Cover Letter

Dear Composition Department,

Hello, my name is Emma Bergsohn and I’m a freshman here at SUNY New Paltz. Coming here for the first time as a freshman, I knew I was going to have to take at least a few English classes during my college career, the first being English 160. English had always been my least favorite subject throughout all of middle and high school. I would constantly procrastinate on assignments, leave them until the last minute, and I always dread doing the work. Even though my grades didn’t reflect this, I knew a college course would be different. This made me very anxious about English 160. I figured the workload would be heavier along with increasingly difficult assignments, so I was prepared to change my working habits. It took some time to get used to, but eventually, I made sure to start my assignments sooner, and began outlining, rereading, and editing my work. I learned about genre, audience, persuasion, and arguments furthering my knowledge in English, in turn improving and strengthening my writing abilities.   

Even though English isn’t my strongest subject, there are areas in my writing where I succeed. For instance, imagery is one of my strong suits. The first assignment of the semester was to create a personal narrative. I started strong by creating vivid images to capture the reader’s attention. I wanted to be able to create clear pictures in their head about a familiar and unwanted visit to the doctor’s office. For example, I wrote, as I “walked into the bright white room ahead of us,” I got “a whiff of cleaning chemicals.” I sat down “[fidgeting] with my hands anxiously waiting for the doctor to say something.” By creating an uncomfortable environment, describing multiple senses, as well as including a personal, relatable detail about how I was feeling, I hoped to connect to the reader. An additional way I applied imagery in my narrative was by including descriptive moments of action to keep the audience hooked. I discussed my love for gymnastics and how it shaped me into the person I am today, whether that be through the strength and determination it gave me or the bonds and friendships it helped me create. For instance, I wrote, “Every time I face-planted on the floor, whenever the friction of the bars tore apart my hands, whenever I ran out of breath during routines, and whenever my muscles burned from conditioning, I knew it was all worth it.” I wanted to show that even though I had to put in a great deal of time, hard work, and effort to do what I loved, I still never backed down. Over the numerous years I’ve spent practicing gymnastics, I know that improving means I will have some failures along the way. It’s important to push through difficult times in order to continue doing what I love. 

Even in my second assignment, a food review, I used imagery in hope that the reader would be able to both picture and almost taste the food I judged. I illustrated textures, flavors, as well as the presentation of the food. Some parts of my meal were scrumptious, like the brownie from the dessert table. I described it as “soft, moist, and the M&Ms added a perfect crunch. Almost melting in your mouth, the sweet chocolatey flavor is great for anyone with a sweet tooth like me.” I made use of positive and favorable language to express how I felt about the dessert. On the other hand, there was also food in my review that was significantly less appetizing. For example, when I tried the chicken from the simple eats section, “chewing the meat almost felt like eating toilet paper.” By describing both foods with such contrast, my audience can easily assume which food I liked and which I disliked. Using comparisons and descriptions allows the readers to have an even better understanding of my strong opinions.

Although I feel stronger in some aspects of my writing, something I still need to work on is my organizational skills, transitions, and managing my time wisely. At the beginning of the semester, I struggled to even begin assignments. I had a difficult time choosing the topics I wanted to write about and had trouble deciding what would sound best in my paper. I would constantly talk about the English assignment I had to do, but sometimes never started it when I should’ve. This made me very stressed out when in reality, the work was very manageable. This showed in my first assignment since its organization wasn’t the best and my transitions between different ideas began to scramble together. For further assignments, however, I started much sooner. This, along with realizing that creating outlines for my paper would make work easier, helped me significantly. I was able to bullet my ideas and not worry about creating perfect sentences. This let me organize my thoughts more clearly and manage my workload in a much more efficient manner. My improvement shows especially in writing assignment three, a letter to a politician addressing and creating a solution to a chosen problem. For this assignment, I decided to write about New York City traffic and congestion. Congestion contributes to many issues including climate change, physical health, and even mental health. Picking such a complex topic required a lot of planning, so working on an outline, then a rough draft, and lastly a final paper let me fine-tune my thoughts adequately. In my outline, I was able to properly plan how I was going to use my evidence. Then, with my rough draft, I was able to put my raw thoughts onto the page and get it peer reviewed. Finally, in my final paper, I was able to add transitionary phrases to make the paper flow better. This way, I wouldn’t have to worry about doing all three things at once. Since this was such a major and extensive writing assignment as well, I was able to put my thoughts together in a much better manner and produce a way better final product. 

Through this class, I was able to gain ample information about genre, audience, and persuasion in order to complete each assignment. Assignments one, two, and three all required certain expectations. For example, In my narrative, I used imagery, descriptive language, and personal information to keep my audience interested. During my food review, I also used descriptive language, as well as comparisons for readers’ understanding. In my letter to a politician, I used ethos, pathos, logos, evidence, and explanations for my selected audience to clearly get my points across. By recognizing the different aspects needed to fulfill different genres of writing, I was able to consider the different expectations and audiences for each paper. It helped me create appropriate and suitable choices for my assignments.  

Now that English 160 is coming to an end, I can confidently say I’m ready for English 170. I’ve learned plenty of information throughout this course that helped me understand my goals for each of my writing pieces and how to create a well-thought paper.  Although my writing skills have room for improvement, I still feel that I’m prepared for English 170 and am excited to write more persuasive and argumentative pieces.