Essentially, your rhetorical purpose with the portfolio is to convince me you have learned, inform me about what you have learned, and to demonstrate to me, using the cover letter itself, some of the skills and techniques you have learned. The portfolio is an opportunity to show off your best work and the foreground work which best demonstrates you have learned the content of the class. As I reader and as a teacher, I want you to succeed in this class; so, you don't have a hostile audience, but you do have one which needs convincing.
The cover letter allows you a place to make the argument for the grade you think you deserve and to discuss your performance in the class. Remember, this cover letter is a detailed overview of what you have done over the past nine weeks and it should show me, not just tell me what you have learned; so, it should be packed with a long series of claims and each claim should be backed up with close, specific, detailed discussion of what you have learned which draws on examples from the work you place in your evidence section.
Write the list with any questions about the assignment.
Just a few notes:
- Length of cover letter: 7-10 pages.
- Length of portfolio, that is, cover letter plus evidence section, 20-35 pages or so.
- Due: 28 July.
- Turn in as a physical copy in a manila folder, a scanned pdf, or a google document.
- When will the portfolios be graded? 29-30 July.
- My advice? Work with your group to produce a detailed, flawless, persuasive cover letter and pick examples to include in your evidence section from your writing this semester. Pick and choose carefully from multiple stages in your learning and writing process. Also, read through the blog and your notes to remind yourself of the details of what you have learned. Detailed, direct claims backed up by multiple examples and good evidence are what will win this reader (and most readers) over. What will loose you ethos? Vague claims and a portfolio which is thrown together rather than drafted, revised multiple times, and carefully proofread. The major topics in the course include basic rhetorical analysis, Kaizen, process writing, collaborative authorship, how to research and fix grammar problems, and new technological resources for writing. Fit these into a picture of where you have come from, what you have done this semester, and where you are going as a writer; show me how what you have learned in the course fits into this picture, and you are on the money.
