Mrs.

Tamera Davis
Northern Oklahoma College
615 North Monroe, Room 344
Stillwater, Oklahoma 74078

April 27, 2020

Dear Mrs. Davis,

This collection of writings demonstrates how my skills improved overall through the course of
one year. It also demonstrates my improvement in research, understanding topics that were once
beyond my capabilities, and most importantly gives my readers insight into my imagination. The
first writing sample is a college essay I wrote during my senior year of high school, titled My
Hero. Out of the four other college essays I had written, this is my personal favorite. It signifies
the plans I have for myself and shows my determination. Although I enjoy this piece, after
rereading it through the eyes of a college student, I see many grammatical and structural errors
that should not have been acceptable for an AP course. If I were to rewrite this essay today and
show my high school teacher, I know she would be impressed. Moving on to my second piece,
The Influence of Karl Marx, an essay about the influence that Karl Marx has left in our society. It
was written for my Modern Arts and Culture class during my first semester of college. I chose
this piece because it exhibits my skill of researching a topic, I had no previous knowledge of. It
was my first college essay, and I am proud of it because I was able to connect sociological terms
to politics, economics, and modern society. My third selection, The Art of Empathy, was my first
writing assignment for this semester. Out of all the assignments in this class, this was my
personal favorite. It allowed me to incorporate my personal background and make it meaningful.
I included this piece because it signifies how much one's personal experience can impact his or
her writing. For my final piece, I choose my letter to President Donald Trump. This is one of my
most recent writings, and it exemplifies my use of statistics as well as pathos to persuade my
reader. Persuasive essays were never my strong suit in high school, but I strongly believe this
piece was impactful and could have made a change if President Trump had actually read it. Now
the placement of these selections may seem random to my viewer, but I have placed them in
order from my last high school essay to my last essay for this semester. The reason for this
chronological order is to show how much I have improved as a literate person.

In my first essay, it is clear that I am a beginning writer, with poor vocabulary and short sentence
structures. As time progresses, the reader sees my most recent writing, where the difference in
my writing manner and technique is obvious. The impact of two composition classes is
outstanding. Having the opportunity to choose something I am passionate to write about made
me a better writer. My previous classes assigned a single topic, most of the time it was mundane,
but having the freedom to choose a topic and persuading my readers to understand my point of
view gave me a reason to write. It made me want to be a better writer not for myself, but for my
readers.
Furthermore, as time progressed my way of writing did as well. My current method of writing is
using outlines; it is not something I have always done. I used to dive headfirst into the essay, but
over the years and many English courses I have learned the best way for me to write is using an
outline. It allows me to organize my writing and ties it back to my thesis. This is one of the many
skills that I will forever keep in my writing skills toolbox. Other skills I obtained during my first
year of college that I will definitely be keeping in my toolbox are how to write a formal letter to
an authority and how to use my own experience to evoke emotions from my readers. Knowing
how to write a formal letter can come in handy, especially if you are someone like me who wants
to advocate for change. Using your personal stories, especially if they are emotionally alluring,
can be very helpful as well, because it draws the attention of the reader and allows them to
empathize with you. Again, this can also be used in a letter to an authority to persuade your
reader.

English being my second language made writing difficult for me. I was always placed in ESL
classes, had bad comprehension scores, and never quite knew how to spell anything right.
However, something that I was good at was having a terrific imagination and being creative. To
this day, I still have difficulties pronouncing, spelling, and writing the English language, but my
skill has increased dramatically since the start of my college career, because I was able to
incorporate my creativity into my writing. This course, specifically, allowed me to go beyond the
standard one-topic essay and express my opinions about social issues, politics, and many other
things that I will continue to write about.

Besides writing many wonderful essay for this class, my favorite part was having my personal
blog. I was always an opinionated person, and I was never able to express my opinion, because
many people did not agree. However, in the form of having a blog, whether or not it is
anonymous, I was able to express my feelings about global issues. Although this course has
come to an end, I will be starting my own blog and sharing my views of the world. This is
something I am going to enjoy, because I will not be taking any composition or writing classes in
the future unfortunately, but with a blog, I will be able to continue and grow my writing skills.
Your class has also inspired me to understand that I had an interesting past, and one day, I hope
to write a book so that fellow immigrant children, like myself, know that they are not the only
ones experiencing hard times. You have inspired me to love writing, making it something more
than just homework. Thank you for being an amazing professor and taking the time to read this
letter.

Sincerely,

Saima Rahman