Unit 7: Writing Portfolio

• Due Sunday by 11:59pm
• Points 200
• Submitting a file upload
• File Types doc, docx, and pdf
• Available Feb 24 at 12am – Mar 8 at 11:59pm 14 days

Our attention in Unit 7 shifts to preparation for the final portfolio, which is due at the end of this unit. Your portfolio should be submitted no later than 11:59 p.m. CT on Sunday. The portfolio counts as 20% of your overall grade in the course.

Final Portfolio Guidelines

Required Components: 

• A reflective essay (about 4 full pages, double-spaced)
• Your two best essays from this class, each with further revision
• Artifacts of your writing process

Length: Your reflective essay must be between 800-1200 words. Your two best essays should be as long as they need to be fully achieve their rhetorical purposes.

Style/Format: The revised essays essays should be formatted in according to MLA guidelines. Be sure to do the following:

• Use 12 point, Times New Roman font, double-spaced.
• Use 1-inch margins top, bottom, and sides.
• Although no cover page is needed, you should include your name, my name, the course number/title, and date at the upper left-hand corner of the manuscript.

File format: Please submit your portfolio as a single file attachment in a .doc, .docx, or .rtf file. These formats are available in most word processors, including Google Docs and Open Office, and will ensure that your instructor is able to comment on your work.

Works Cited: Those essays that refer to outside sources must include a page of Works Cited.

Deadline: Submit the portfolio as a single file to Submit Assignment no later than 11:59 p.m. CT on Sunday at the end of this unit.

Use of essays for future courses: Please understand that your portfolio may be used— anonymously—as a sample for future EN106 students and instructors unless you expressly request that it not be used. Your work will only be used for educational purposes.

Why This Assignment Is Important

This portfolio serves as the core assessment measure for EN106 at Park University. Let’s consider that term for a moment. At Park, a “core assessment” is a required assignment that is common across all sections of a course, both online and face-to-face. This assignment is meant to serve as a tool for instructors to evaluate student learning across sections, terms, campus centers, and modalities. In other words, the portfolio is your opportunity to show off what you have learned in this course, and an opportunity for Park faculty to learn more about how our teaching works. Ideally, we use the lessons from your core assessments to inform changes to curriculum. As you prepare the portfolio, think about using it to make an argument: to use a metaphor from the law, you should make a case for what you have learned this term in EN106.

Your portfolio should demonstrate what you know about academic research and writing. Your EN106 portfolio is a “best works portfolio”—that is, your portfolio should be a collection of your strongest, most polished academic writing. It will contain three primary pieces: a reflective essay, your two best essays from this class, and artifacts from your writing process. 

For most students, the two essays will be the same two essays you improved through revision and expansion in Unit Four and Unit Six.

The next Canvas page will describe in more detail the expectations for your portfolio, and some of the possibilities for how you might organize it.

Assessment Standards

Your portfolio will be evaluated as a whole according to the following assessment standards. Please note that while these standards are similar to those used to grade your essays throughout the course, they are not identical. Please read through these assessment criteria and ensure that your portfolio demonstrates each outcome. In general terms, significant weakness in any one of these areas reduces the grade of your portfolio by a letter grade. However, serious weakness in one area can lead to the loss of two or three letter grades or to a failing grade. We can also discuss these grading criteria in the Instructor’s Office.