December 8, 2016 Dr. Bruce English Professor California State University, Fullerton 800 N. State College Blvd. Fullerton, CA 92831
Dear Dr. Bruce:
When I first enrolled in this class, I knew I would be working on improving an aspect of my writing that I had never given any thought to. Technical writing for this class refers to writing documents such as proposals, resumes, memos, and manuals. I find that skills learned in this class can essentially benefit me in a future employment setting. To further substantiate this claim, I have gathered documents completed in this class that showcase what I have to offer as a technical writer. I have included a proposal, a peer review, and an excerpt from a group charter. I chose to include the proposal that my group and I collectively submitted because it demonstrates various student learning outcomes (SLOs) which are expected to be met by the completion of this course. Overall, the iFixit proposal serves as a persuasive argument (SLO 3). It satisfies this outcome because the nature of the document is to convince iFixit to allow us to create guides and publish them through their website. Similarly, the document itself is formal and is directed towards an out-of-class audience which, in turn, fulfills the outcome of rhetorical focus (SLO 1). Due to the fact that the proposal was written as a group, including each individuals input, the outcome of collaboration (SLO 6) is also met. Continually, the proposal encompasses a specific format which shows the organization and focus that is expected (SLO 4). For instance, the document begins with a proper heading, followed by a brief introduction that consists of an explanation on why it is necessary to create guides for this device and also goes on to provide a tentative timeline denoting when each milestone will be finalized. The proposal served as a great example for showing academic language and design (SLO 5) because of the respectful language used when addressing the audience, in this case, iFixit. As far as meeting the requirements for ethical research (SLO 2), I chose to add in my portfolio part of my group charter. The charter was created with the purpose of generating a foundational document revolved around our teams purpose and communicative methods. Under the section of conflict management, an outside source for steps-of-dismissal is cited; this included an in-text citation, as well as, a proper end-of-text reference. To demonstrate my informal writing ability (SLO 1), a peer review that I completed for Team Screw It is incorporated as well. The peer
review displays informality in that it is opinion-based and does not necessitate
stringent structure. Overall, I am pleased to have taken this course, especially so near to my graduation date. I feel my selection of documents are truly representative of my skills as a writer and I hope they are sufficient in proving so. I foresee it will set me apart when I am employed, as I hope to use both my formal and informal writing abilities in a future job setting.