5 May 2014

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,
I am writing this letter to inform you of why I have chosen these several documents to be
part of my portfolio. As a writer, I have always struggled with developing clear and concise writings
that the audience can understand. What has been most common with my writings is that I write in
such a manner that my ideas are out of place and confuse the reader. I believe that the documents I
have chosen to include in the portfolio display my skills as an improved writer. The documents
included should also display my improvements in regards to the Student Learning Outcomes
(SLOs). The included writings are: the major review article, re-written and original; e-mails between
me and two other students in regards to peer reviews, as well as this cover letter. I have arranged the
order of these documents from formal to informal, as well as from documents that meet the most
SLOs to those that meet fewer requirements. These documents should suggest my improvement as
a writer throughout this course as well as display my ability to progress with future writing
assignments throughout my undergraduate career.
The review article assignment was a formal written document (SLO 1) which required a bit
more investment than other assignments I have come across. Despite the initial readings of articles
that were relevant to the review, the organization of the document is critical. A lot of information is
expected from a review article, but the manner that this information is presented to the reader is
essential to understanding the implications (SLO 2). My approach to this writing included an in
depth outline that detailed what I wanted to share from these articles as well as how to arrange them
(SLO 4). Typically, I struggle with setting up outlines for written projects. If I do design one, I
eventually stray from the designed outline. For this specific project, sticking to the outline was
necessary to maintain logical order in presenting information. Some major details that are to be
included would be the information of the different methods used. These methods are to be
evaluated in terms of its benefits and should be compared for downfalls, but because of this more
recent field of research it was limited (SLO 3). The addressing of gender or cultural differences was
not of issue since most scientific literature of this field keeps those details out (SLO 5). An issue that
I continue to have with this assignment is making the topic of subject fit the guidelines of the
Journal of Neuroscience while making the topics easy to understand for the general public. The
panel of reviewers for the Journal of Neuroscience is specific to the field, hence the lack of need to
define many topics in review. Yet some feedback that I had received from a classmate was in regards
to the difficulty understanding the concepts reviewed.
The e-mails included, which also consist of a peer review, are part of the portfolio to
represent my informal writing abilities (SLO 1). These specific emails are between me and a fellow
student of English 363. We kept in touch in regards to several assignments but this e-mail is in
regards to the portfolio formal/major document chosen (SLO 6). My responsibility was to critique
this students chosen formal writing document (review) and outline any suggestions or changes
necessary through email. This document should display my ability to communicate informally in and
out of class. It should also display that I am able to improve anothers writing skills through
assessment and critique of written works. I have also included the peer review comments for my
review article. I have chosen to include these to display that I am also capable of improving my own
writing skills through the assessment of others. Regardless of whether the writing is formal or
informal a common comment I would receive is that my writing was scattered and confusing. I feel
as though my review and informal documents display my attention to changing this detail.
I hope that this portfolio properly displays the progress that I have made throughout this
course. I still have plenty to develop throughout my future writings, but I at least know that I have
been able to reshape the clarity of my writings. I have noticed that in all writing assignments I pay
more attention to delivering concise sentences along with logical order. Thank you for taking the
time to review my portfolio and cover letter and I hope this assists you in understanding my
reasoning for these chosen documents.

Sincerely,
Joshua Silva