Dr.

Bruce

University Hall room 526

800 N. State College Boulevard

Fullerton, CA 92831

Dear Dr. Bruce,

My writing improved because of your Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs). The six

learning outcomes taught me the specific rhetoric used in a variety of professional documents.

Your assignments improved my writing proficiency and showed me how to professionally style

and arrange documents. I will explain how my writing improved in this letter and portfolio

(which includes one major and two minor works).

I chose the revised progress report as my portfolio’s major work because it shows my

proficiency in rhetorical focus, persuasion, and organization (SLO 1,3, and 4). I showed my

understanding of audience and purpose by formally writing the progress report to Dr. Bruce with

the purpose of summarizing my team's progress (SLO 1). I showed my competence of persuasion

(SLO 3) when I explained to Dr. Bruce why I believed we would finish the iFixit project on time.

I made this claim in the conclusion and used our team’s current progress and our ability to

effectively work together as evidence to support my claim. The organization learning outcome

(SLO 4) was met when I used the headings to focus the memo and organize my thoughts. This

separated my memo into sections that are easily identified.

My first minor text is the iFixit group charter. I included the charter because I master 3 of

the 6 SLOs in it; ethical citation, organization, and language and design (SLO 2, 4, and 5).

Ethical citation (SLO 2) was used proficiently in the APA in-text citations and reference page.
Great use of organization (SLO 4) was presented in the charter’s focused and organized layout.

The charter had headings, bullet points, a timeline, and a timesheet to clearly outline and

communicate the project. Lastly, I show my knowledge of language and design (SLO 5) when I

stated the iFixit replacement guides would not contain vernacular language because it would be

written for global audience. This shows my sensitivity to cultural differences.

My second minor text is the cover letter peer review. This was included because it

satisfies rhetorical focus, persuasion, and collaboration (SLO 1,3, and 6). Unlike my major text,

this one was written informally to a student with the purpose of critiquing their work. The

change in formality, audience, and purpose shows that I can change my style of writing. This

effectively shows my competence of rhetorical focus (SLO 1). I had to persuade my classmate

Jose to add more evidence and rewrite the sentences in his first paragraph (SLO3). Collaboration

(SLO6) occurred during the peer review. Jose and I explained our critiques to each other and

came up with better ways to improve our cover letters.

It is my belief that your technical writing class has improved my understanding of the

rhetoric used in a business setting. The SLOs have made me an effective technical writer and I

hope this comes across in my portfolio.

Sincerely,

Andrew Ruvalcaba