Ortiz 1

Michelle Ortiz
Francis
English 219
6 May 2019
Reflective Memorandum

Project 1
When I began Project 1, we were told that the purpose of this project was to research
employment opportunities in my field and create and design a resume and cover letter for a
specific job in that field. The resume had to contain information on my qualifications for a
position, and a cover letter had to elaborate on those qualifications by stating why I am the
person for the job. I believe this project achieved its purpose because, after finding a job that I
would like in my specific field, I created the resume and cover letter detailed to fit every
characteristic of this position. this helped me better understand and use SLO 3, as I created my
resume and cover letter using the conventions of the genre, which ultimately helped my writing
process. This was also great practice for the real world, as I can actually use those creations for a
job in the future. Not only do the pieces expose my skills and show the interviewer what I’m
capable of, but while creating the pieces, it reminded myself of all that I can do. While it
achieved its purpose, it also lifted my self-esteem!
After learning more on SLO 3, I was able to work with SLO 5, written communication.
By focusing on providing clear and appropriate information in a way that specifically targets my
audience, I was able to complete the assignment and acquire new techniques on formatting. The
audience for my two creations (resume and cover letter) is the interviewer and the company that
will hopefully hire me. Given that this is the audience I am dealing with, I had to stick to a
professional product, not something I could informally give to my best friend. This audience not
only affected my formal and formatting choices, but it also affected my design choices. By using
SLO 7, I was able to review and revise my project for style and readability so it would not only
be more professional, but interesting as well. I had to show all substantial information while
using a relevant and logical format. While providing all my information, skills and experiences, I
had to clean up the format, making it visually appealing in a goal to get hired. My design was
solely based on appealing the interviewer!

Project 2
After working with project 1’s SLO’s, I was able to move into project 2, one that would
help us learn even more SLO’s in order to prepare on future endeavors in a career. The purpose
of Project 2 was to create a proposal that addressed or solved a problem that affects the company
I applied to in Project 1. In the instructions for Project 2, it stated that as we researched this
problem and created our proposal, we would learn how to navigate common issues in the field
we’re pursuing and gain experience with creating proposals related to that specific field. As
researching these problems would require new skills, we began applying SLO 4 in order to
perform this research. We used primary and secondary sources in order to generate an
appropriate content for our technical documents and increased our knowledge of a research
project. The piece I ended up with achieved its purpose, as I pursued an issue that could
potentially affect my future career.
We then moved on to SLO 6, where we were expected to practice general visual designs
by developing user-friendly data displays including charts, tables, infographics, line graphics and
 Ortiz 2

presentations. This SLO lead me to the creation of my PowerPoint, which in its totality gave me
practice on pitching an idea to an imaginary job at this company. This PowerPoint helped me
learn how proposals worked and how they were made to present a desired change in a company,
and while making the proposal, I thought about how this could be useful to a job in the future.
Using a visual aide and voice over in my PowerPoint also helped me work my way through
SLO’s 8 and 9, as I had to manage and present digital information in an emerging technological
way, similar to have companies are now requiring. When I was making my slideshow, I
constantly considered that the people hearing and viewing my proposal were going to be fancy
business people, working a fancy job and expecting a subpar presentation. This affected my
design choices greatly as I hesitated to insert a lot of images in fear that it wouldn’t be
professional enough. In the end, I learned not only how to make a proposal, but it's something I'll
use soon, unlike other classes, where I will never use anything from them. While achieving the
main purpose of what this project was, I also learned a few tricks on how to propose an idea,
something I had never done.

Project 3
The purpose of this project was to work with a partner or a group to create a formal
report. The report we were expected to make was specifically a recommendation report, one
which is used to study a problem, present possible solutions, and then recommend what actions
should be taken. While working on this project, I was able to achieve the listed purpose, by
working with my group and utilizing SLO 1 to plan, research and compose a document that
could potentially solve major issues in the advisement department of the Arts and Sciences
college. Our report formally exposed the problems in this department, while also providing
different methods of solving it. As we gathered to propose these solutions, we also experienced
new communication tools, working together and giving feedback on the spot. The project’s
purpose was exceeded by bringing individuals together, in order to work as a team in solving
popular issues. Group 4 worked towards this goal, and in the end, submitted a report that fulfilled
all the requirements and quite possibly more than what was asked.
Seemingly different than the other two projects, this project had an audience that was the
department or head of department for the specific college we were writing to. In our report, the
audience was the College of Arts and Science’s advisors and focusing on these individuals
helped us understand and work with SLO 2. We didn’t target the individuals in the advisement
team, but rather the department itself, considering that all of them were part of it. Given that this
was our audience, our report had to be general in order to properly give solutions to all of them
instead of just one. Lastly, using SLO 9, our group composed a paragraph form recommendation
report to this department specifying steps that they could take to better prepare us for our
academic career and knowledge of diploma requirements. Having this audience affected our
design choices in a positive way, by making it more professional and targeted to a higher level of
individuals. By making our report professional, we learned key elements that will be utilized in
future career endeavors, preparing us for what companies expect out of individual workers.