Even if your instructor specifies what to include in your portfolio, you have some important decisions to make. Here are some suggestions to help you:
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If you are asked to select only your best essays, begin by rereading them to see how well each one develops the basic features of its genre. Also review any feedback you received from your instructor, classmates, writing center tutors, or other readers.
If you are asked to make further revisions to one or more of your essays, reread the essay, using the Critical Reading Guide for that genre, or get a response to it from your instructor, a classmate, or a writing center tutor. It may also help to review any responses you received on earlier drafts as well as the Troubleshooting Guide for that genre to see what else you could do to improve the essay. Be sure to edit and proofread your essays carefully.
If you are asked to select an essay based on personal experience, you might choose the remembered event essay you wrote for Chapter 2. If you are asked for essays based on firsthand observation and analysis, look at what you wrote for the profile (Chapter 3), the concept explanation (Chapter 4), finding common ground (Chapter 5), or the story analysis (Chapter 10). If you are asked to include argument essays, review the writing you did for Chapters 6–9.
If you are asked to select essays incorporating library or Internet research, look at the essays you wrote for Chapters 4–9.
If you are asked to select essays with a range of different purposes and audiences, you might begin by reviewing the Determining the Writer’s Purpose and Audience sections of the Part One chapters you used. Then reread your invention notes defining the particular purpose and audience for each essay you wrote.
If you are asked to include examples of your writing process work, look for your most thoughtful invention work, for a first draft and one or more revisions showing significant rethinking or reorganization, for your critical reading response to another student’s draft showing perceptive criticism and helpful suggestions, or for a draft you edited heavily.
If you are asked to include a complete process for one essay, you should choose process materials that show the quality as well as quantity of work you have done. Look for examples of thoughtful invention and substantive revision you can point out in your reflective essay.
If you are asked to select essays that show the progress you have made in the course, you may want to choose essays that underwent radical change during the term.