Dr.

Leslie Bruce

University Hall Room 435

800 N. State College Boulevard

Fullerton, Ca 92831

Dear Dr. Bruce,

When I first enrolled in this class, I dreaded writing due to my insecurities as a writer. I
have gained beneficial skills in writing and became more confident as a writer because of
English 301. The six student learning outcomes (SLO) that were presented to us challenged our
skills and provided us with new skills that will help us as writers for our futures and even our
future careers. This letter will direct you through the documents that demonstrate my
understanding of the SLOs. The documents included are this cover letter, my extended
definition, and a peer review.

In my cover letter, I follow the format of any cover letter you would read. My cover
letter shows that I have satisfied SLO #4 – Organization because I exhibit a layout of documents
in the order they will appear with the SLOs that they satisfy. I provide evidence to justify why
the SLOs were satisfied and how my revisions will change my work.

For my extended definition, I focused on the audience’s need when trying to define my
keyword. My extended definition demonstrates my understanding of SLO #1 - Rhetorical Focus,
#2 - Ethical Citation, #3 - Persuasion, #5 - Language and Design. I gained skills through rhetorical
focus by understanding my audience through the strategies employed to define my word,
"murder." I had to focus on my audience's needs so that they could understand my definition. I
used seven sources with a variety of both peer reviewed, images, and history. I use these
sources to support my elaboration of my keyword. By doing this, I demonstrate ethical citation.
Each in text citation has the proper source and each image that lacked a citation previously,
now has one. I have mastered persuasion due to my word choice and the sources used to
persuade the audience to take my definition into consideration. The way I have set my
definition up allows the audience to trust that the information I am stating is credible and
reliable. Lastly, I have mastered language and design through my extended definition by using
images, tables of contents and headings. I followed the Wikipedia format and guided my
readers through the definition.

Collaboration has been a key reason as to why my assignments are to my best ability.
The peer review I provided to Micaela Munguia demonstrates SLO #6- Collaboration by
suggesting she focus on one style of citation, MLA or APA, and suggesting two websites to
correctly cite her sources. I provided an example that Micaela could use as a template for the
rest of her sources. The peer review provided to me by Margaret Loc suggested I change my
word choice in my introduction to a more unbiased focus. I took the advice and made changes
which later flowed into my writing and gave my topic a focus.

My confidence as a writer has grown through the use of the six SLOs and given me the
skills to be a better writer. In my future career I might not be writing essays but the SLOs give
me an opportunity to think critically and work more carefully. Thank you for taking the time to
read my cover letter and read through my portfolio. I feel proud of my work and hope that you
feel the same.

Sincerely,

Mariah Gonzalez