Dear Dr.

Bruce,

Throughout the course of this semester, I have completed several assignments that
have helped improve my ability in fulfilling this class’s six Student Learning Objectives (SLOs). In
this portfolio, I demonstrate how I fulfilled the different SLOs outlined in this course. The three
assignments from this class that I will be reviewing are this cover letter, a group charter for my
research review project, as well as my revised definition.

This cover letter shows my fulfillment of SLO #3, persuasion. I have done this by
outlining a number of claims and substantiating them with detailed examples from my three
assignments. For the additional SLOs taught in this class, I will provide in text examples of how
my writing achieves each objective.

The group charter done for the research review project was the start of an extensive
collaborative effort. Co-writing this charter with my other group members fulfills SLO #6,
collaboration. We created the general outline of this charter together, and then each group
member was responsible for fleshing out a specific section within the charter. After this initial
draft, we came back together as a team and revised the document and made necessary
changes to help improve the document and make it cohesive.

The revised definition assignment incorporated several SLOs to create an informative

document on a scientific definition. The SLOs I fulfilled in this assignment include, rhetorical
awareness, ethical research, organization, and language and design. I achieved rhetorical
awareness by using audience appropriate language. I also defined scientific jargon that may not
be known to a general audience, by using parenthetical definitions. For example, in my
definition I used the word “diploidy”—a term that’s established in general Biology classes but
may not be known outside of the scientific field. I included a sentence after its initial use
describing diploidy as a “cell having a complete set of 23 paired chromosomes deriving from a
person’s mother and father.” In order to provide background information for this definition I
used ethical research. I included information from reputable sources such as peer-reviewed
articles or university websites, and I ethically cited information obtained with APA-style
parenthetical citations. For organization, I divvied up my definition into clear cut sections
outlining the different steps in the cell cycle. This meant including separate paragraphs
outlining stages such as “Interphase”, “Mitosis”, and “Cytokinesis.” In order to fulfill language
and design, I used easy to understand language in order to convey various levels of information.
I also employed the use of different sized text, bolding, italicizing, and colors to create a design
that further organized my definition and made it even easier to follow.

Consciously keeping these SLOs in mind over the course of the semester has helped
hone my scientific writing skills and has given me a guideline to continue to write successfully in
the future.

Sincerely,
Thejes Nair