In my portfolio, I would like to showcase my writing process and the ways in which my writing changes as I continue to work on a project, from the initial stages of the Proposal and Bibliography, to the rough outline blog post, all the way through the rough and final drafts of my research paper. Before this project, I rarely planned ahead for my research projects, and if I did, it was not nearly as thorough as I planned for this research assignment.

One of the things that I found most helpful to the writing process this semester was blogging, as I found myself writing about similar themes almost every week. This is easily what led me to my topic for my research paper. It also made finding important passages for my research paper, as many of the passages that I talked about in my blog posts directly related to my research topic.

Outlining, which I rarely took the time to do before this assignment, is also very beneficial to me. I also thought that reverse outlining, which I had never heard of before, was helpful as well, because it makes you consider how the reader of your paper views what you are saying. This goes along with proofreading my papers multiple times, especially the rough draft, which at first consisted mostly of the ideas found in my blog posts.

Finally, I find the peer editing process beneficial to my writing because, although I do not always like others to read my written work, receiving feedback is the best way for me to improve my writing. It allows me to best see whether my argument is understandable to someone who known little or nothing about the subject I am writing about and corrects any mistakes I may have missed. It also allows me to see examples of others’ writing as well, which can give me ideas on how I can improve my own writing.