CCDE 110N: Final Portfolio Assignment (30%)
DUE DATE
The final Portfolio for this course is due Wednesday, July 1 by the end of the class period.
We will meet during class time on Thursday, July 2 to conference over Portfolios and your final grade.
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INTRODUCTION
As thirty percent (30%) of your grade in this course, you will complete a Portfolio that includes the following:

A cover letter in which you evaluate your work over the semester and argue that your writing clearly
passes (or doesn't pass) the minimum standards of the 110 course, using evidence from work you
produced in this course or processes you learned from particular assignments in order to support your
thesis argument.

An Essay of Reflection that argues what revision helps you work with specifically in order to strengthen
your writing (or not), using evidence from one or two essays you wrote for this course in order to
support your thesis argument.

An actual revision of one of your previous essays (which includes the CEE).
For the actual revised essay, please make sure you include the original graded draft along with the final draft of
the essay. For the Essay of Reflection, please cite the author (you), the date the essay was originally written,
and the title of your essay(s) on a References page. For example:
Garcia, A. (21 Feb., 2009). The legalization of marijuana: Cutting crime without doing the time.
Personal Essay. CCDE 110N: General Composition. Section D18.
Each paper in the portfolio will be graded for its Focus, Development and Clarity according to the "Portfolio
Criteria Checklist" (attached)
SUBMISSION
The final drafts of the three Portfolio papers will be uploaded to your NMSU e-Portfolio webpage (see
assignment from Week 3).
FINAL PORTFOLIO PURPOSE AND PROCEDURE
The purpose of this Final Portfolio is to document how you have managed your time, efforts, and the
CCDE 110N Program Standards throughout the semester. In particular, the Cover Letter asks you to
provide a self-assessment with an argument about what progress you’ve made in terms of writing,
reading, and critical thinking/student skills over the course of the semester; the Ungraded Argumentative
Essay asks you to argue what revision helps you work with specifically in order to strengthen your
writing (or not), using evidence from one or two essays you wrote for this course in order to support
your thesis argument; finally, the Revised Argumentative Essay asks you to take a closer look at a
previously graded draft, even if you did a good job with it the first time, in order to demonstrate how
you’ve read, understood, and applied the Program Standards for 110N and are ready to take the leap to
111G: Rhetoric and Composition.
The Cover Letter
The purpose of this cover letter is to identify your growth as a writer, reader, and student, to argue about
the progress you have made in your writing while you have been in this class, and why that progress has
helped you meet the standards of the "CCDE 110N Trait Analysis Sheet." Please use your writing skills
to create a well-crafted argument. You will be graded on focus, development, and clarity (see traits).
Design your cover letter with an introduction, a thesis statement, body paragraphs that support the thesis
statement, and a conclusion. As the last one to two sentences of your introductory paragraph, your thesis
statement should argue whether or not you think your writing clearly passes the minimum standards for
the 110 course. You should also include reasons as part of your thesis statement that support why you
feel that your writing does (or does not) clearly pass the minimum standards for the 110 course.
Your cover letter for the portfolio should be formatted according to the model (see attached). The cover
letter should be 1-2 pages long, typed, single-spaced, in a 12-point font. Margins should be 1-inch all
around.
Previous Ungraded Argumentative Essay
The Essay of Reflection asks you to present an argument about what revision helps you work with
specifically in order to strengthen your writing (or not), using evidence from one or two essays you
wrote for this course in order to support your thesis argument.
Once you’ve thought about your revision process, develop a reasoned judgment or thesis statement. Use
clear reasons and evidence to support and explain your judgment on this issue. Developing your
argument will require you to include a brief summary (your own words) of information from at least one
of your own essays to support your argument. Title your essay. As you write, review, and revise, keep
looking back to it and specifically identify the points you need to incorporate into your essay. Make
clear connections between your reasons, evidence, explanation of the evidence, and the overall judgment
of the thesis statement.
Use evidence from the course readings covered during the first week of class (Scarbek, Vonnegut, and
Murray) in 80 Readings for Composition as one kind of source for this paper. The other source(s) can be
personal experiences or articles from the DACC library databases regarding the keywords: writing AND
revision.
Pretend you are writing to an audience who is not familiar with your writing. In addition you do not
know their points of view on this topic.
The format for this paper is 2-4 complete, typed pages, double-spaced, 1” margin on all sides and
standard (Times New Roman, Courier, Palatino) 12-point font. Save your final draft on your jump drive.
Your essay will be evaluated for its completion, how well you follow directions, and for its Focus,
Development, and Clarity as they are listed in the Portfolio Criteria Checklist.
Revision Essay
If you did not pass the Common Exit Essay (CEE) the first time, please revise that essay as your
previously graded paper.
As you work to revise your papers for the Portfolio, pay attention to any comments made on the paper or
on the “Trait Analysis Sheet.” Notice what your instructor asks questions or makes comments about and
think about why you are being asked those questions or why those particular comments were made.
Notice in your peer critique for that assignment the kinds of comments your peer provides either on the
peer critique sheet or on your paper. Think about what the “Traits” for those particular papers are asking
you to do. Are you meeting those criteria? Why or why not?
Think about revision this way: Revision is when you stop thinking about what yourself as the writer and
what you want to say, and start thinking about what it is that your reader hears. Walk around in your
reader’s shoes, if only for a moment.
Consider how language you use, the wording in your sentences, the shape of paragraphs and the
development of your ideas is perceived by the reader. Are you saying what you really want to say as
clearly as possible? Are you “watching your language”? Are you developing reasons with more ideas to
support those thoughts? Are you integrating examples? Are you making connections between the
examples and the main point? Work to flesh out the details of your work as much as possible.
Too, think about organization. Is the introduction really the most appropriate introduction you can write
to “get the reader’s attention”? Does your conclusion allow you to develop a wider conversation? Do
you leave the reader with something to think about?
In all of your papers that you’ll include in your Portfolio, I want you to think beyond simply editing
sentences for clarity. Don’t mistake proofreading for revising. Revision means looking at your work
from a different angle, and perhaps trying something new to punch it up a bit. Work to develop clear and
detailed paragraphs, consider the focus of your paper, and then, when all is said and done, clear up your
language and grammar by consulting a handbook about sentence fragments, run-ons, comma splices, or
awkward sentence structure.
MODELS
I will bring models of past Final Portfolios to class for you to get an idea of how to work it all out. A model of
an e-Portfolio format is available at: http://web.nmsu.edu/~amgarcia/
EVALUATION OF PORTFOLIO
All parts of your Portfolio will be graded individually, 10% per piece, according to the “Portfolio
Criteria Checklist” (see attached). These criteria are adopted from the Program Standards for the CCDE
110N course.