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Advanced Strategies for Rhetoric and Research
The Practices of Memory
English 190.9
Spring 2004

Final Portfolio and Writing Project Revisions

Assignment
The purpose of the portfolio is to allow you to reflect upon the work you have done in this class and the material we have covered and specifically to allow you to take stock of the course and what you have learned. Your portfolio will consist of two sections: 1) a portfolio essay with supplementary material, and 2) two revised writing projects. The entire portfolio needs to be turned in inside a folder.

Portfolio Essay and Supplementary Material
The purpose of this section of your portfolio is to persuade your reader that your portfolio demonstrates your learning and achievement in this course. This section will contain the various documents necessary to help you make your case as well as a cover letter in which you make your argument and a table of contents to help make your portfolio clear.

• Portfolio Essay: While your portfolio essay should come first in your portfolio, it is the last thing you should work on. As you prepare this essay, you will want to look at the work you have done for this class and for other classes and/or activities that you believe have benefited from what you have learned in this course. Using your supplementary material as well as your revised writing project(s) as evidence, construct a argument which seeks to persuade your reader that your portfolio represents your learning and achievement to date. Your portfolio essay will need to make specific reference to the work you include. When referring to specific passages in your supplementary material, use the title of the piece and its page number. If a piece doesn't have a title on it, please write one on it to make it identifiable. Your cover letter should be 3 - 5 pages in length.

• Supplementary material: In addition to selecting pieces which you believe represent your best work, consider including early drafts, papers that you struggled with, examples of where you learned something about your writing, peer-review or instructor comments, whatever you think will be useful to help you make your case. Realize that in addition to comparing and contrasting effective and ineffective pieces of writing, you can also uses items that indicate you are aware of and working on particular issues. For instance, if you have a problem with passive voice, or your writing often lacks specific details, or you're starting to work with the paragraph shaping we've discussed and you have evidence that you are working on these issues, include them. Such evidence can include peer reviews that you write for others (being able to identify your own writing difficulties in others writing is a significant start), handbook exercises, and even multiple versions of the same paragraph reworked in different shapes can all count as evidence.

• Table of contents: Your table of contents should list all your supplementary material by title in the order they are placed within your portfolio and it should be placed before your cover letter. (See below for order of everything.)

Revised writing projects
The last section of your final portfolio should be your revised writing projects. For the final portfolio, you need to include two (2) writing projects, one of which must be at least 3 1/2 pages and one that must be at least 4 full pages.. If you are happy with grade you received on any of the writing projects you submitted at the midterm, you may turn it in as a revised writing project as is and it will keep the grade it currently has. However, you are also free to revise again any writing projects turned in at the midterm.

Order of portfolio materials
Your portfolio contents should be as follows:

1. Table of contents for supplementary material (each item listed in order by title)
2. Portfolio Essay (3 - 5 pages)
3. Each piece of supplementary materials in the order they are listed in the table of contents
4. Revised writing projects with all drafts and comments not already included as supplementary material
   

Due date: 6 May 2004, by noon in the English department

Final portfolios may be turned in earlier (please make arrangements with me or turn them into my mail box in the English Department). If you do turn your portfolio in early, please email me to let me know you are doing so that I can make sure I get it.

Last Updated: 12 April 2004

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