9 May 2015

Dr. Leslie Bruce

Department of English, Comparative Literature, and Linguistics
California State University, Fullerton
800 N. State College Blvd
Fullerton, CA 92831
Dear Dr. Bruce,
The goal of this letter is to display a compilation of works that I feel have achieved the
student learning outcomes (SLO) necessary to this course. Looking retrospectively at all the
work I have done in this class, I have ultimately chosen four documents that embody the SLO
expectations. I intend to explain how each of these assignments satisfies the criteria of the six
SLOs based on the strength behind each document. Thus I will begin with the review article
assignment.
The review article assignment was essentially a larger research project that aimed at
presenting the facts. For this reason I believe that this assignment successfully satisfies SLO 2.
Being able to adequately use references was essential in this assignment since a majority of the
information was newly learned facts. For example, a paragraph on the mechanisms of histone
modifications could not be produced without the help of extra sources. Specifically, I had to
include a definition of epigenetics and I cited Gavin and Sharma (2009) as the source I obtained
the fact from. I had to consult other credible sources and correctly reference them within the
body as well as in the reference section.
Organization was also important to ensure that the information was built with each
successive paragraph. I believe this assignment also satisfies SLO 4. For example, it would not
make sense for a reader to jump right into the implications of histone trimethylation being
observed in post mortem brain tissues as there would be no context for the reader to absorb this
knowledge. To rectify this, I made sure to provide background information to explain epigenetic
mechanisms and the effects that they cause. Lastly this assignment satisfies SLO 5 as the writing
is impartial and does not invoke a gender or cultural bias. For example, when referring to the
research group of Chase et al, I made sure to use the pronoun they so as to not make
assumptions about gender.
The next document I will discuss is the writers notebook entry. I believe that the entry I
included satisfies SLO 1. For example, consider the following sentence from my original
paragraph, Lab groups were tasked with creating a research project beforehand... I modified it
in the revision paragraph to say, My lab group prepared an experimentprior to visiting the
center. These two sentences say the same thing, yet are different enough to satisfy a variety of
purposes and audiences.

The third document I will talk about is the excerpt from my proposal paper assignment. I
believe that this document satisfies SLO 6. I worked with two other students to complete the
paper, illustrating my collaboration skills. For example, for our pre-writing process we set up a
Google document and divided up the initial read-through of our article amongst ourselves. We
read our sections and outlined our respective sections into the document. This work became an
invaluable reference when it came to actually writing the paper. This strategy and the resulting
paper successfully modeled collaboration.
The final document to talk about is this cover letter. As the last point of discussion, this
document satisfies SLO 3. It is my hope that after reading this letter, you will be able to see how
I have effectively analyzed my work from the past. My goal for this portfolio is to shed some
light on my mentality behind assembling this collection. However, that is not to say this is
flawless work as writing is an ongoing skill. Nonetheless I still have faith that this portfolio
embodies the hard work that I have completed this semester and the growth I have experienced
as a writer in this class. Thank you for reading my letter and I hope you enjoy the portfolio.
Sincerely,
Joshua Panotes