Marji Dzenko
Writing Samples
Research Papers
I wrote this research paper (originally assigned as a “bibliographic essay”) for my Theories of Rhetoric and Composition class. We were told to write about any topic of interest to us based on what we had studied throughout the course. I was fascinated by Chicana writer Gloria Anzaldúa’s usage of code-switching in her writing. When doing my research I noticed that no one had yet looked at the use of code-switching at a global scale, but rather authors had focused on mostly their local region. This drove me to analyze and write about multilingualism and translingualism via code-switching from a wider perspective.
In the Spring 2017 semester, this essay was published in Arete Student Academic Journal at St. Edward’s University.
I wrote this essay for my Rhetoric and Composition II course, and it was one of the first major papers I wrote at St. Edward’s. We were required to write about any health-related issue of our choice and I chose to write about breastfeeding, as I felt that there was a large social stigma surrounding it. Working on this paper sparked my interest in writing about health topics.
This is my Capstone paper, which is an intensive research paper that every senior at my university writes based on a controversial policy or law. I wanted to write about something health-related as I've always had an interest in public health policy. The most interesting part of writing this paper for me was that I had gone into it with a certain outcome in mind, but my perspective was totally shifted after my research, interviews, and surveys. Not only that, but I came to find out how something I had initially thought of as being simplistic and a bit superficial is actually deeply rooted in serious societal issues.
Creative Non-Fiction
In this essay, I was prompted to write about a “family heirloom,” so I chose to write about a trait passed through my family. This essay allowed me to explore my family’s history and how it related to my present at the time. It also allowed me to develop my own personal writing style.
After having written “The Development and Refinement of Truman Capote’s Style” and “Family Heirlooms,” I was to rewrite “Family Heirlooms,” but this time emulating Truman Capote’s style rather than my own. This is an example of how I can adapt my writing style to fit a given style criteria.
Analysis
I wrote this essay for my Principles of Style class, where we were tasked with researching an author and analyzing their style. I chose Southern Gothic writer Truman Capote, focusing on the evolution of his style throughout his career.
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This flyer was created for my Editing and Revising class, where I had to analyze a piece of faulty rhetoric, in this case, a flyer, and then create a new, better version of it. Comparing the design of this flyer to what I have been able to create in my Document Design course shows growth in my visual design skills.
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This essay was written for my Text and Discourse Analysis class. We were studying pentadic criticism and had to analyze a piece of rhetoric using this theory. Here, I looked at the Dr. Oz-Columbia University controversy.
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In another paper from my Text and Discourse Analysis class, this essay looks at Steve Jobs’ 2005 Stanford University Commencement address through a metaphorical criticism lens. I explain how someone as unique as Jobs is able to connect to a crowd of college students by using cliched metaphors.
Design
This handbook was created in my Document Design class, where I was assigned to transform the St. Edward’s First-Year Writing website into a handbook which could be given to professors new to the program. This was a group project, and the Table of Contents and Course Guidelines sections are specifically my own, although I also contributed greatly in the design choices of the entire handbook.
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Brand Re-Branding
For this project, I had to re-brand a pre-existing brand in need of a new look. I chose a small taqueria stand near my apartment that I passed every day walking to and from school. I had to create two deliverables, so I created a menu and a napkin, both featuring a logo I designed. I also wrote up brand identity guidelines.
Grant Writing
Here is the plan of work that I created for my initial project with Deeds Not Words. While I was not able to end up working with this non-profit, I was able to practice creating a plan of work.
I created this progress report midway through the semester as a status report to my professor of how far along I was in my project, and to what extent I was able to keep up with my plan of work. I ended up working instead with HARTH Foundation.
The oral presentation included here is for my pitch to the Meadows Foundation for funding the Veteran Weekend Retreats at HARTH Foundation.
This is the final grant proposal that I created for my Grant Writing course. It is slightly different in format than what I submitted to the Meadows Foundation, but includes all of the essential elements for a grant. This grant was created for the HARTH Foundation, specifically for their Veteran Weekend Retreat program.
Although not used in my grant for HARTH, this serves as an example of an abstract. This helped me learn to make the most out of every word in a sentence.
Journalism
This is a project I created for an interview at Trinity College. I was prompted to create interview questions, potential sources, a story for the university's magazine, and a photo caption. Please note that the situation, statistics, and most of the names are fabricated for the purpose of this project.
Marketing
This was created as a final project for my Writing in Advertising and Publicity course. Here I demonstrate my ability to create a SWOT environment, buyer personas, and strategic, targeted campaigns with supplemental strategies all backed by both popular and academically sourced research.
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Attached, please find several samples of my writing that I did for Frontline LLC. This includes email sequences and blog posts. This is my most recent work.