FINAL PORTFOLIOS

ABOUT THE ICCI PORTFOLIO

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At the end of the semester, you will submit a portfolio of formal written work, including rough drafts and revisions, that is evaluated by your instructor. Your portfolio will take the form of a binder, folder, or electronic collection (see your instructor for specific formatting instructions), and it will contain a selection of the writing you have completed in the course. The portfolio will also include a reflective statement: a personal discussion on how your writing has met the goals of the course. Your instructor will collect your portfolio during the last two weeks of class. During Finals Week your instructors will set up a conference with you to return your portfolio and discuss its evaluation and your final grade for the course.

Your ICCI portfolio makes up the major portion of your grade for the class. Depending on your instructor’s course policy, it will count from 60% to 75% of your grade. The rest of the grade will be based on other assignments and requirements as defined by your instructor.

The portfolio is designed to demonstrate your progress over the course of the semester. During the course, you will engage in multiple stages of generating, refining, and revising your writing projects until they form focused, coherent, and purposeful pieces of writing. In your portfolio, you will include your early drafts as well as your polished, final drafts, in order to demonstrate how your writing has developed over time.
 

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HOW DO I PREPARE FOR MY FINAL PORTFOLIO?

As you write and turn in essays throughout the semester, your instructor will provide comments and feedback to guide your revision. Your instructor will also give you some indication of the overall quality of each essay. Regardless of the marks you receive on your drafts, your portfolio evaluation will be primarily based on your final, polished writings, and the improvement of your drafts over time. Be sure to consult your instructor during the semester for more specific feedback on your progress and revision strategies.

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PORTFOLIO EVALUATION

Your portfolio will be evaluated on the basis of the five Core Values of the First-Year Writing Program. Your performance in the course will be determined by the degree that you demonstrate your comprehension of the Core Values through your course writings and activities, as well as how well you articulate your comprehension of these values in the reflective statement. 

Your instructor will collect your final portfolio during the last two weeks of class. During finals week your instructor will set up a conference with you to return your portfolio and discuss its evaluation and your final evaluation for the course.

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WHAT GOES IN THE PORTFOLIO?

Your final portfolio will consist of four items: two out of the three essays completed in the course, a Critical Engagement assignment, and your Reflective Statement.
 

While all ICCI/CCI portfolios look very much alike physically, the specific assignments you will prepare for your portfolio may be different from the assignments your fellow students complete in other sections of ICCI and CCI. There are always differences in how individual teachers design their courses; however, all course instructors develop their courses and assignments in response to the Program’s common values, goals and desired outcomes.

 

Items 1 & 2: Two Revised Essays

 

You will write three major essays for the course, and revise each at least twice. You will select two of essays for your portfolio. The two essays must meet the following requirements:

•  The essays must have been submitted to your instructor and revised.
•  You must include at least one instructor-commented draft for each of the final revised essays.
•  The essays must include the required number sources and a Works Cited/References page. 
 

Item 3: The Reflective Statement

The Reflective Statement is your opportunity to describe and assess your work in the course. In this statement you explain how you have met the course expectations—those items identified as “do or demonstrate” in the five Core Values. The Reflective Statement serves as a guide to your portfolio in that it gives you and your instructor a clear, specific sense of what you have achieved in the course.
 

Consult your instructor for specific instructions and requirements for the Reflective Statement, and see the explanation below for more info.

 

Item 4: Critical Engagement Assignment

The Critical Engagement Assignment is an important part of the essay writing process. It is designed to help you focus your ideas and figure out where they fit within the ongoing conversation about a selected issue or topic. 

An important component of this course is developing your ability to use writing as a learning and idea-development activity. Throughout the semester you will be relying on readings and other texts to develop your own essays, and you will be writing summaries, analyses and responses to your course readings. These writings allow you to explore existing conversations about a selected issue or topic, understand why you are writing, and determine what you want to contribute to the conversation. 

The Critical Engagement Assignment is included in the portfolio because it allows you to demonstrate your critical reading and writing skills and your ability to engage, analyze, interpret, and make meaning from the ideas of others. It also shows your ability to give credit to and shift between the voices of others. 

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THE REFLECTIVE STATEMENT 

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In your Reflective Statement, you are required to address each of the five Core Values and identify how the work included in your portfolio or completed in the class shows that you understand the course expectations and have achieved them.

Your instructor will provide you opportunities throughout the semester to reflect on your work in order to build your understanding of what you are learning in the course and in preparation for writing this culminating statement.

The Reflective Statement is a very important component of your portfolio and has a significant effect on the final evaluation of the portfolio. Therefore, it is important to carefully craft this statement. Give yourself ample time to complete the self-reflective statement. This assignment requires you to analyze and reflect upon a semester’s worth of work—a significant project. Also, carefully analyzing your work may help you identify an issue in one of more of your essays that you can improve upon through further revision. If you have taken another course in the program, you may not recycle content from your previous reflection statement. You are expected to write a fresh reflection on your work from the current semester.​

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PORTFOLIO POLICIES
 

• You must include a draft with instructor comments for each major assignment included in the final portfolio.​
   

• Your portfolio should be complete and contain all required items. If anything is missing, this will significantly impact your grade on it.
   

• Your instructor will only accept your portfolio if you have not exceeded the allowable number of absences as defined by our Attendance Policy (see Policies). If you have life circumstances interfering with your ability to attend class, you should communicate with your instructor about this ASAP as those life events arise to see if they can accommodate you.​
   

• You must have a passing (D- or higher) final course portfolio to be eligible to pass the course. A failing course portfolio will earn a failing grade (F) for the course, regardless of your grade(s) on your non-portfolio work.