald Robinson for his introductory sociology course. First read the exam question below and then read Robinson’s essay exam, which follows. As you read, consider how effectively and fully Robinson has answered the exam question. The essay has been annotated to point out its key features.

The essay exam question reads, "Distinguish between fads and fashions, explaining the characteristics of each type of group behavior and describing the phases each usually goes through."

"Text under the heading, “Essay Exam Answer” is underlined and reads, ""Fashions and fads, types of collective group behavior, are distinct from one another in terms of their duration, their predictability, and the number of people involved. Each type follows a five-stage process of development."" The corresponding annotation reads, Introduction: ""Includes only the thesis statement."" ""A fashion is a temporary trend in behavior or appearance that is followed by a relatively large number of people. Although the word fashion often refers to a style of dress, there are fashions in music, art, and literature as well. Trends in clothing fashions are often engineered by clothing designers, advertisers, and the media to create a particular 'look.' The hip-hop look is an example of a heavily promoted fashion. Fashions are more universally subscribed to than fads. Wearing athletic shoes as casual attire is a good example of a universal fashion. "" The corresponding annotation reads, ""Body paragraph 1: Definition and characteristics of fashion."" The next paragraph reads, ""A fad is a more temporary adoption of a particular behavior or look. Fads are in-group behaviors that often serve as identity markers for a group. Fads also tend to be adopted by smaller groups, often made up of people who want to appear different or unconventional. Unlike fashions, fads tend to be shorter-lived, less predictable, and less influenced by people outside the group. Examples of recent fads are bald heads, tattoos, and tongue piercings. Fads are usually harmless and have no long-range effects."" The corresponding annotation reads, ""Body paragraph 2: Definition and characteristics of fad."" The third paragraph reads, ""Fashions and fads each follow a five-phase process of development. In the first phase, latency, the trend exists in the minds of a few people but shows little evidence of spreading. In the second phase, the trend spreads rapidly and reaches its peak. After that, the trend begins a slow decline (phase three). In the fourth phase, its newness is over and many users drop or abandon the trend. In its final phase, quiescence, nearly everyone has dropped the trend, and it is followed by only a few people."" The corresponding annotation reads, ""Body paragraph 3: Description of 5-phase process."""

Create Portfolios

A portfolio is a collection of materials that represents a person’s work. It may be a digital file or a print collection of materials. It often demonstrates or exemplifies skill, talent, or proficiency. Architects create portfolios that contain drawings and photographs of buildings they have designed. Sculptors’ portfolios may include photographs of their sculptures, as well as copies of reviews, awards, or articles about their work. Similarly, your writing instructor may ask you to create a portfolio that represents your skill and proficiency as a writer. Think of your portfolio as a summary of your development as a writer over time.

Understand Your Purposes for Creating a Writing Portfolio

Instructors assign writing portfolios for two main reasons:

✵ Grading and assessment. Your instructor may use your collection of writing to evaluate your mastery of the objectives outlined in the course syllabus. That evaluation will become part of your final grade in the course.

✵ Learning, reflection, and self-assessment. Building a portfolio makes you think about yourself as a writer. By building a writing portfolio, you learn a great deal about the writing process, assess your strengths and weaknesses as a writer, and observe your own progress as you build writing proficiency.

Think of your writing portfolio as an opportunity to present yourself in the best possible way — highlighting the work you are proud of and demonstrating the skills you have mastered. It is also an opportunity, as you track your progress, to realize that your hard work in the course has paid off.

Decide What to Include in Your Portfolio

Instructors often specify what their students’ portfolios should include. If you are uncertain about what to include, ask your instructor. You might ask to see a sample of a portfolio that meets your instructor’s expectations.

To get the best grade on your portfolio, be sure you can answer each of the following questions about the portfolio and its contents:

✵ How many writing projects should I include? Are there limits to what I can include?

✵ Should the portfolio include only writing done in the course, or can I include materials I wrote for other courses or outside school (work-related email or service-learning projects, for example)?

✵ What version(s) should be included — drafts, outlines, and revisions or just the final drafts?

✵ Should writing projects be based on personal experience, research, or some combination of these?

✵ Is the portfolio limited to essays, or can multimedia projects (such as timelines or presentation slides), research notes, or completed class exercises also be included?

✵ How should the portfolio be organized?

✵ What type of introductory letter or essay is required? What length and format are appropriate?

✵ How much does the portfolio count in my grade?

✵ What is the due date, or is the portfolio to be submitted at various intervals throughout the term?

✵ How will it be graded? That is, is the grade based on improvement or only on the quality of the work included?

Use Your Course Syllabus as a Guide

Your course syllabus is an important guide to deciding what to include in your portfolio. If it contains objectives, which outline what your instructor wants you to learn in the course, you can use several or all of these objectives to structure your portfolio. If an objective states, “Students will demonstrate control over errors in sentence structure, spelling, and punctuation,” you would want to include examples of essays in which you identified and corrected these types of errors. You might also include a list of exercises you completed to develop mastery.

Organize and Prepare to Present Your Portfolio

Begin collecting materials for your portfolio as soon as your instructor assigns it. If you wait until the due date to assemble what you need, you may have already discarded or misplaced important prewriting, revision materials, or drafts.

Use physical or online folders divided into sections to hold any of your prewriting, outlines, or graphic organizers. If you are including research materials, include your notes and annotated sources. Also keep peer-review comments as well as papers with your instructor’s comments. Save backup copies of your files on a thumb drive or to the cloud.

Use the following suggestions to present a well-organized portfolio.

✵ Cover page. Include a cover or title page that provides your name, course number, instructor’s name, and date. (Ask your instructor if you’re not sure a title page is required.)

✵ Table of contents. Include a table of contents that identifies the elements in the portfolio and the page number (or a link) on which each piece begins. Number the portfolio consecutively from beginning to end. Since your essays may already have page numbers, put the new page numbers in a different position or use a different color font. If your instructor has not indicated how the contents should be sequenced, choose a method of organization that presents your work and skill development in the best possible way. For example, if you are including two writing projects to demonstrate your effective use of narration, you might present the better one first, thereby making the strongest possible first impression. If you are trying to show growth in your ability to use narration, you might present the stronger writing project second. Use Table 25.2 to guide your selection and sequence.

✵ Reflective letter or essay. Most instructors will expect you to include an essay or a letter that reflects on your development as a writer. This essay is the key to the portfolio, since it reflects on and explains the portfolio’s contents. It should explain how your portfolio is organized and give an overview of its contents and why you chose them. It should also include an appraisal of what you learned in the course and discuss your strengths, weaknesses, and development as a writer. Point out specific examples in the portfolio to support your claims.

✵ Drafts. Attach earlier drafts to the final draft, or place all drafts in a single subfolder, clearly labeling each draft. Date and label each piece, identifying its place within your growth process so that your instructor knows what it demonstrates. For example, if an essay demonstrates your ability to use narration, label it as such.

Your portfolio represents you. Be sure it is neat, complete, and carefully assembled.

What Should You Avoid?

Here are a few things to avoid when building your portfolio:

✵ Avoid writing about writing in general. Instead, write about what you learned about your writing. That is, do not repeat points from the textbook about the writing process. Instead, explain how you used that information to become a better writer.

✵ Do not exaggerate your progress or say what you think the instructor wants to hear. Instead, be honest and forthright in assessing your progress.

✵ Avoid flattery or praise of the instructor or the course. Most instructors will give you a separate opportunity to evaluate the course and their teaching methods.

STUDENTS WRITE

Portfolio Contents and Reflective Letter

Bryan Scott

The portfolio assignment below was given to Bryan Scott, a nursing student and former Marine, for his first-year writing course.

"The portfolio assignment reads, ""For your final assignment, you will submit a portfolio containing the following. (bullet point) A table of contents listing the titles and page numbers of all included writing pieces. (bullet point) A reflective letter that introduces your portfolio. (bullet point) One series of writing pieces (prewriting, outlines, drafts) that demonstrates your ability to move successfully through the steps in the writing process. (bullet point) At least two pieces of writing that demonstrate your growth as a writer (bullet point) One piece of writing done this term for another class. (bullet point) Essays that demonstrate your ability to use various methods of organization. (bullet point) A limited number of materials of your own choice In your reflective letter, include answers to the following questions. 1. What are your current strengths and weaknesses as a writer? 2. What specific writing skills have you developed? 3. How have you changed as a writer? 4. What critical reading and thinking skills have you learned, or in what ways have you strengthened your critical reading and thinking skills?"

Scott organizes his reflective letter using the principles of good writing he learned in the course: Within this organization, he is able to identify his strengths and weaknesses as a writer throughout the letter and analyze his essays. Compare the assignment Scott received with his table of contents and reflective letter.

"The portfolio contents list the following. Reflective Letter: “From the Marines to the Writing Classroom” 1 “The Wall at Sunset” (includes prewriting, draft 1, draft 2, final copy) 5 “How the Marines Changed My Life” 8 “Nursing Care Plan: Patient 4” 12 “Emotional Styles of Athletes” 17 “Miracle in the Operating Room” 22 “Bad Conduct, by the Numbers” with annotations 28. The reflective letter has the Contact information at the top left of the page and reads, ""Bryan Scott May 16, 2020 Final Portfolio English 109"" Top right corner shows page, ""Scott 1"". The text at the center of the page under the heading, “From the Marines to the Writing Classroom” is as follows. Paragraph 1 reads, ""I enrolled in this course because it was a required course in my nursing curriculum, but I can now say that I am glad that it was required. As a former Marine, I had little experience with writing, other than writing emails and texts to my wife and parents. Now, as I prepare for a career as a nurse, I realize that writing is an important communication skill. Writing reports about patients, such as “Nursing Care Plan: Patient 4,” requires me to present clear, precise, and accurate information about patients and their care. Through this course I have learned to do so. Although I improved in almost every area of writing, my greatest improvements were in approaching writing as a process, moving from personal to informative writing, and developing an awareness of audience."" Paragraph 2 reads, ""Through this course I have learned to view writing as a process rather than a 'write-it-once-and-I-am-done' activity. As shown in the packet of writing for 'The Wall at Sunset,' I have discovered the value of prewriting as a way of coming up with ideas. Before I started writing this essay."" (The text continues on the next page.)"

"Paragraph 2 continues, ""I knew that visiting the Vietnam Veterans Memorial had been an emotional experience for me, but I found that mapping helped me define and organize my feelings. My first draft in the packet demonstrates my ability to begin with a thesis statement and build ideas around it. My second draft shows how I added detail and arranged my impressions into an organized essay. My final draft shows my ability to catch most errors in spelling, grammar, and punctuation."" Paragraph 3 reads, ""Moving from personal writing to informative writing was a valuable learning experience that is essential for my career. My first essay, 'The Wall at Sunset,' was a very personal account of my visit to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, as was the essay 'How the Marines Changed My Life,' a personal account of life in the U S Marine Corps. While I had a lot to say about my own experiences, I found it difficult to write about topics that did not directly involve me. I found that learning to use sources, especially online sources, helped me get started with informative writing. By visiting news Web sites, doing online and library research, and reading blogs, I learned to move outside of myself and begin to think about and become interested in what other people were saying and thinking. My essay 'Miracle in the Operating Room' demonstrates my ability to use sources, both print and digital, to learn how kidney transplants are done."" Paragraph 4 reads, ""As I moved from personal to informative writing, I found that the patterns of development provided a framework for developing and organizing informative writing. Process seemed to be an effective way to present information for the essay 'Miracle in the Operating Room.' My essay 'Emotional Styles of Athletes” initially contained a lot of my own personal impressions (see the first draft that I have included), but by using classification, I was able to focus on characteristics of athletes rather than on my opinions of them."" Paragraph 5 reads, ""Before I took this course, I had no idea that I should write differently for different audiences. My essay 'How the Marines Changed My Life."" (The paragraph continues on the next page.)"

"Paragraph 5 continues, ""was written for my classmates, many of whom had no military experience. I found I had to explain things about chain of command, regimentation, and living conditions — all things that I and other Marines are familiar with. In my case report for my nursing class, 'Nursing Care Plan: Patient 4,' my audience was other nurses and medical staff, even doctors. Because I was writing for a specialized audience, I could mention medical terms, procedures, and medications freely without defining them. However, in 'Miracle in the Operating Room,' I was writing for a general, non-specialized audience, so I realized it was necessary to explain terms such as dialysis, laparoscopy, and nephrectomy. This essay and my nursing case report demonstrate my ability to write in a clear, direct, and concise manner in my chosen field for different audiences."" Paragraph 6 reads, ""While I developed many strengths as a writer, I am still aware of many weaknesses. I have difficulty with descriptive writing; I just cannot come up with words to paint a visual picture as effectively as I would like. Fortunately, nursing will not require much creative description. I also have difficulty choosing a topic. Although I found the suggestions in our textbook helpful, I still feel as if I am overlooking important or useful topics. Finally, I have not benefited from peer review as much as others have. I still find myself uncomfortable when accepting criticism and revision ideas from other students. Perhaps my military training to look to authority for direction is still getting in the way."" Paragraph 7 reads, ""As I developed strengths as a writer, I also became a more critical reader and thinker. I am enclosing my annotations for the professional essay 'Bad Conduct, by the Numbers.' These annotations demonstrate my ability to ask questions and challenge the author. I also found enlightening discussions in the text on connotative language, bias, and fact and opinion. These are things I had never thought much about, and now I find myself being aware of these things as I read. Overall, by taking this course, I have become a more serious and aware writer and have come to regard writing as a rewarding challenge."