Composing both writing pieces included a different process in my mind. For the informal letter I knew I didn't have to worry about how I was writing because Mrs. V told us to just write to a friend like we were actually sitting right across from them. For the news article I focused on writing it more in a proper way, almost like I was writing a formal paper. I tried to make it seem like I was actually going to enter my article into the FGCU paper.
After I wrote them both I can now see that the letter was way easier to write because it was to a friend and in my own voice...like I was just putting my spoken word onto paper. I didn't have to think about putting my words into a more proper setting.
The major difference between the two written works is that the letter was spoken word and the article was more properly written. Another difference was the structure of each piece. The letter didn't have five paragraphs with an introduction and a conclusion. It was just written freely...informally. I wrote the article with five paragraphs including an introduction,a body, and a conclusion.
When I was deciding what to include in both pieces, there were a few differences but the one subject that I put in both pieces of writing was my first two weeks at FGCU. Then for the letter I wrote about what I would tell my friend if she was sitting right in front of me and for the article I wrote about what FGCU recruits would want to read and hear about. I wanted to answer questions that incoming students would have.
When I was done writing my article I fixed a lot of introduction sentences to my paragraphs to make them more connected to the other previous paragraphs and more attention grabbing. I also think that is my major weakness in writing. Trying to get the reader's attention and making smooth transitions between paragraphs. You all will see as you read my first drafts :)