Letters

Dear Marlen,

I have been slacking quite a bit but now that swimming is over I can finally spend the time that i need to in this class to put forth my best effort. You have been super understanding of all of this so far and I really appreciate that! This class is a ton of work but having you for 101 I definately realized that it was going to be!

I absolutely HATE reasearch writing but i figured since I knew you it would be a better choice to take you since I know you and I liked your methods of teaching in 101.  I really do enjoy the methods where I find the article and I find the way that help me the most to learn. It does get frustrating and it is a lot of work but i would rather figure these things out on my own.

As far as the effort goes like I said, I know I have fallen behing but I will catch up and make the proper corrections in order to get an A in the class. Thank you for all of your help and concern!

sincerely,

Melinda

Dear Marlen,

Wow! You were definitely not kidding about how hard this class was going to be! It kicked my butt in every way possible, but you know what I think that is a good thing. I needed a good butt kicking and it totally prepared me for grad school and any other research paper that I will ever have the pleasure of writing for any other class.

I feel so well prepared and I feel like your forcing me to write this step by step really changed who I am as a writer. I am a huge procrastinator and had you not made us write this in steps it would in no way be the piece that it is today. I am so proud of this work because I did slave over it for months and looking at it everyday and tweaking it everyday made it probably the one work that I am proudest of in my college career thus far.

I would not want to go through this again however. It was painful. I lost sleep. I lost friends. I had to quit swimming. And I don’t blame this all on you my course load was intense this semester and I really wanted to focus on what I came to IUP for, my education. Sure swimming has been in my life forever but my career is more important to me and had I not had this class putting pressure on me I would not have come to realize that. So actually I thank you for putting me on target.

My topic sucked. I mean that in the best of ways but it did. There was no research done previously on it, which I guess was the goal but it made it very difficult to even want to write the paper at all. Then my focus group went not according to plan and I had one personality that was very strong and I feel like that made the others not want to disagree with him. Also, I had previous connections with some of my participants and I feel as though this had a large influence on who was speaking and how much they were willing to say based on how comfortable they were with me. I did provide cake and other snacks to go along and make everyone feel at home but I feel like it still may not have been a 100% honest group and that bothers me.

I did submit my paper to the personal relationship journal via email, although I do not feels as though it is in the right condition to be considered a formal or credible entry. I also found a conference from the personal relationship journal that ids offered biennial conferences that I would be willing to present at.

I know I can be a pain in the butt and im sure you have seent he changes that I have made since freshman year (note I don’t disrespect you anymore). I have learned to value your opinions and I truly do value you as a person and I look forward to keeping in touch with you in the future. Thank you, I honestly mean that with all of my heart. You are a professor that has had a tremendous impact on me and that is very rare to find and I do not say that often but with you I mean it. You have made me grow not only as a writer but as an individual and as a person and I really do value that.

Thank you for everything and I look forward to hearing from you in the future.

Please keep in touch and good luck in wherever life takes you, and if its some place warm ill be there to visit!

Sincerely,

Melinda J. Borgnis