Final Portfolio
WRD 102
Final Portfolio
Due During Final Exam Period
Purpose
The purpose of this assignment is to allow you to reflect on what you have learned about the writing process this quarter, using your own work as evidence of that learning. This will allow you to assess where you are in your learning outcomes in terms of the expectations of First Year Writing. Portfolios are also used to assess the FYW Program.
Audience
Your audience will be your professor, other students, and writing instructors and faculty from across the curriculum.
Instructions
Consider which pieces you wish to include in your portfolio, and be sure to choose writing that will showcase what you have learned throughout the quarter. In addition to the reflective essay—which should include specific reference to specific evidence in the portfolio and discuss your understanding of your own writing process—you MUST include ONE SIGNIFICANATLY REVISED PAPER, along with its original draft. You will also include other support such as brainstorming activities, rough drafts, notes, scribbles, process reflections, peer reviews, etc. Limit the number of these pages to eight. (So, you will include a 3-page reflection, a revised paper with its original, and six to eight additional pages.)
Remember, half your grade is riding on this portfolio, so invest time in writing it. You should definitely include go through the steps in the writing process and schedule a meeting with the Writing Center. Prove what you have learned through actions! Be sure to treat your work with respect to establish your ethos as a serious academic writer: submit it in a folder, staple papers, include labels, etc.
Technical Details
1. Length should be three full pages long.
2. Set margins at 1” all around.
3. Use 12 point, Times New Roman font.
4. Double space.
5. Indent paragraphs.
6. Organize work in a folder or “portfolio.” Please don’t use binders.
Other Considerations
The following is a list of common pitfalls to avoid when writing your reflection:
Organization: By far, the biggest organizational problem students have with the reflective essay is falling into the trap of a chronological listing of what they have learned. (“And then I learned, and then I learned …”). One way to avoid this trap is to “focus” your essay on a central claim or thesis for the essay.
Empty Claims: Students easily slip into the pit of empty claims: they make claims about what they now know and can do without providing any evidence to support these claims. Ways to avoid this bottomless pit include focusing your remarks on the work included in the portfolio. You can quote from work in your notebook. You can use ideas and terms from our texts and the course to frame your remarks (and to reveal your understanding of these ideas and terms).
Generality: Often students make claims that are so broad or so obvious they don’t really reveal what it is precisely that students do know or have learned. The claim, “I learned that fastwriting is a good way to get your ideas down” would be more convincing if you actually wrote how you learned this or how you know you know it. (Just because a teacher or textbook says so, doesn’t mean you automatically “own” that knowledge.)
Evaluation
Your portfolio and reflective essay will be assessed according to the following criteria:
1. Does the student understand the goals (Learning Outcomes) of the course and does he/she reference them throughout the paper? Does the student understand what makes writing “good?”
2. Can the student write clearly and competently about his/her own writing?
3. Does the student specifically reference the items included in the portfolio? Does the evidence in the portfolio support the conclusions/assertions made in the reflective letter?
One Last Thing
If you wish to have your portfolio returned to you with comments, please include a self-addressed, stamped envelope (with a sufficient amount of stamps!). I will mail this to you over break. Alternately, you can e-mail me to pick it up, and I will hang onto it until week three of Winter Quarter. After that, the papers will be shredded. If I do not hear from you by Dec. 1, your papers will be recycled.