December 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
The purpose of this letter is to present how I build my portfolio. During my Fall 2015
semester, I have had many writing projects, and I have chosen three of them to consider for the
portfolio. The three documents included are my best works in English 301 class. Besides, these
documents are chosen to revise based on the student outcomes (SLOs). In the letter, I will
explain how I improve my writing skill, and how peer review affect my revise writing projects.
Moreover, I have chosen my best project to show first, and the next two writing projects are the
process which I used to complete and edit my work.
The first document I have chosen is my editorial project about Anti-Japanese whaling
activity and tradition. According to the peer-review of my classmate Gloria Alonzo, my editorial
had few spelling errors. But the errors did not distract the meaning of the essay. From another
peer-review source of Dr. Leslie Bruce, the instructor of the English 301, I had some grammar
errors. Because English is not my native language, I may easily make grammar mistakes in my
writing projects. The grammar problem found in my editorial work was about the article usage
and subject-verb agreement. I absolutely need to practice using the, a, an probably.
Subject-verb agreement was the second grammar problem that I needed to pay more attention on.
I believe those grammar errors could be avoided if I had spent even more time pre-writing and
then re-reading my work before submitting the final work. Also, I missed some citations for
some sources in my project. I used the MLA style for my works cited, but some sources were not
included the introduction probably. However, Alonzo did satisfy with most of the citations in my
essay. To support for control idea of my editorial, I chose some scientific sources. Based on the
reviews of Dr. Bruce, I needed to define more details about the scientific words used in my
sources. The specialized audiences who had background in sciences may understand the sources,
but the editorial project is written for general audiences. Therefore, I should be more careful
about who are my audiences in my future writing projects. Moreover, Dr. Bruce thought most of
my citations have been paraphrased very well. Both Alonzo and Dr. Bruce considered my
editorial really based on the SLO number two and five that are about citation style and
organizational devices. Also, my essay satisfied the proficient level in SLO table. SLO is a
really powerful outline for me to edit and rearrange writing projects.
The Rhetorical Triangle diagram is the most interesting writing notebook project in the
English 301 class. The diagram is such a good tool to create an outline for writing projects. The
Rhetorical Triangle is a closing system of message, audience, and communicator. The message is
the first step to help me identify the control idea for my writing project. For an example, the
message in my editorial project was protect marine life and anti- whaling. The audiences I
wanted to focus on were the general audiences. In addition, the communicator was the researcher
and organization. Furthermore, the Rhetorical Triangle contained two additional parts: the
context, and the purpose. The context of my editorial was an argument essay, and the purpose

was about the argument between protecting marine life and economic benefit. The diagram
helped me to rearrange my brainstorming ideas. From the Rhetorical outline, I can analyze and
organize my support evidences to satisfy the SLOs requirement.
The last document I want to present is my editorial rubric. I have chance to review the
editorial essay of my classmate about why tap water better than you think by using the
editorial rubric. The editorial rubric format was designed by Dr. Bruce that included five SLOs.
Each SLO had four verify levels to rate my classmates work. My classmates writing project
was very good. Her project did qualify for two good levels: the proficient, and the advanced
for most of SLOs requirement. I also added some comments which could help her to improve
her essay.
The SLO is a good tool which can help me to complete my portfolio successfully. I hope
the letter can help you understand what I have been improved in my writing skill after one
semester with English 301. Also, I can recognize my weakness and strengths in writing as well.
The guideline also helps me to improve my weakness and avoid the common grammar mistakes
which I can easily make. I hope you enjoy my work
Sincerely,
Avelyn Phung