Thank you for checking out my online, electronic portfolio. In this portfolio you will find the previous works I have created over this past semester in the Writing for the Design Professions course. I have also included some of my previous design projects created in my studio courses as well.

Over this last semester I have learned many important skills that will benefit me now and in the future. The most important skill that I feel I have learned this semester is how to create a resume, a cover letter to a future employer and how to create a marketing letter about myself. I feel that these three documents will take me far in my career and that learning how to create successful documents early in my schooling, will only benefit me in the future. Over the semester I have learned my strong points in writing as well as my weak points. My strong points include knowing how to recognize my audience and knowing how to properly use and cite my sources when writing an essay. However, I have my weak points too. One of my weak areas is my frequent spelling and punctuation errors. Another problem I seem to encounter when writing is creating a poor, bottom line paragraph. This semester has taught me a lot when it comes to writing. I have developed strong writing skills, as well as learned some of my weak points. However, this semester has also encouraged me to work on my weak points and strive to improve my writing skills.

My portfolio demonstrates my ability to communicate effectively in a variety of genres for different audiences and purposes. For example, to the right, you will find a list of different papers I have written. These papers include a resume, a marketing letter, a cover letter to a future employer, an informative visual essay, a design project and a proposal essay, and a couple others as well. The memo, for example, is an informal, personal letter written to my instructor, Kevin Brooks. We have written three or four memos this semester, and I believe that I have mastered the art of memo writing. The marketing letter, the cover letter and design proposal are categorized in the formal style of writing. The marketing letter and the cover letter are considered formal because they are intended for a future employer. For these assignments, we were assigned to pick a firm we would like to work for. We were required to research the firm and design and write a marketing letter about ourselves as well as a cover letter explaining ourselves and why we would like to work at that particular firm. We were then required to create a resume and correlate the three documents as if we were going to send it to them. This was my favorite unit we studied this semester, because it taught me the importance of professionalism. I also learned how to create a resume and a marketing letter. These are both two very crucial elements for being successful in the future and I am glad I got a jump start on it now.

When writing documents such as a marketing letter or an essay, it is important to remember who your audience is. For example, since I intended my cover letter to be for an architecture firm, I would not list my past employment as being a waitress or working at a gas station. The only relevant job history I would mark down would be those related to architecture and environmental design.

I believe that professionalism is the key to future employment. Since this portfolio is for others to view, I want it to be as professional as possible. After posting unit one, which included the resume, cover letter, marketing letter and memo to Kevin Brooks, and receiving a grade and feedback, I decided to make some revisions. I choose to revise unit one, rather than unit two and three, because I feel that unit one was the most crucial. I took the time to revise these documents, because I wanted to produce an error free, professional resume, cover letter and marketing letter. I believe that a resume and a marketing letter are the most important because they deal with future employment.

When writing I pride myself on two things. These two things include; my ability to recognize my audience and my ability to incorporate research into my essays properly. As stated before, when creating a document, one must know who they are writing too. It is important to know if you are writing to a friend, an instructor or to a future employer. After you decide who you are writing to the next step is to determine if you are going to write in a formal style, the mid-level style or the informal style. The formal style is the type of writing one would do when replying to a job interview. An example would be my marketing letter. It is intended to serve as a letter about myself, which can be mailed with my resume. It serves as a guide to my resume, where one can find additional information about me. Another example of a formal style of writing would be my cover letter. The cover letter is a letter written to an architecture firm of my choice. I chose to write my letter to Jon Anderson, owner of Jon Anderson Architecture in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I chose this firm because I like the work they produce. They are an award winning firm that specializes in innovative and progressive residential and commercial design. I wanted this letter to be formal because it is important to sound professional when applying for a job. A firm would never want to hire someone who has numerous spelling errors or who refers to them as “you guys.” My other strength in writing is my ability to properly incorporate and cite research. Research is always important when writing as essay. It strengthens your document and gives you credibility. However, anyone can research a topic. To use research properly, one much back it up. One must know when research should be used and how to properly give credit to the author. Over this last semester, I not only learned how to properly incorporate my research, but also how to properly cite it. I had previously knew how to cite my sources using the MLA style of citation, however, this semester, Kevin Brooks taught us the importance of an annotated bibliography. An annotated bibliography uses the APA style of citation. It also requires that a small, two to three sentence paragraph, describing the article, be incorporated under the citation. An annotated bibliography gives the reader of your essay information on where you found your information for your essay, so that if they are interested in obtaining additional information, they know where they can find more.

Over the last semester I have not only realized what I am good at, but I have also learned what I need to work on to improve my style of writing. I have realized that I am a terrible speller, and I need to work on punctuation as well. However, I do not believe that spelling and punctuation errors are a terribly big deal, because there is always spell check. As long as I am taking the time to proofread, and allow others to proofread my documents as well, there should not be any problems. Another problem I face when writing is creating a bottom line paragraph. A bottom line paragraph is similar to an introduction. However, a bottom line paragraph summarizes your writing so that if the reader wants to stop reading, he or she could and not miss much information. I believe that over the semester, my bottom line paragraph skills have gotten better; however, there is always room for improvement.

Thank you for taking the time to view my electronic portfolio, I hope you enjoy what you see, and look forward to seeing more in the future.

Sincerely,

Chelsea R. Akers
3rd Year Landscape Architecture Student
North Dakota State University
Fargo, North Dakota