Cover Letter for Portfolio

Troy Patterson
Dani Bowlden
Cover letter

    Dear Committee,
The pieces of writing I chose to include in my portfolio were, my annotated bibliography, rhetorical analysis, and my research paper. I chose these pieces because they represent all of the improvements that I have made in my writing this year in English 101. I have never felt that I was a good writer, until now. During high school many of my papers were written quickly just before they were due and I didn't achieve all that I could in the paper, usually getting B’s on the paper. I made a promise to myself that in college, things weren't going to work that way anymore. On the first major writing assignment, the rhetorical analysis, I spent a couple of days collecting all of my thoughts on the paper then editing it until I felt I had met all of the requirements and had a quality paper. After turning in the initial draft, I realized that spending more time on the paper had paid off because of the feedback I received. There were improvements that could be made but it was a very good start. Because of this I learned a lesson for the rest of my college career; spending more time on my papers will get me a better grade. I believe my portfolio should earn an A for its grade because of the time and effort that I put into each of the assignments which developed them into quality papers as well as developed my writing skills.
    As the semester progressed, so have my writing skills. I learned what my strengths and weaknesses were and with each assignment I improved on my weaknesses. I learned that when I made a claim, it wasn't good enough to leave it at that. I had to find reliable sources that could back up what I was saying and cite them correctly. On my annotated bibliography I had improvements to make that were easy enough to correct and I was commended for my efforts.
    I decided to use my researched argument paper, writing assignment three, because I feel it was a stronger piece than writing assignment four and because I feel very strongly about the topics it is concerned with. My introduction on the first draft was not terrible but it wasn't the best either. I summarized a scene from the movie, “Man on Fire”, that exemplified the topics that my paper was going to be concerned about. I needed to revise my thesis because it wasn't very clear and I needed a better map of where I was going with my paper. In my conclusion I also parts to work on like explaining how the movie portrays the problem of veterans not having enough support when they return and what this entails. Afters looking at the peer reviews, I revised both of these parts of the paper and got excellent feedback from other peers.
    After this semester, I believe I am a proficient writer though I know that I have a lot to learn and a lot that I can improve upon. Going forward, I'm going to expand my knowledge on proper citations in different formants and different papers. I also want to improve my ability to edit and revise my own papers to improve efficiency all around. I also want to develop my ability to be more concise so the message I want to get across is received faster.

Happy Readings!
Troy Patterson

Rogerian Argument Draft

Troy Patterson
Dani Bowlden
Rogerian Argument Draft

    Dear Ms. Sycamore,
Marriage may seem like a failed institution and may be a “narrow focus” on marriage which allows for gays to conform to the notion of a long term monogamous relationship simply for the benefits it entails. The majority of the gay movement is centered around assimilating into “straight privilege” and that its all about cultural erasure. I see where this is coming from with a lot of marriages failing in the U.S. with 3.6 divorces per 1,000 population and 6.8 marriages per 1,000 population, so just under half of marriages fail (CDC).
    However, even if this is a “failing institution” that should not preclude gays, or queers as you prefer, from getting married and being recognized as a couple. Being a part of a dominant institution is what the gay rights movement was all about, to not be excluded just because they loved someone of the same gender. The gay movement started simply trying to get equal recognition from the state so that they may receive equal rights such as visiting loved ones in the hospital and healthcare so, there is no cultural erasure occurring. Quite simply I believe that if two people, no matter the gender or transgender, believe they want to spend the rest of their lives together or just need the benefits, they should be allowed to enter into a state recognized relationship or marriage. Straight privilege, which you claim to be the narrow goal of gays, is something that shouldn't be labeled the way you have labeled it. The things you claim to be of straight privilege are things that should be basic rights to any one who is in or wants to be in a long term monogamous relationship. So what I offer as a compromise is that you recognize the fact that the gay movement isn't as big of a deal, meaning not many are opposed to it any more and that its much more widely accepted so the radicals aren't necessary and I will recognize the fact that yes marriage is a failing institution. But, I will continue to hope that gays will support it positively by staying with the one they love and staying true to their promise of a lifelong commitment even if that may not always be the case with straight couples.

            Sincerely Yours,
                Troy Patterson
   

Article featuring the person I wrote the Rogerian Argument against is here:
http://www.npr.org./templates/story/story.php?storyId=127740436

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMLZO-sObzQ - Zach Wahls talking about how his two moms didn't affect him negatively and that it was their commitment to each other.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/divorce.htm CDC; stats on marriage and divorce rates.

Lit review (very) rough draft

Lit Review: This paper will focus on the idea that America needs to provide more support for returning veterans in the form of more readily available, A.A., mental health treatment and more research into the signs of PTSD so that treatment may be administered faster. The specific example from pop culture I’m using is the movie “Man on Fire”. This movie shows a clear example of what veterans deal with (mentally) during and after they serve our country. The themes it presents are alcoholism, suicide and faith.
The first paragraph I have sources that will be discussing alcoholism among veterans. My NCADD source will have information on this and have an example of a real soldier who eventually did get help for his alcoholism. This source also has many statistics on soldiers affected by alcoholism. The stats focus on age, ethnicity and gender. The National Institute of Drug abuse also has many statics about those affected and what is currently being changed in the military to help curb the trend of rising alcoholism.
The next paragraph will focus on suicide among veterans. The article from Gregg Zoroya has statistics and demographics on veterans that commit suicide focusing again on age, ethnicity and gender. The article by Peter Catel from CQR, supports my argument with the example of a young soldier with multiple deployments who eventually did kill himself because he did not get the mental help he needed. This article also discusses what the DoD is doing to try and cut the numbers and also has stats and demographics about injured soldiers having a higher rate of suicide.
Finally, in my last body paragraph I’ll go into detail about how faith is a large portion of mental health treatment and A.A. meetings as well.

Revised Conclusion

       The movie “Man On Fire” explicitly shows why we should help our veterans not only during their service to our country but even after they have served. In this movie, Denzel Washington portrays a war veteran suffering for PTSD is a clear example of what many veterans deal with after they serve. Unlike in this movie, in reality there are many veterans who suffer from PTSD  who do not get psychiatric help and may end up committing suicide, being involved in shootings and continually drinking to numb their memories instead of getting treatment. There needs to be more research into the signs of PTSD and alcoholism so that the preventative care veterans need can be given immediately. As a nation we should provide more support for returning veterans in the form of improved screening for PTSD, easier access to groups like AA and faster mental health treatment.

Conclusion to Research paper

The movie”Man On Fire” explicitly shows why we should not just give the benefit of the doubt to but help our veterans even after they have served our country. In this movie, Denzel Washington portrays a war veteran suffering for PTSD is a clear example of what many veterans deal with after they serve. As a nation we should provide more support for returning veterans in the form of improved screening for PTSD, easier access to groups like AA and faster mental health treatment.