Cover Letter For Website

Luis Santiago
Albuquerque, NM 87107 | | [email protected]
UNM Department of English

Albuquerque, NM
Dear to whom it regards:

During the Fall Semester of 2015, I was engaged with a class with the theme
of monsters. The class reflected the history of monsters throughout American
and European culture, and many elements that tie within them. We
discussed topics from the monstrous psyche, the grotesque, slavery,
vampires, witches, gender, and ghosts, gore, and discovered the truth tale
that these tales held. Personally, I have not read much of these classic
stories, and it was good to better understand the true meaning. Also, we
contrasted the differences with these stories from the original interpretation
to the interpretations of today. It was a productive class to experience, and
worth analyzing many tales never read before. First, I will discuss the
Department Outcomes, then end with the Personal Outcomes that our
instructor Ms. Malcolm-Morgan provided.
For this class, Analyze Rhetorical Situation was one of the most important
points. As a class, we had to always read the material and discover the true
purpose of it. We would discuss in class the message of the material, and
give possible theories to other meanings. The best example would be the
book of Frankenstein. That book was heavily reviewed upon as the depiction
of the book versus popular culture are completely different. Another subject
we analyzed the most was slavery. Slavery and racism for the monstrous
theme meant that certain audiences would read about the topic during
pre/post-Civil War. Finally, we went through the mindset of the witch scare of
the period of the trials in Salem. We went through the idea of witches as
monsters, and how it transformed the religious culture of the Puritans. This
outcome was heavy in part to understand the point of the material, and gain
a feel for many types of writing that can be confusing.
For Find and Evaluate Information, we composed two large papers, one
literary analysis and the research paper. For the analysis, I chose to do my
paper on Frankenstein. Although it was based on the primary source, it was
important to understand the context and message of the book in order to
create an argument. My hypothesis was how Frankensteins creatures inner
self was blamed on others and not him. In order to gather this information, I
had to review the book many times and gather any points brought up in
class. For the research paper, I chose to review a topic that was not
discussed in class. I did my topic on the origins of monsters from an
evolutionary, psychologically, semi-religiously, and modern standpoint. I
wanted to do something away from the class in order to bring something
new. With my experience from the previous outcome, I was able to review
many sources and decide which one best fit my argument. I understood
which one would relate to the monstrous theme, yet give my paper a new
idea to present to the class. It was well paid, and the outcome influence that.
Composing and Presenting Documents was a small but important part of the
class. Although, we never presented any of our written material in class, we
did have an opportunity to talk about the structure of it. Because it would be
repetitive to go over how to structure a paper, we went through the context
of the material. The emphasis would be to write the first draft as thoroughly
as possible, then revise it. The first draft will get the written portion out of
the way to push toward corrections in grammar, punctuation, context,
personal thoughts, and etc. The research paper could be the prime example
of this as we completed it, revised it, and Ms. Malcolm-Morgan will revise it
again to put it on the website. So, writing can never end, and can be a
continuance of change.
Page 2
Finally for the Department Outcomes entails the Reflection. Reflecting on

anything will make anyone a better writer for themselves. The practice of
regular writing can bring the good and bad onto the page. Yet, as one
continues to do this, it will push toward more good and perfect writing. For
the class, the weekly responses could be a sign of reflection. What made this
interesting was the weekly responses were on a discussion board for others
to view. So, if one missed class or did not ask questions, they can see others
thoughts about the subject for the week. This would generate more
opportunities to think about topics or ideas not discussed in class. This also
provided a sense of contribution as many do not wish to speak verbally but
through writing. Reflection gives the opportunity to give many the courage to
write about the feelings about the topic. The weekly responses were a great
tool to benefit from and reflect my own thoughts.
For the start of the Personal Outcomes, the exposure to the many cultural
issues of horror and the monstrous was a shock. It was surprising to see and
feel the thoughts of the many authors of the material. One of the best books
to base this off was Frankenstein. To finally understand the moral of the story
and follow the footsteps of the creature was surprising. It gave a better
sense to look deeply into the original instead of the new modern depictions.
Sometimes, it was important to re-read sections of many tales or stories. The
language could have been difficult to understand, a.k.a African folklore, and
had to be read carefully. Plot differs from the story, and it was important to
understand the story more than the plot. Following some stories turned out
to be different, when in class the message was something else. This class
help me understand how to give a world picture of the story, and follow it
closely toward the timeline.
Again, reading stories from Edgar Allan Poe deemed to be the prime example
of writing a lot of plot to cover the moral, theme, or message of the story. So,
this class helped in finding the main ideas and connecting them to the
Page 3
overall story. For Poes story The House of the Fall of Usher, the details
were enormous, and only to find out the message was simple among the
details. Despite the somewhat long read, I can now be able to view other
readers the same way and analyze more quickly than before.
Finally, the class overall was a new fun experience. To follow toward the old
and new monstrous gave me the ability to once again venture toward class.
The semester was a didactic success in terms of learning new content and
analyzing many readings, in which all were loved. The class had a good vibe
and everyone respected each opinion presented by each other. Through the
discussions, videos, chats, horror and laughter, there was still much room for
education. This was one of the more successful classes to bump up writing
skills in all aspects and it due to the encouragement of Ms. Malcolm-Morgan
and the class.
Sincerely,
Luis Santiago
Page 4

Cover Letter For Website

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Cover Letter For Website

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Cover Letter For Website

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Luis Santiago

Albuquerque, NM 87107 | | [email protected]

UNM Department of English

Dear to whom it regards:

Finally for the Department Outcomes entails the Reflection. Reflecting on

You might also like