Letter to the Reviewer

Dear Dr. Ashe,

In this letter I would like to give you a brief introduction to the organization, theory, and content of my senior writing portfolio. I have organized my professional writing and rhetoric portfolio in a way that I believe to be easy to navigate and an effective use of digital rhetoric. For each section I have included a section narrative that explains why I chose to create that section and the documents that you will find in it. Within each section you will find pieces that demonstrate my understanding of rhetorical theory and how it relates to that section and Professional Writing and Rhetoric as a whole. Each document is preceded by its contextual narrative, which outlines the purpose, audience, and rhetorical decisions behind the piece. Underneath the contextual narrative you will find either a preview of the piece with a link to the entire piece or the piece itself.

As a Professional Writing and Rhetoric student I am particularly proud of my ability to embrace ambiguity and put theory into practice within complex rhetorical situations. Professional Writing and Rhetoric has taught me the ability to assess any rhetorical situation (whether that be in the workplace, through inquiry, or any other genre of writing) and use my knowledge of rhetorical theory to present and communicate the message in the most rhetorically effective way possible. I demonstrate this throughout my Workplace Writing section as I worked through my internship and gained autonomy within my role as an intern. I accomplished this by demonstrating my knowledge of writing as an organizationally situated action by adhering to their corporate culture, organizational stance, and writing style. I demonstrate this especially in the credit application that I created for my organization entirely on my own. The credit application that I created is effective because of my realization of and adherence to my role as an intern author that was organizationally situated in the context of a company that is resistant to change. I also demonstrate my ability to write successfully in any rhetorical situation despite ambiguity in the writing across genres section as I apply the theories that I learned through the lens of the genre of professional writing to the genres of digital rhetoric, advocacy writing, and travel writing. This is especially evident in my advocacy writing piece as I am able to realize that the author in this genre is often writing on the behalf of others and thus must approach the art of persuasion with consideration for those that they are representing through their writing.

Upon the successful completion of this portfolio, the presentation of my research and graduation I hope to move back to my hometown of Alexandria, VA and put my Professional Writing and Rhetoric skills to use in a career. This may be through attaining an entry-level position with the federal government or working for my family’s business as their marketing director. Thank you for taking the time to review my portfolio and I hope that you enjoy doing so.

Sincerely,

Marie Jarvis