Below are the pieces I used to apply to the writing and speaking center with. Some of the writing was done before FIT and some were done while in FIT so my growth as a writer can be seen throughout my work.
This was a piece I did while in the early admit program at my community college during my senior year of high school. I was in a college level writing course, this one was specifically on pieces of fiction while my other class--which I have pieces of below--was on non-fiction only. This was a research paper I wrote on the book "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini on whether or not it was a coming of age novel. I met with a professional consultant about this piece of writing recently and I got some feedback that helped me pinpoint weaknesses within my own writing and tactics I can use in the future to combat these weaknesses.
This paper was also written during my senior year in high school in my college-level writing class. This paper is a comparison paper of two fictional short stories, "Araby" by James Joyce and "A&P" by John Updike. Overall this paper feels rushed and repetitive to me. I remember during the writing process that I had made a rough outline before writing, but I feel like if I had spent more time in the revising phase of the paper to make sure the ideas actually flowed well then it would've turned out much better. I use the same words a lot throughout the piece which, again, makes it feel repetitive. I also feel like the conclusion falls short; I do feel like it summarizes what I talk about in the paper but it just needs more elaboration and not just an after-thought--something I find I do a lot in my conclusions. I do feel like the comparisons I noted between the two pieces were well-thought so not everything about this paper is terrible, it's just that while reflecting back I see a lot I can improve upon in my writing.
This was also done during my senior year in a college-level writing class, however, this class was on specifically pieces of non-fiction. This paper was a research paper that I wrote on the effects of fossil fuel on environmental decay and the need for the U.S. to be the leader in producing a new, more sustainable form of energy. Overall, I'm actually really proud of how this paper turned out. I did really thorough research on the topic and feel that I organized the ideas of this paper in a cohesive manner. However, one of my main issues is the fact that I didn't pick a specific audience while writing this paper--or at least, I didn't keep a specific audience consciously in mind while writing. Reading it now, I would have definitely picked the general public as my audience, specifically people on the fence about whether or not to support more sustainable energy development or stick with the convenience of fossil fuels. I feel like it comes across in parts of the writing that I didn't have a clear audience, specifically during some of my source integration. I used a lot of heavily scientific sources in this paper and there are definitely parts that are confusing/unnecessary for someone who isn't a scientist. I also feel like I need to work on conclusions more in this piece (although it's not nearly as bad as in my other pieces). Overall, I think that I just need to give more love to my concluding sentences and conclusion paragraph because looking back I feel like a lot of my writing feels lacking in that category.
This was my final application piece, a research paper written in my college-level American Government class. This paper was on the electoral college, the flaws behind it, and what the process of amending it would look like. Overall, I think the research and source integration in this paper is done really well. I feel like I clearly define unfamiliar political terms and have the paper structured cohesively. Again, a major weakness in this paper are the conclusions. The ending sentences of paragraphs often fall flat and don't really aid in reflecting on what was talked about in the paragraph or transitioning to the next paragraph. The conclusion paragraph feels like a major after-thought, barely wrapping up the paper or leaving a more generalized message/thought provoking question for the reader to end on, it just stops. I'm sure while working on the assignment that there was a page limit and I probably tried to just squeeze in a concluding sentence, but it just doesn't feel well-executed.
Presentations
Below are the presentations I also created for two of the research papers above. They were not used as application materials but I thought they would be good to include here as examples of me converting 10+ page research papers into visual presentations.
Above is my presentation based off of my paper on environmental decay and sustainable energy alternatives. This presentation doesn't have many slides--only being 7 slides in total--but each slide is on a different section of the paper. I tried to simplify the scientific information from the paper for the presentation to keep it less confusing for my audience (which was my classmates and professor) and I structured the presentation well and had presentation notes under every slide to assist me while I presented. Overall, I was proud of this assignment and how the presentation turned out.
I was really proud of this presentation and the research paper that went along with it. This was a very clear-cut project, with a strong purpose and much more solid conclusion than some of my other work. Since this paper had a clear goal--to show the flaws of the electoral college and advocate to get it amended for a different, more modern system--I think the conclusion felt more structured and less like an afterthought. I organized this presentation the same as how I organized the paper and dedicated specific slides to specific sections of the paper. I feel like some of the photos I have are good and help illustrate/support the information I'm talking about, but some of the photos also feel a little bit unnecessary so if I revisited this I would think about changing/toning down some of the visuals. Overall, I feel like this was a strong presentation with a clear purpose and a good approach to communicating information.