Rebecca Varnell's Portfolio

ELANG 350 take home test Editing Sample 3 (Link to the google doc, or view as a pdf below) 

 ELANG 350 take home test Editing Sample 2 (Link to the google doc, or view as a pdf below)

ELANG 350 Empirical Paper Editing Sample 1  (Link to the google doc, or view as a pdf below)

  A Friend’s Influence Have you ever felt a longing to fit in or to belong? Or that something wonderful is missing from your life, but you just don’t know what it is or where to find it? That’s how Jolie Hatch felt when she moved 4,000 miles away from her hometown, away from her friends and family and everything she’d ever known. To learn more about how one person made all the difference in helping Jolie not only learn about friendship, but also about a deeper, spiritual belonging with Heavenly Father and in the Church, see https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ftsoy/2022/01/03_a-friends-influence?lang=eng

Christ's Victory over Death It was early in the morning on October 1 st , 2018, when I got the news. It was P-day, the only day of the week when I was allowed to read through emails from family and friends, and almost as soon as I opened my eyes, the messages began pouring in. “I’m so sorry,” they said. “I don’t know how to tell you, but Grandma’s had a heart attack, and we don’t expect her to make it through the night.” Normally, having a large family was a blessing. Today it only meant eight menacing blows of terrible news. When I collected myself an hour later, lying on the bathroom floor and streaked with tear stains, I asked myself why. Why her? Why did she have to go? And why on earth would I leave my family, travel 8,000 miles away only to live on my own and be surrounded by a people and language I could barely understand when I could have stayed home and had so many more days with her? Questions and doubts rolled around in my head for days on end. Sitting in the back ...

 Weapons of Peace Before the semester started, a close friend and I began a scripture study program we refer to as the “Book of Mormon Challenge.” It’s one of those programs where you’re supposed to finish reading in 90 days. As an extra accountability measure, we both agreed to text the other person a verse that inspired us each day and the reason why. We focused on two themes: repentance (or how God is merciful in forgiving us) and covenants. One of the verses that stood out to me during our challenge was Alma 24:15. It is part of the story of the Anti-Nephi-Lehites, who covenanted with God to bury their weapons of war. The verse begins by praising God for how merciful He had been in forgiving them of the awful sins they’d committed. In fact, it says that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, their swords have become clean and “bright.” They were completely unspotted. Because of this gift they have received from Christ, they desired then to enter into a covenant with Him so th...

 Kintsugi: My Struggle with Perfection Congratulations! My fingers trembled as I read the word. Your submission has been selected as the winner in the historical romance category of our Novella-Writing Contest. As a winner, you will be awarded $100 and royalties after publication. In the publication of your novella, we will be working in conjunction with a student editor, who will reach out to you shortly to get everything started. If you have any questions in the meantime, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I stared, unbelieving, at my phone screen. A third and fourth read finally sank the words into my mind. Then, a staccatoed squeal escaped from me before a hand flew up and covered my mouth. “They’re publishing my book,” I dared to whisper.             Then, in a moment, the feeling overcame me. “They’re publishing my book!” I yelled to my empty apartment, as if I expected the sofas and piano to celebrate along wit...