English 300
Course Portfolio Assignment (30% of your course grade)

For this assignment, you will compile, reflect upon, and revise writing you have done already this semester.

Task
Include the following in your portfolio:
1. A reflective cover letter written
• to explain the learning you’ve done through study and activity and
• to assess the quality of your writing processes (such as discovery/journal writing, drafts, personal and peer feedback, final revision) and/or the quality of the final portfolio revisions of each of the two essays included in your Portfolio. (Partially satisfies criterion g. below.)
2. Two substantially revised essays, each addressing a different rhetorical situation, as all our essays do. (Satisfies criteria a. through f. below.)
• You will revise (and improving the grade on) the content and other elements of your Researched Argument for the portfolio.
• You will also revise (and improve the grade on) the content and other elements of either your Literacy Sponsor Analysis or your Analysis of a Your Major as a Discourse Community for the portfolio, not both.
o You can include all three if you want to improve the initial grade on the Literacy Sponsor Analysis or Analysis of Your Major but think the other one will make the Portfolio grade higher. If you submit all three essays, in your cover letter, make clear
 that you have revised the one to improve its grade but not as part of your portfolio
 and that you’ve submitted the other, unimproved, to strengthen your portfolio’s grade.
 Also, note on the first page of each essay, the reason for its inclusion.
3. Clear organization of content, to aid in the review of all these materials.
• Submit the file for your Reflective Cover Letter first
• Then, submit your revised Researched Argument
• Then, submit the other revised essay

Assessment
I will evaluate your portfolio (as a representation of your learning this semester as a writer) on the following seven bases, which are discussed in more detail in our Portfolio Rubric in our syllabus and posted in D2L:
a. Effective Adaptation of Writing to the Rhetorical Situation Established by the Given Assignment
b. Persuasive Argumentation/Reasoning
c. Effective Analysis the Implications of Evidence
d. Effective Synthesis of Research Citations with Each Other and Your Own Reasoning
e. Appropriate Sources and Research
f. Correct Forms and Conventions
g. Effective Revision and Reflection

As the rubric describes, I will assess each of these aspects of your writing as Advanced (A – 90-100%), Target (B – 80-89%), Developing (C – 70-79%), or Beginning (D-F – 0-69%).

Deadline
M, Dec 7 – Course Portfolio, due by 11:59pm to the Portfolio dropbox (Assessments > Assignments > Portfolio)
 
English 300
Assignment for the Portfolio’s Reflective Cover Letter

Assignment
Write a cover letter for your portfolio that reflects on what you have learned (through study and/or activity) about writing processes and/or that assesses the quality of particular features of the writing/content in your papers. Try to write an honest and insightful self-assessment. The points you make will be up to you. However, you should comment
• on your strengths as a writer,
o on what you’ve learned in this class to reinforce them and add to their number,
• on what this class has made you aware you still want to learn or to do better as a writer, and
• on the quality of the writing in your two revised essays for the Portfolio.
As you do this, be sure to develop your paragraphs by referring to specific examples/evidence in the materials submitted in your portfolio and by explaining what this evidence indicates about the quality of your writing.

Your audience will be me and, perhaps, another reader from our composition faculty – something to keep in mind while writing.

Process
• After revising them, review your essays and decide what points you would like to write about.
• Write your essay as a letter to me (and perhaps that other faculty reader).
• Use a logical (essay-like) organization that makes the letter easy to follow.
o An overall assessment statement could serve as your “thesis.”
• Place this letter in your portfolio as its cover letter.

Format notes for this letter (Some basics of “business” letters):
• One-inch margins
• Single spaced
• Double-spacing between paragraphs (no indentation)
• Date at top
• Complimentary greeting
• “Essay” as the letter’s content/body
• Salutation
• Signature
• Typed name (in case signature is illegible)