10 December 2014

Dr. Leslie Bruce

Department of English, Comparative Literature, and Linguistics
California State University, Fullerton
P.O. Box 34080
Fullerton, CA 92834-9480
Dear Dr. Bruce,
The compilation of this portfolio was not without difficulties - the assignments we have worked
on over the course of the semester have challenged me in different ways and helped me improve
different areas of my writing. Though my portfolio only includes two pieces, not including a peer
review, its size should not diminish the ways each piece contributed to my growth as a writer. I
found that, of all of the works accomplished over the course of the semester, the iFixit Proposal,
and my Recommendation Report were the pieces that challenged me most as a writer and fulfill
the Student Learning Outcomes set out by you.
The iFixit proposal posed an interesting challenge for me as a writer and student: it was not only
one of the first major steps of the iFixit project, which was in itself a daunting task, but was also
the first major task I was facing as editor-in-chief for my group. Not only was the iFixit Proposal
targeted towards a different audience, its focus was much more direct than most of the works I
had written in the past; an essay, though putting forth an argument, doesnt demand the same
degree of immediacy and conciseness a proposal does. This proposal was a unique challenge in
that it had a very specific purpose and different audience than I was accustomed to, and was also
a collaborative effort in which the words of multiple people needed to be merged together into a
cohesive document. Though it was an intimidating task, it was accomplished successfully, and
fulfills SLO 1, Rhetorical Focus. It is a notable example of an assignment that demanded
adaptability from me as a writer as well as writing for a different audience and purpose.

The second assignment in my portfolio is left for last as it is the largest assignment of the three
and incidentally fulfills 4 SLOs: the recommendation report. The recommendation report is the
major assignment I chose to edit, mainly because of how much room I felt there was for
improvement. Though different sections of my recommendation report correspond to different
SLOs, the whole of the recommendation report fulfills SLO 4, Organization and Focus, in that it
required being able to organize and clearly communicate my thoughts to address a specific
rhetorical situation. In this instance, the recommendation report focuses on narrowing down,
through research and interviews, the writing form English majors would most benefit from being
taught. In order to be able to effectively and clearly answer this question, I chose to first research
the different writing forms an English major seeking publication might need to be experienced

in, which made it easier to both create interview questions as well as reach an arguable
conclusion by the close of my report. Being able to organize my thoughts was particularly
important for the whole of the recommendation report, as the report required the information
presented to be sectioned accordingly in order to be able to clearly distinguish the different
components of the report. Regarding the different components of the report, the Results section
satisfies SLO 2, Ethical Research, both interviews as well as online research.
Though a comparatively small portion of my Recommendation Report, the criteria chart I
included in the appendix of my report to provide more information from my interviews is a solid
example of the Design half of SLO 5, Academic Language and Design; the rest of my
recommendation report fully satisfies the academic language portion of that particular SLO. The
Recommendations section contains the bulk of my argument, and is the point in my report that I
relate the usefulness of including a particular writing form in upper division English courses, in
this case, proposals. With this in mind, the Recommendations section of my report fulfills SLO
3, Persuasive Arguments, which highlights the benefits of a particular course of action through
use of supportive evidence.
SLO 6, Collaboration, is completed through the fourth document in my portfolio, the peer review
I received for my recommendation report. Overall, the contents of my portfolio represent my
growth as a writer over the course of the semester as well as the unique challenges this class has
presented for me, which turned into opportunities to excel. Though I still have much room for
improvement, I look forward to utilizing my current strengths as well as new skills learned in
this class to continue growing as a writer. I hope this cover letter serves to give you a closer look
into my thought process in compiling this portfolio, which I feel best represents my progress in
your class.
Sincerely,
Jessica Flores