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In your electronic portfolio, you will include revised versions of your rhetorical analysis
essay and either your literacy narrative or your problem essay. You will also include
a cover letter that reflects on what you've learned this quarter and explains why the
eportfolio is a good representation of your learning.
You can choose to focus on any aspect of your learning, but you need to address three categories:
(1) What you learned this quarter, (2) Why the essays in your portfolio are representative
of your learning, and (3) What the electronic portfolio says about you as a writer, student,
researcher, and thinker.
To help you articulate what you’ve learned this quarter, you may want to look back at
the reflective writing you’ve done as you responded to readings, engaged in discussions,
or wrote the cover letters for each essay.
You might also ask yourself: How did you define “good writing” at the beginning of the
quarter and how do you define it now? How, specifically, have you developed as a writer?
How will the knowledge, skills, or experiences from this course help you approach future
writing tasks?
As evidence for your arguments, you may want to paraphrase, describe, or directly quote
from your reflections this quarter.
To demonstrate how the essays in the portfolio are representative of what you’ve learned,
explain why you chose to include your problem essay or literacy narrative, and ask yourself:
What does including this text tell you about how you write, or about how you assess your
work? How does this essay compare with others you’ve written?
You’ll also want to explain why the problem essay or literacy narrative and the rhetorical
analysis essay demonstrate your abilities as a writer. And be sure you back up that explanation with evidence—you can paraphrase,
describe, or use direct quotes from the essays.
Finally, to discuss how the eportfolio represents you, consider why you included the visuals
you did, why you designed your navigation in the way you did, and how the essays, your
design decisions, and this reflective letter all combine to represent you.
As evidence, you can describe the designs, you can link to other parts of the portfolio,
and you can include screenshots.
To make sure the letter is coherent and not just a list of ways you’ve grown, you’ll
want to establish a clear theme. For example, you might focus on how you have improved your
organization throughout the quarter, or how revision was a crucial influence on your growth
as a writer, or how your biggest take-away from the class is a strong understanding of
audience.
You’ll have the opportunity to get feedback on this letter during the electronic portfolio
peer review session. You can also contact your instructor and request feedback before
you submit the final portfolio.