December 10, 2015

Dr. Leslie Bruce

English Department, Room: UH-435
800 N. State College Boulevard
Fullerton, CA 92831
Dear Dr. Bruce,
I am writing this letter to show all that I have accomplished this semester in English
360. The class was taught around the six Student Learning Outcomes; Rhetorical
focus, ethical research, persuasive arguments, organization and focus, language and
design, and collaboration. I have chosen three documents to represent each of these
outcomes. My major document chosen is my progress report along with two minor
documents consisting of a writers notebook submission and slides from a power
point presentation. All of the SLOs will be successfully shown through these three
documents.
The major document I chose to showcase was the progress report prepared for our
iFixit project. This document shows rhetorical focus, collaboration, and organization.
The rhetorical focus comes from the progress report being a formal piece for
audiences such as the iFixit team and you, Dr. Bruce. It also shows collaboration
because it took all four of our iFixit group members to complete this task. We all
worked together to show what we have accomplished at that time and what we were
on track for. I learned the benefits of working together which leads to more
satisfaction and a better outcome of the project. The document exhibits organization
by using italicized and bolded headers as well as spacing between the content. Bullet
points were used to organize the tasks in which we completed and in turn, make it
easier to direct the reader to specifics. Organization was helpful because it made it
easier for our readers to show exactly the positions we were in. Having good
collaboration leads to good organization by having each other fix what would be
pleasing to the eye for our reader. Rhetorical focus taught me that no matter which
type of writing you are completing, formal or in-formal, having an audience creates
better direction. The progress report gave us specific guidelines in which we were
able to correspond into our writing.
The first minor document chosen for my portfolio is a writers notebook submission.
This specific submission describes design principles from Markel and how it will relate
to my writing. The document showcases the language and design SLO. It describes
specific principles that Markel recommends to add into your writing. This class has
assisted my writing style by improving my contents of language that brings more
meaning and sensitivity. I never knew how important the design principle was until
Markel emphasized pleasing your reader. By the context of my writing style changing,
I was able to improve the design in my writing. For example the different spacing
between my writing has shown me the importance of using white to keep my reader
captivated. Through the exercises of the writers notebook, I was able to practice the
language and design SLO.
Third in the portfolio are the two slides from a power point that discusses the issue of
child labor and extraction of rare earth metals. This document shows the SLO of
ethical citation as we used two direct maps from certain websites. The maps show

where in the world exports the most e-waste and then which parts of the world
import the most of the trash. The second slide is the bibliography that cites exactly
where the maps came from. Knowing that most people today are visual learners,
these maps were able to help get the point across that e-waste is a problem in
todays society. This SLO also shows how important it is to cite all information
received from a source. Not only should you not plagiarize, but citing also allows the
readers to do further research if needed.
Lastly, this cover letter is used to persuade how these documents portray each of the
SLOs. Each SLO is equally important in showing an accomplished and put together
index of works. Thank you for your time in reading my portfolio.
Sincerely,
Alexa Easley