Introduction:

English 106 has been a long advantageous class.  I feel I have come out of it with a level of understanding that warrants me a B, by improving my knowledge and skill,  felt by achieving, in your words, the "P's" and "Q's" that my writing is better.  I feel all year, I have worked up to this representation of my understanding of 106.

Knowledge and Skills:

Knowledge is an important part of English, if a person doesn't know what he is taking about or goes of topic he loses credibility as a writer.  In an attempt at mastering knowledge and skill I have worked on its four major aspects:  Language, Ideas, Research, and Communication.  Language the ability to not only to know how to use or find words, but how to decipher phrases or words for their purpose, audience, and agenda.  When looking in primary sources many words that they used back in their era are different much like rode (road) or gaol (jail).  When writing in our paper, we would use the modern form of the word, because if not then the audience doesn't understand the idea in the sentence.  Also I found in my study of grave digging that their are synonyms for it but some warrant special action to be called such.  In England, they referred to them as body snatchers, while Americans used the term ressurectionist.  I think because I studied grave digging, I became more aware of Americans sediments towards the dead, medicine and education.  Each one of these ideas was a major factor in shaping the ressurectionist movement in Colonial America.  The peoples thought of the dead helped start grave digging, by not providing bodies for the scientific community.  Medicine was looked on as not evil, but more anti religious movement almost saying ordinary man can create miracles.  With the idea of education, it was not one of the major platforms for society.  With the assistance of the Library Staff, the research portion of the Portfolio was simplified.  There were many different sources to look too.  A person cold check out a book from our library or by using inter-library loans get one from another UNC systems school.  Another hard bound source would be the Subject Encyclopedias which provide excellent information on a time period and subject.  The library uses electronic sources like EBSCO host or the Brave Cat online catalog of every book in the library and its availability.  Communication was a major aspect of this course.  I believe that I have provided an above adequate understanding of web design.  I can create, edit, and publish my own web page.  Using the major aspects of web design:  Arrangement, consistency, and contrast.  I have developed a well designed web page that is clear and easy to navigate.  When arranging a page it is important to direct the viewer's eyes.  With additional texts you run the risk of drawing the attention of the viewer away from the purpose to banners, pictures, or texts.  To help make your page more visually appealing use consistent headings, texts, and to provide more form bullets are effective forms of organization.  When creating a web page make sure to use contrasting colors, like black and white, to make it easier for the reader.  Also contrasts in font provide a page with excitement and helps to grab or keep the attention of a reader.

P's and Q's

I think that using preparation I have written better material.  Preparing allowed me to organize my thoughts and provide clear and concise works.  When preparing using things like outlines and webbing help organize thoughts on paper.  When writing my causal essay it was important to make an outline because there was just too much information for a person to organize in their head.  Also for things like reading a syllabus for class can help you bring the correct material and not waste the period because you forgot a book or paper.  Being prepared for class helped me better use my time in class working instead of looking for material during the period.  I feel like classroom participation also helped.  By interacting with the teacher I realized what needed to be learned in his eyes and provides me with an opportunity to ask questions on unclear topics.  An example of this was when we were learning about how to use EBSCO host and I didn't understand how to put in the subject i.e. medic for medicine or the difference with using and/or on the search screen.  I feel showing respect to a teacher also benefited me.  It provides a less stressful environment to work and makes communication between student and teacher easier.  Also the way a teacher constructively criticizes a students work helps the over all mood between the teacher and the student.  An example of this occurred when writing an outline, Dr. Canada was reading over the content I had written down.  With a cool and interested tone, he provided me with ways to improve my paper, but he also made me feel like the work I was doing was meaningful.  Working hard to correct my papers was a large part of my classroom assignment.  Many times in class my group mates would not have their paper and my paper would get special attention due to the fact that I was prepared.  The utility I most used was questioning, being rather computer illiterate I needed help on more than one occasion.  An example of this was when I published a paper and it successfully uploaded, but because I put htm instead of html it would not come up.  With a little asking the problem was identified and solved.  

Conclusion:

This semester was a building block to finals.  I believed that because I worked hard in the objectives of the course that I have met the criteria for above level comprehension, not quite mastery.  Using guidelines learned in class, library, and other classes I believed I learned what was set for English 106  Composition II.