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2 May 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,
Accompanying this letter is a portfolio that demonstrates my advancement as a scientific
writer in ENGL 363. I believe that the grant proposal illustrates mastery of numerous student
learning outcomes (SLOs) for this course. Additionally, I included an assignment from my
writers notebook, a peer review of my work, and the rough plan I developed for the grant
proposal. I will describe each document, giving details for how they satisfy the SLOs.
I will begin discussing my development as a writer with the grant proposal assignment.
This assignment was initially intimidating, as I had never written any sort of proposal and was
unsure of where to begin. Despite my reservations, I felt proud of the end product. This
document showcases my ability to compare and contrast arguments, satisfying the third SLO. In
the proposal, I evaluated a study done by another research team whose results disagreed with the
hypothesis of my project. To convince the review board that my study should be funded, I argued
that the previous findings were possibly inaccurate, and that my project was needed to help
answer the research question. Furthermore, I cited my sources correctly, both in-text and on my
reference page, showing that I accomplished the second SLO.
Organizing my grant proposal was challenging, but your feedback helped me to structure
this document in a way that made it easy to follow and understand. The rough plan I drafted for
my proposal helped to develop the framework of my paper and avoid redundancy. I also used
IMRAD subheadings to guide the reader through the main ideas, methods, and rationale behind
my study. The final document is concise, with clear focus. Because of this, I believe that my
grant proposal satisfies SLO four. The grant proposal is the document that I am most proud of,
and I am pleased to present it to you as part of my portfolio.
In combination, the grant proposal and the writers notebook assignment demonstrate
rhetorical focus. The purpose of these two documents differed; the notebook entry reflected on
feedback I received on a previous assignment, whereas the grant proposal sought to persuade the
audience that my study deserves to be funded. The audience and tone was also different for these
two documents. The grant proposal was written for a review panel, and thus required a more
formal tone, whereas my notebook entry was meant for you and could be much less formal.
Together, these two documents satisfy SLO one.

Both the grant proposal and this letter to you show control of language and design. My
proposal did not have significant problems with sentence structure, spelling, or grammar, which
is reflected in your original assessment of that assignment. Furthermore, the cover page and
headings in my proposal document exhibit my understanding of design. This course has helped
me reduce the wordiness of my paragraphs, a fact that is illustrated in the abstract of my grant
proposal, where your feedback aided me in condensing two sentences into one. Although it is
unrealistic to expect that I will never have grammatical errors, this course has given me the tools
I need to recognize errors and correct them. I am confident that the proposal document and this
letter demonstrate mastery of SLO five.
The peer review that is included in my portfolio illustrates my ability to collaborate.
Biancas feedback helped me to correct citing errors in the initial draft of my proposal, and I
gave her thoughtful, constructive criticism on her proposal in return. By giving her feedback, I
was able to ask myself whether my own proposal had the same strengths and weakness, which
helped me recognize opportunities to improve my writing. I hope you enjoy my portfolio, and
that my growth as a writer is apparent in the documents I have chosen to include. I feel confident
in my ability to write both professionally and persuasively as a scientist, and I look forward to
continuing to develop the skills that are outlined in the SLOs.

Sincerely,
Miranda Petty

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