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Due Date: Your final test time. I will not accept portfolios submitted after your final test time.
Value: 100 points

Your portfolio is a collection of the major assignments you have completed for Business and
Professional Writing. The portfolio gives you an opportunity to collect your work in a
professional manner and reflect on it in a way that demonstrates that you have understood the
concepts of this course. It also gives you a chance to identify what skills you might need to keep
working on.

I¶m asking you to assemble an electronic portfolio for three reasons:

1.V The English department, as well as other departments on campus, uses these portfolios to
assess how students are doing in the upper division writing program and their majors.
2.V Electronic portfolios can be shared more easily than print-based portfolios with each
other, with future employers or graduate schools, or with English instructors or
instructors in your majors. The latter two audiences are very important for assessment
purposes.
3.V Portfolios generally, electronic portfolios specifically, are excellent learning tools. Their
creators get to collect and reflect²two keys for professional development.

If you do not wish to have your portfolio shared beyond this class, you may take it down after
I¶ve graded it and the semester is over. You also have the option of making your portfolio
private, but if you do this, make sure that you ³invite´ me to access it so I can grade it.

The portfolio should consist of:

1.V A opening welcome page explaining the context of your portfolio, how your work is
organized, and how to navigate the site.
2.V A reflective cover/introduction letter, addressed to ³Portfolio Assessment Readers.´ This
letter is explained below.
3.V Your cover letter, designer resume, and scannable resume from unit 1.
4.V Your transmittal letter and recommendation report from unit 2.
5.V Your instructions and usability test report from unit 3.
6.V Your proposal, project progress report, and actual project from unit 4.

You should include a short statement by each document (numbers 3-6 on the list above)
introducing and explaining the assignment to readers who may not be familiar with our class.

Reflective Letter:
This letter should be 1-2 single-spaced pages, in business letter format, addressed to the portfolio
assessment readers. You may use the English department address for the inside address. It is:

Department of English
North Dakota State University
NDSU, Dept. 2320
P.O. Box 6050
Fargo, ND 58108-6050
Business letters are typically arranged in three parts: an introductory paragraph that identifies
your purpose and scope, gives necessary background information, forecasts the message, and
sets an appropriate tone; a body (no paragraph limit) that develops your message in detail,
generally organized around your main claims; and a concluding paragraph that emphasizes your
main point, provides a clear sense of closure, and transitions to the next step²in this case, to
examining the portfolio contents.

Your letter should identify:

1.V What projects you have included.

2.V Which of the projects (included or not) shows your best work and why.
3.V What elements you could improve in revisions and how.
4.V The ways in which the projects (included or not) demonstrate your meeting the course
objectives.

Provide specific support for your assertions and write a well-supported argument that not only
describes what you did, but makes a clear connection between what you did and the ways in
which your work demonstrates that you have developed the skills, knowledge, and abilities
described in the course outcomes. This letter should do more than simply explain the
assignments that you completed. Draft, revise, and edit carefully because the assessment
committee uses these letters to help evaluate whether you have developed competencies in
synthesis and evaluation.

[
 
: Refer to these outcomes as you discuss your work in the
course:

V åen Ed Outcome 1: Communicate effectively in a variety of contexts and genres, using a
variety of communication skills.

V åen Ed Outcome 6: Integrate knowledge and ideas in a coherent and meaningful manner.

V Departmental Outcome 4: Manage sophisticated writing and research projects, planning,
documenting, completing, and assessing work on time and within the constraints of the
project.

V Departmental Outcome 7: Develop professionalism exhibited in such qualities as self-
direction, cooperation, civility, reliability, and care in editing and presenting the final
product.

V Master the discourse and generic conventions of writing, of business communication.

You should consider all the aims of the course as you draft, revise and polish your letter. You
might discuss communicating effectively in a variety of contexts and genres, for a variety of
audiences, as you describe the different assignments, formats, audience needs, etc. To discuss
professionalism, think beyond merely putting together a clean document. How have you
conducted yourself as an individual writer, as a member of a working group, and as a member of
the class?
You are welcome to include additional reflections that might help me and others understand your
work.

Your reflective letter is important. An excellent portfolio will have an excellent reflective letter,
and an excellent reflective letter might convince me that your portfolio is good, rather than just
adequate, or excellent, not just very good. Being able to represent your work effectively is an
important skill²the portfolio reflective letter is excellent practice for job application cover
letters, graduate school application letters, or annual performance reports. In a nutshell, the keys
to writing a good reflective letter are:
1.V Support your claims with specific and concrete examples.
2.V Use the language of the course to make your points.
3.V Draft, revise, edit, and proofread your letter carefully.
4.V Design your portfolio carefully and effectively, with real users in mind.

Portfolio Format:
I recommend that you assemble your portfolio using WordPress.com because of the many tools,
layouts, and flexibility that it offers, but you are welcome to use a different web hosting site if
you are familiar with other tools and technology. Weebly.com might also be a good choice. Do
not use standard blogs since I¶m asking you to create pages rather than posts in reverse
chronological order. I also highly recommend a vertical, rather than horizontal navigation bar, a
purposeful order to your documents, not just a convenient order to your documents, and the use
of Scribd.com to display your documents (whether Word or PDF) within your portfolio, rather
than forcing visitors to download documents. Avoid making viewers download at all costs.
Embedding Scribd.com documents is also preferable to linking to them since the links show the
³guts´ of the Scribd.com site rather than a polished paper that can stand alone which embedding
offers. Also avoid using sites like DocStock.com which are similar to Scribd.com but include
popup advertisements which ultimately distract from your work and professionalism. See
chapter 20 ³Creating Reader-Centered Websites´ pages 502-523 in =




 
for more advice on creating websites and e-portfolios. As you create your portfolio, consider
what you can do to make your portfolio accessible and usable for your reader.

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You will earn 25 points for turning in your portfolio with all required elements ( welcome page; reflective cover
letter; designer and scannable resumes and cover letter; transmittal letter and recommendation report; instructions
and usability test report; proposal, progress report, and individual project; and brief explanations of each document
included except the reflective cover letter) by your final test time.

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I will award up to 25 points for the layout and appearance of your portfolio:

V 23-25 for excellent (complete, easy to navigate, attractive, neat, creative);

V 21-22 for good (complete, easy to navigate, attractive, neat);

V 18-20 for average (complete, reasonably easy to navigate, neat);

V 15-17 for poor (incomplete, difficult to navigate, or messy).






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I will grade your framing letter and award up to 50 points on the following elements:

V Business letter format²10 pts
YV 8-10²flawless
YV 6-7²one or two errors
YV 4-5²three to four errors
YV 0-3²five or more errors

V Consistent, appropriate tone and style²15 pts
YV 13-15²excellent
YV 11-12²good
YV Ë-10²acceptable
YV 7-8²poor

V Claims and evidence²15 pts.
YV 13-15²excellent
YV 11-12²good
YV Ë-10²acceptable
YV 7-8²poor

V Editing and proofreading²10 pts.
YV 8-10²excellent: flawless proofreading and consistently excellent editing
YV 6-7²good: nearly flawless proofreading OR consistently excellent editing
YV 4-5²acceptable: a few minor errors in proofreading AND consistently good editing
YV 0-3²poor: several-to-many minor or a few major errors in proofreading OR consistently poor
editing.

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