Allie Shaffer

Emre Koyuncu

English 106

4/30/2012

Cover Letter

This portfolio is a great depiction of who I am as both a writer and a person. The

photographic essay uses photos as well as words to show how I have changed, in terms of habits,

as an individual in just this past year since attending Purdue University. My essay about the

documentary Grizzly Man reveals the critical thinking that goes on inside of my head. Both are,

after having been revised meticulously, accurate representations of my skills as a writer.

I made several changes to my essay about Grizzly Man, despite achieving a perfect score

on it the first time. First, I decided to change the title of my literary work to “Timothy Treadwell:

Forever a Child” to more accurately preview my essay in a more clear way for the reader. In the

introduction, I tried to make my writing more focused on the documentary from which we

acquired most of our information in regards to Timothy Treadwell, the “grizzly man”. I wanted

to make sure that it was clear that the movie was merely one view of Treadwell’s life and that

there could possibly be different portrayals. I felt it was necessary to do this because the movie

we watched and the information we gathered was a portrayal from just one person’s point of

view, Werner Herzog’s, and that it may or may not be accurate. Furthermore, I changed a couple

sentences around to make them flow better and to, once again, ensure clarity. In terms of the

conclusion, I fixed a couple punctuation and grammar errors. More importantly, I added a couple

sentences regarding Timothy’s childlike behaviors in order to tie the conclusion of the essay to

the thesis statement at the beginning more effectively.

With of my photo essay, I made many changes. I completely re-did the layout of my

slides. I used Photoshop to create color blocks beneath the photos to act as backgrounds for my

captions and descriptive paragraphs. I felt that this method of setting up the slides created a less

invasive appearance and was able to get the point across without writing on the pictures

themselves. Furthermore, I made sure to include an extra two photos for the introduction and

conclusion paragraphs for the essays to not only get my whole concept across more effectively

but also to not end the slide show so abruptly. I added titles to each slide to give the viewer a

preview about what each descriptive paragraph was going to discuss. In the rationale paper that

accompanied it, I made sure to write about the changes that I made to each photograph using

Photoshop. I discussed what I changed with each photograph then explained my reasoning

behind that change. For example, I talked about why I made the color blocks beneath the photos

certain colors and how I did that using the photo editing software.

In terms of the Works Cited sheet from my expository essay about the death penalty,

there were few changes that were necessary according to the comments that were written on it.

All that seemed in need of a change was the fact that the words “Law Review” in the citation of

Hugo Coll’s speech. Thus, I changed that, fixed some spacing issues, and added it to my

portfolio.

All in all, I have changed very much as an individual since coming to Purdue University

and this portfolio I have assembled is an accurate portrayal of this. Not only do the initial writing

and photographs depict my transformation but also the revision of all these documents does as

well. The way in which I have changed my views on assignments I thought were completed

parallels the way in which I as a human being am never complete. I will continue to change as a

person just as my writing has during this short semester.