L-4 Writing Proficiency Portfolio Exam Directions
Updated 4/28/2015
The goal of this exam is to make sure that you are prepared to succeed in SNL courses and independent
learning experiences without the benefit of enrolling in LL 260 Writing for Competence. In order to
complete this exam, you must be currently taking or have completed Foundations of Adult Learning.
Because SNL students write frequently, for a wide variety of assignments, and often independently, this
exam is necessarily demanding. It requires that you demonstrate your proficiency in four different
writing tasks to show your proficiency in the L4 competence, which reads as follows:
L-4 Competence: Can write to demonstrate academic and professional competencies.
1. Applies knowledge of academic writing conventions to demonstrate prior and new learning
2. Analyzes, evaluates and synthesizes experiences and concepts in writing
3. Demonstrates control over grammar, syntax, and punctuation
4. Understands writing as an iterative process and applies a variety of strategies for generating, revising,
editing, and proofreading
5. Creates a plan for ongoing improvement of writing for academic, work, and personal communication
including addressing problems and leveraging strengths
Requirements:
Any and all information and texts included from other sources must be identified and cited in terms of
source. Essays that do not include full citation will not be accepted and will result in failure of the
exam. You must submit all documents for your portfolio to D2L after registering for the L4 Writing
Proficiency Portfolio Exam.
To complete this exam you must submit a portfolio essay supporting your application for proficiency
credit, one expository essay, one analytic or persuasive essay, one narrative essay (unless you have
received an A or B a Composition course), and the Exam Cover Page Form, which includes a pledge of
Academic Integrity. Any instance of plagiarism and/or Cheating will result in failure of the exam. You
should have written these essays during your recent academic or professional experience. This includes
ILP submissions. Each of these essays must be a minimum of 1,500 words and a maximum of 2,500
words. If you have submitted any of these essays in a previous course (at DePaul or elsewhere), please
be sure you noted this in the Exam Cover Page Form.
Save your files with your last name and first initial and the title of the document as shown in the
following example:
DoeJExamCoverPageForm.docx
DoeJportfolioessay.docx
DoeJwritingexpository.docx
DoeJwritingpersuasive.docx
DoeJwritingnarrative.docx
PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU WILL SUBMIT ALL OF THE ABOVE DOCUMENTS, INCLUDING YOUR EXAM
COVER PAGE FORM, TO THE DROPBOX IN THE D2L COURSE SITE DURING THE TERM FOR WHICH YOU
HAVE REGISTERED. THE MATERIALS WILL BE DUE BY THE 5th WEEK OF THE TERM.
Essay 1. WRITING (L4) PORTFOLIO ESSAY
Prepare a Portfolio Essay about the writing that you prepare for this submission. It should be
approximately 1500-2500 words in length and communicate the following:
1. Explain how the essays you are submitting meet the Criteria for Writing Proficiency stated below. Be
sure to include specific examples from your own essays to support your claims.
2. Communicate what you understand about writing, the writing process, and what makes for an
effective piece of writing, including your strategies for generating ideas, revising, and editing. Use
examples from your writing of the essays included in this exam.
3. Include a self-assessment of your writing, indicating your strengths and opportunities for
improvement as well as how you intend to continue to develop as a writer during your time at SNL and
beyond.
Essay 2. One EXPOSITORY ESSAY in which you report on a topic or situation. For example, an expository
essay might focus on ecological principles as represented in specific environments, on the style of a
musician, or on the functions of the city council.
Essay 3. Either one PERSUASIVE -OR- one ANALYTIC ESSAY. This essay must incorporate citations from
other sources. Examples of essays that fit this category include essays arguing for or against vaccinating
children, analyzing political positions, analyzing literature, or taking a position on a political or social
issue.
Essay 4. One NARRATIVE ESSAY in which you describe a situation, narrate an event, or present a
biographical or personal narrative. The narrative should reflect upon, analyze or in some way position
the specific situation, event or life narrated with a focus on a theme so that it is not simply reporting an
event. For example, students have written narrative essays that are biographies of individuals whose
actions represent resilience, reports on events that tell not only the causes and effects, but the theme
they represent, such as conflict of interest. If you have successfully completed a college-level
composition course with a grade of A or B, you will not be required to submit a narrative essay, but
please list the course title, university, date and grade received.
Citations:
All essays that includes statements, quotations, or information from outside sources require citations
in standard APA or MLA format for any and all such statements or information.
Be sure that your citations are in MLA or APA format. Any use of words, facts, or ideas from a source
must be correctly and completely cited. All essays will be examined by an on-line program to confirm
that they represent your original work. Essays that do not meet that requirement will result in a failure
of this exam.
You can find information about APA formatting here:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/
You can find information about MLA formatting here:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/
The exam process includes an analysis of the submissions for plagiarism. An indication of plagiarism will
result in failure of the exam and the notification of the office of Academic Integrity. Plagiarism involves
the representation of another's work as your own, for example: (a) submitting as one's own any material
that is copied from published or unpublished sources such as the Internet, print, computer files, audio
disks, video programs or musical scores without proper acknowledgment that it is someone else's; (b)
paraphrasing another's views, opinions or insights without proper acknowledgment or copying of any
source in whole or in part with only minor changes in wording or syntax even with acknowledgement;
(c) submitting as one's own work a report, examination, essay, computer file, lab report or other
assignment which has been prepared by someone else. For the University’s Academic Integrity policy,
see http://academicintegrity.depaul.edu/.
Criteria for Writing Proficiency:
Each essay must meet the criteria for writing proficiency stated below and will be assessed using the
Sample Assessment Form that follows. These criteria will be used to assess the appropriateness of your
work at the college level. Each essay will be reviewed separately. All essays, including the Portfolio
Essay, must meet these criteria in order for you to meet the proficiency exam requirements.
Select your representative essays with great attention to your writing. A writing specialist will grade your
essays and award points based on the effectiveness with which your writing meets each criterion below.
It is possible that a previous high grade on a essay may reflect the teacher’s response to the content of
your essay rather than the strength of your writing. Therefore, make certain, by reviewing the criteria
below, that your writing meets the requirements set for this portfolio.
Your essays each will be reviewed for the following elements. If one essay does not meet these criteria,
your portfolio will not pass the proficiency test.
1. The writer has made formal decisions appropriate to the purpose and audience for the essay, as well
as academic essay standards, such as choice of topic, organization of ideas, supporting evidence and
examples, vocabulary, tone, sentence structure and paragraph length.
2. The essay has a clear, compelling, and insightful thesis, central point or dominant impression that
demonstrates the student's understanding of the type of writing (expository, persuasive/analytic,
narrative) required for the portfolio.
3. The essay has an effective organization that logically develops the thesis, central point or dominant
impression.
4. Support evidence, detail, and examples clearly relate to and adequately develop the essay’s overall
point.
5. Paragraphs are well structured, coherent and have internal and external continuity.
6. Sentences are grammatically correct and sufficiently varied in form.
7. Vocabulary is generally correct, clear and concise.
8. Grammar and punctuation errors are few and do not disrupt the reading.
9. Any uses of words, facts, or ideas from a source are correctly, consistently and completely cited, using
either the MLA or APA parenthetic citation style. If any essay includes statements that are citations from
other works but that are not clearly identified as citations, the portfolio will not pass the exam.
SAMPLE L-4 WRITING PROFICIENCY ASSESSMENT FORM
The following criteria will be used to assess your L-4 Writing Proficiency Exam Portfolio.
To pass the exam, each paper must receive a minimum score of 17 or 20 points, depending on the
type of essay and whether sources are referenced. If you do not fulfill the criteria for the exam,
you must take the LL 260 Writing for Competence (L-4) course to meet this competence
requirement.
Portfolio Essay Score:
Required Points: 17 or 20 points (depending on whether sources are referenced)
Score:
______ points
Expository Essay Score:
Required Points: 17 or 20 points (depending on whether sources are referenced)
Score:
______ points
Analytic/Persuasive Essay Score:
Required Points: 20 points (sources must be referenced)
Score:
______ points
Narrative Essay Score:
Required Points: 17 or 20 points (depending on whether sources are referenced)
Score:
______ points
Portfolio Essay
Students whose essay includes quotations or information from other sources requiring citation must
achieve a score of 20 out of 28 points. If the essay does not include quotation or information from
other sources, students will not be indicating citations. Students whose essays do not include
quotations or information from other sources will then need to achieve a score of 17 out of 24 points
in order to receive a passing grade.
CRITERIA
Clear and insightful
thesis or main point is
established and
developed.
Possible
Points
4
POINTS
COMMENTS
The essay is
organized in such a
way so as to present
and develop ideas.
Ideas are clearly
communicated with
appropriate
transitions and
paragraph focus.
Appropriate support
and examples are
provided.
All sources are cited
properly, using either
MLA or APA format.
The essay is written
in standard English,
without frequent
errors in grammar.
The style of writing is
both appropriate and
effective.
4
4
4
4
4
4
Total Points: _______
Expository Essay
Students whose essay includes quotations or information from other sources requiring citation must
achieve a score of 20 out of 28 points. If the essay does not include quotation or information from
other sources, students will not be indicating citations. Students whose essays do not include
quotations or information from other sources will then need to achieve a score of 17 out of 24 points
in order to receive a passing grade.
CRITERIA
Clear and insightful
expository thesis or
theme is established
and developed.
The essay is
organized in such a
way so as to present
and develop ideas.
Ideas are clearly
communicated with
appropriate
transitions and
paragraph focus.
Appropriate support
and examples are
provided.
All sources are cited
properly, using either
MLA or APA format.
Possible
Points
4
4
4
4
4
POINTS
COMMENTS
The essay is written
in standard English,
without frequent
errors in grammar.
The style of writing is
both appropriate and
effective.
4
4
Total Points: _______
Analytic or Persuasive Essay
Student's essay must include quotations or information from other sources, which requires proper
MLA or APA citation. The essay must achieve a score of 20 out of 28 points.
CRITERIA
Clear and insightful
analytic or persuasive
thesis is established
and developed.
The essay is
organized in such a
way so as to present
and develop ideas.
Ideas are clearly
communicated with
appropriate transitions
and paragraph focus.
Appropriate support
and examples are
provided.
All sources are cited
properly, using either
MLA or APA format.
The essay is written in
standard English,
without frequent errors
in grammar.
The style of writing is
both appropriate and
effective.
Possible
Points
4
POINTS
COMMENTS
4
4
4
4
4
4
Total Points: _______
Narrative Essay
This essay will not be included in the assessment if a student successfully completed a
college composition course.
Students whose essay includes quotations or information from other sources requiring citation must
achieve a score of 20 out of 28 points.
If the essay does not include quotation or information from other sources, students will not be
indicating citations. Students whose essays do not include quotations or information from other
sources will then need to achieve a score of 17 out of 24 points in order to receive a passing grade.
CRITERIA
Clear and insightful
narrative thesis or
theme is established
and developed.
The essay is
organized in such a
way so as to present
and develop ideas.
Ideas are clearly
communicated with
appropriate transitions
and paragraph focus.
Appropriate support
and examples are
provided.
All sources are cited
properly, using either
MLA or APA format.
The essay is written in
standard English,
without frequent errors
in grammar.
The style of writing is
both appropriate and
effective.
Possible
Points
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
Total Points: _______
POINTS
COMMENTS