28 November 2015

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,
This letter is to inform you of my growth in this English 301 course. Throughout the
semester I have learned new writing styles that have enabled me to write better than I had
previously. This course has simplified different styles of writing making it less difficult to
understand and be able to write in a format that is more organized and concise. Throughout
this letter I will introduce the documents that are in the portfolio from increasing
improvement to demonstrate that writing is a work in progress and it takes time to become a
proficient writer.
The first document in my portfolio is the rhetoric triangle we did during the first
week of class. I decided to implement this in my portfolio because it is the first piece of
writing I did in this course. Although it is not a large amount of writing it still abides by two
of the student-learning objective (SLOs) such as Rhetorical focus and Organization and
focus. It abides by the rhetorical focus because this piece of writing is done in an informal
matter where punctuation or full sentences are not necessary. However, a weakness I had in
this was that I would still write my documents formally because I have been so used to and
taught to write formally. I would catch myself putting in punctuation marks when it was not
needed because I was asked to write down actual thoughts and not actually form them in a
contextually correct from. Yet, as the semester progressed I learned how to write informally
and write down thoughts without having to follow writing restrictions Not only this, but this
form of gathering ideas prepare us to write in an organized manner even if there were only
written thoughts. This is where the rhetorical triangle piece abides by the organization and
focus SLO because it is formatted in a way that is organized and concise to target main key
points to allow myself and other students to effectively advance into the next step and write
a paper at a proficient or advanced level.
The second document I decided to implement into my portfolio is the brainstorming
our group did for our group profile. I wanted to include this document because it
demonstrates the SLO of collaboration among our group to generate ideas together to
effectively write a paper. Although it is not always easy to work together and compromise,
this group profile proves I am able to work well with others while successfully completing a
group paper. Even though it is only a brainstorm of our profile, we all worked together to
form an idea we all favored in order to successfully complete a task, in this case was to
complete a group profile, or paper.
The third document implemented in my portfolio is the peer review sheet for the
rough draft of my editorial on the poaching of sea turtles. It is implemented because it
reflects that although I have proficiently written an editorial, collaboration and peer

reviewing is needed to polish my writing in order to reach the finish line and present an
organized piece of writing. By having others peer review your work or vice versa it
demonstrates I am capable of helping others in improving their writing and is equally
important to peer review others work to help your peer succeed as well by giving them
feedback to strengthen their writing abilities.
Following this document is the submitted editorial with your comments on it.
Although peer review is done, another stage is still needed because one peer reviewer can see
not all flaws and mistakes and an additional reviewing is needed. For example, in the
editorial version you reviewed I did not add citations where they were needed, resulting in a
partial loss of credibility. I also need to work on forming smooth transitions and clarifying
thoughts that were not fully explained and needed further clarification. However, I resolved
the small issues by correctly implementing citations and further clarifying concepts I had not
fully explained prior to this revision.
This is then followed by the final revised editorial. This document reflects the
preparation I have done all semester long, it represents the techniques and tips I have taken
into account to effectively write this piece of writing. This editorial abides by the SLOs of
ethical research, persuasive arguments, and academic language and design. Prior to writing
this editorial I researched peer- reviewed sources and constructed annotations from them to
enable to successfully write this editorial. The paper itself is a persuasive editorial with
arguments, facts, and counterarguments that reflect my preparation for this writing piece.
Not only this, but it abides by the academic language and design SLO because I have chosen
appropriate vocabulary for this editorial along with providing context and depth into a
current issue sea turtles face with poaching. By providing these documents I hope you
recognize that I have strengthened my writing skills through this course during this fall
semester of 2015. These documents reflect all aspects of the SLOs presented in this course
and I can say I have successfully achieved in becoming a proficient write with this course. I
can also say that although I am not the best writer, I am a better writer than I was before.

Sincerely,
Jennifer Munoz