During my first semester in college I had the privilege of being your student. I've learned quite a bit about writing and I hope to explain it fully in this letter. The portfolio I put together really shows how my writing skills have improved. It shows the topics I struggled with and worked on until I figured out what I was doing wrong. The first time I did the grammar exercises I was amazed at how I had spent four years studying English in high school but could barely complete the exercises. As time went on I really started to understand the rules behind how pronouns and their antecedents work, which helped me improve my writing. The first of the two articles I will feature is my cause and effect article entitled Rising Sizes. Even though I did not receive one of my best grades on this article, I feel that this article helped me show how I can find points to support my thesis. The points I made in this article were some of the best supporting points I remember writing. I have to admit it was one of the hardest articles to write, but I really liked the way it turned out. I learned how to come up with great statements to support my thesis, and while rewriting I learned how to use cause and effect terminology to support my thesis. One specific quote where I used cause-and-effect terminology was: “This change in attitude is stagnating Americans, as a result, America is seeing an increase in obesity.” This quote really shows my improvement with the use of commas and terminology. The second article I will present is my classification and division essay entitled Going Green. This was by far my favorite article to write because I absolutely love the topic I wrote about. This article is…half of an article…and an essay, but actually conveying what you're trying to say isn't easy. The main thing I will learn from the course is that it is very important to follow the format of whatever type of essay you are trying to write. Format and terminology are the elements that really bring an essay together and separate effective essays from ineffective ones. As I said before, I learned quite a bit about pronouns and their antecedents. The lessons we took really helped us see what the right path was for certain topics like grammar and essays. They are essential to have a correct sentence. The things I learned in this course will follow me in all future articles I write throughout my life. Especially in college writing 2, where we are writing research-based papers. I feel like my entire writing style has improved during my time in this course.