California State University, Fullerton
P.O. Box 34080
Fullerton, CA 92834-9480
16 May 2013

Dear Dr. Bruce,

Throughout the semester I really enjoyed the task of completing various different assignments under a wide variety of circumstances. Academic writing in my opinion can sometimes be exhausting since it becomes a process where I feel creativity becomes limited. Writing with a restriction in mind and using an academic voice limits the enthusiasm of an assignment for a student, so when I discovered that we would be working on a blog, keyword definition, and a creative writing work, my interest in writing with freedom resparked. The one work that I truly feel represents the best of what I have to offer comes from my February Blog Post and I also believe that it covers seven of the Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) for our class. The other SLO will be covered by my Annotated Bibliography which is also included in this portfolio. Please review my following claims as I guide you through each work and how it proves that all the SLOs have been achieved.

The first document that I decided to include in my portfolio was my Annotated Bibliography. This document is included to mainly cover SLO #1. As you can see from my work, my citations are ethically cited and synthesized to be easily identified but they are also in correct alphabetical order. I also included a quotation of Robert Proctor’s document in its description to show that I can effectively cite my sources in writing. With this in mind, SLO #1 has been fulfilled.

The second document that I included in my portfolio was my February Blog Post. The first SLO that I cover with my work is SLO #2 which is successfully using Toulminian argumentation and evidence. In my blog post, I accomplish this SLO by claiming that my artifact has correlation to an idea in society, and that it says a lot about who are as a people. Specifically speaking when I mention how people are becoming more accepting to new ideas. The evidence that I provide is stating that the video game creators have suggested more acceptance in our culture by making their character Gerdenheim a noble monster. By applying this interpretative framework of cultural criticism in my artifact, I have also covered SLO #4. By which I use my artifact to make the acceptance claim apparent in our culture.

The fourth SLO that I covered was SLO #3, which was to analyze the rhetorical situation of my artifact which was a video game character with relation to Shelley’s Frankenstein. I used the appropriate style of informal writing, made use of appropriate conventions of English grammar, and used the blog genre to communicate my message to a wide audience. Also, I transferred my rhetorical skills learned in class into an unfamiliar writing task which was basically writing specifically for an online audience open to criticism from fellow peers.

By writing clear sentences, formatting and including paragraphs correctly, and structuring it all in an easy to read document, SLO #5 is also fulfilled. SLO #6 follows next in completion since I covered drafting and pre-writing with a Fact/ Idea chart and a rough draft of my blog post. Here you can see my early thought process that went into creating my final work. SLO #7 is covered by the mandatory Reflection Chart but also by the peer review comments that I received in my rough draft. Finally, SLO #8 is covered by submitting this portfolio.

Overall, I feel fairly confident about what I have accomplished with my portfolio. I have successfully met the requirements of the SLOs for our class and I have also developed a stronger foundation to continue improving. I hope that the works that I have provided along with the the short yet concise evidence are enough to display mastery of the SLO’s. Thank you for taking the time to review my letter.

Sincerely,
Eduardo Chavez