1440 Dakota Drive, Apt.

16
Fargo, ND 58102

December 9, 2010

Department of English
North Dakota State University
NDSU, Dept. 2320
P.O. Box 6050
Fargo, ND 58108-6050

Dear Portfolio Assessment Readers:

This electronic portfolio contains a collection of the work that I have completed as a
student of Miss Enger’s ENGL 320 class this past semester. In this letter, I will give a
brief overview of the projects contained in the portfolio and highlight the project that
illustrates my best work. I will give some insight into how I may improve my revisions,
and how these projects demonstrate my meeting the course objectives.

Projects Included. This portfolio contains the four units completed in ENGL 320.
Unit 1 includes a cover letter, designer resume, and scannable resume for job
applications. In the section for Unit 2, which focused on recommendation reports, I have
posted the transmittal letter and recommendation report regarding employment
recommendations for Kevin Wentz. Unit 3 was a collaborative project where our group
was challenged to create a set of instructions for a task of our liking. For this unit, I have
included the instructions for creating an instructional video using specific screen capture
software and the usability test report created by our group. The last section is contains
Unit 4; the individual project. The project I chose to create is a business plan outline. This
is included in the portfolio along with my project proposal and progress report.

My Best Work. The project that I believe displays my best work is the business plan
outline that I completed for the Unit 4 individual project. I feel that this piece of work
was my best because I had the chance to work on a topic that I am very interested in.
Because this business plan is something that I may actually pursue in the future, it was
important for me to write a thorough outline that could be reviewed by potential
investors. I was able to use some of the skills I had learned from previous projects such as
the format of a report. This helped me create a table of contents, executive summary, and
an appendix or list of figures.

It was also simple for me to plan my own schedule for the completion of the Unit 4
project because of the knowledge I have gained about time management through other
courses included in my studies. I was able to plan using a Gantt chart, and figure out what
tasks could be worked on simultaneously in order to minimize the hours I had to spend
working on the project.

Improvement. The element that I could use the most improvement with would be
citing my sources, and making sure they are given proper credit for the information that I
have used from their works. In addition, I feel that my email skills are still somewhat
lacking. Email was not hugely popular when I was in elementary school, so I had never
learned how to be professional when it comes to sending email. To me, email has always
been informal and simple. It was new for me to start writing emails in a professional
fashion, and I do believe this is an area where I continue to struggle. I feel younger
students today probably have a better understanding of how an email should be written,
as it is more popular in younger age groups than it used to be.

Meeting Course Objectives. The ENGL 320 syllabus has two objectives listed: (1)
working alone and with others, students will analyze and write documents that address
the needs of specific audiences and specific purposes and (2) students will use a variety
of research tools.

As for the first objective, I have been able to analyze the work of my peers through peer
review assignments. This has also been accomplished through group work in class. By
analyzing the work of others, I have been exposed to new methods of communicating my
opinions and thoughts to others. Because of this, I have been able to write documents that
are appropriate for specified audiences.

I have met the second objective of this class by doing different types of research for the
unit projects that we have been assigned. Not only did I use internet sources to help me
with my work in this class, but I also had to rely on lectures from other courses that
helped me with my business plan outline. I used different textbooks to gain insight as to
how I should about writing my Unit 4 project.

In conclusion, this class has given me much insight on how to become a better writer. I
am now better able to direct my writing towards a specific audience in a professional
manner. These are skills that I will continue to exercise as I progress in my professional
life.

Sincerely,

Aaron Steckler