Cover Letter

Through this and other classes I have taken this semester, I have worked on several important learning goals. These goals have helped me get the most of my English classes and others, such as AMH 2010, which involve writing. This cover will show you what these goals are and how I achieved them in my classes 

Outcome 1: generating inquiry 

During this writing course, one of the overarching goals was creating a research paper based on interest. To do this, I had to first generate the inquiry that would be central to my paper. The inquiry I produced was how activity theory can be used to analyze the Warhammer community. I chose this because, as I said in major assignment 1 “For a long time, I have been a part of the Warhammer community.” (Hunley, Major assignment 1). I used activity theory over other similar theory because I feel it best fit look at a community focused on a small group of interconnected activity's, “the 40k community has a large number of factors that lead to the communities overall goal, which is enjoying the world of the 41st millennium. by using activity theory, I which to illuminate these factors in a way that with help me, you, and anyone else understand the fandom that is 40k.” (Hunley, Process works 3). 

This outcome is one of the most important ones when it comes to both academic writing and everyday life. Being able to generate an inquiry well gives me the ability to not only create a good essay but also question and understand things like news stories and things that happen around you. In the context of this semester, I have used this skill to create every essay in both this and other classes. An example from outside this class is the essay I did for AMH 2010 on the effect of the Revolutionary War on African American slaves. After reading the article we were given I was able to come up with an inquiry about how the enlightenment writings of the time motivate some to gain their freedom, “In this essay, I want to discuss how African Americans tried to use the words and rhetoric of the revolution to pull themselves out of slavery and into a better future. To do this, I will refer to multiple documents created by slaves or created due to their petition.” (Hunley, How the Revolution Affected Black Americans). 

Outcome 2: Multiple Ways of Writing 

When sitting down to write, there are many ways one can go. In this course and beyond, I have used mostly essay style writing; however, I have also done research papers, story writing, and some others I cannot remember. I feel that throughout this semester I have used many ways of writing and that I understand how and when to use them. Well essay style is still what I predominantly use; I have used others in both major and minor assignments. 

 A notable example of a non essay I have written is a lot of my small weekly writing group assignments which I would describe as an expository style. An example of these writing group pieces is the one for writing group 10, “In this course I have written in an essay style. In this style of writing, in this style the expectation is to express your ideas in full sentences that lead to each other nicely. Because of this I haven’t used things like bolt points of long numbered lists. What I have been able to do in this style is effectively use quotes and paraphrasing that naturally fit into my writing and help the concepts flow into each other.” (Hunley, Writing Group Activity #10). I consider this piece expository because throughout the section I showed and the parts of the piece I didn’t, I explained everything I talked about. 

Outcome 3: information Literacy 

Information Literacy is the most important skill that everyone should have. Understanding information is in my thoughts what makes the difference between a good writer and a bad one. Throughout this semester I have used many articles, books, and personal anecdotes to write informational texts. For instance, in my final year I used 4 primary and 4 secondary sources to get the information I needed. For this assignment, I went through many articles on wargaming, activity theory, and Warhammer 40k to find those that have the information I need. To find what worked I also need to thing about how the articles and research papers would work together, “ This article has parts that relate to my final recourses, the article, “Hobby Wargames: A Preliminary Survey.” both articles discuss wargames in some way, additionally “Global Brand Communities across Borders: The Warhammer Case.” dose mention the way and in some ways the how, “Hobby Wargames: A Preliminary Survey.” is all about the how for multiple game systems, including Warhammer 40k. For similar reasons, I can use both the article and hobby wargaming and the article on using activity theory to analyze games to help analyze Warhammer 40k and its community.” (Hunley, Project 2). This is an example of me writing down my thought process on making information work together. 

Outcome 4: Research Genre Production 

For my final project in ENC 1102, I created a Research Paper based on Activity theory. The production of this paper helps me better understand the research genre by forcing me to gain hands on experiences. Throughout the creation of my paper, “Activity Theory in the Warhammer and its Community” I had to work around many of the quarks that come with the genre.  

One of the main things I learned was the use of separate sections. Unlike the essays I normally write, papers in the research genre need to be organized more by section and less by paragraph. In the paper, I have two main sections, “The Tabletop Game” and “The Community”. These sections are both split into sub-sections, such as “Mechanics” for the tabletop section and “The Three Community Examples” for the community. Another thing I had to change about my normal is still the use of lists. In the “Mechanics” section of “Activity Theory in the Warhammer and its Community” (3-5), I have a list of the 10 main mechanics used in tabletop games as they apply to Warhammer 40k. These two aspects of the research genre are things I learned in this course. 

Outcome 5: Contributing Knowledge 

Another important skill I improved during this course was contributing knowledge through my work. In the past I have attempted to contribute something in my writing, however this is the first time I truly feel I have had it. In my final project, I used activity theory to explain aspects of the Warhammer 40k tabletop games. Throughout the research stage of the project, I was unable to find anyone else who analyzed the Warhammer game or community. So, when I wrote “These classes of mechanics, as defined by “Hobby Wargaming: a primary survey” make up the rules, tools, and short/long term objectives of the tabletop Warhammer experiences. Other aspects like division of labor, community, and subjects will have to be tackled differently. Labor for the tabletop game is divided between the players and the rules maker.” (Hunley, activity Theory in the Warhammer and its Community 5) I was contributing knowledge to the conversations on activity theory and tabletop wargaming. 

Outcome 6: Revision 

Revising one’s work is one of the most important things a writer can do. I have also revised my work before submitting it for a grade. In this case, both a friend and my mother read my project to find errors in spelling and grammar. Well, they and I did not catch all the problems this has acted as a learning tool of a correction pipeline to use in the future. One of the dumbest mistakes was that I kept going back and forth on whether Warhammer was capitalized or not. An example is “The Warhammer community and the tabletop game that surrounds it are perfect candidates for analysis using activity theory and similar methodologies. Well, I tried my best to analyze them in this paper. I know it could be more thorough. I hope that in the future more people will conduct research on the warhammer community looking at aspects like physical community, ....” 

So in the end, well I still have a lot to gain through the use of my writing skills, I feel that I have achieved what I set out to do this semester (Fall 2025). I will update this website with more assignments as I continue my time in college. I hope you check in every once and a will to see If I have improved. I hope I do.