English 251 Portfolio Assessment
Instructor Bryan Fry
Requirements
The portfolio must include at least 10 pages of revised work from this semester. These pages
should include writing from at least two genres. You may use any work from daily journal
entries, writing prompts, or workshops.
In addition to these 10 pages, you will include a 4-6 page cover letter that reflects on your
writing and development as a whole (see the assignment for the cover letter on the following
page).
Place your entire portfolio in a folder with your name, section, and term on the front and hand it
into Avery 451 on Friday, May 3rd by 5:00.
Assembling Your Portfolio
The portfolio should present a selection of work that demonstrates your progress and represents
your best writing from this term. Just as architects select their best designs or photographers
select their best photographs to put into a portfolio to show a potential employer, so, too, should
you assemble your best writing to demonstrate what you have learned and accomplished during
the term. You might consider three general guidelines as you review your writing and select
work for your portfolio presentation.

Variety: Choose work that exhibits your versatility—your ability to write effectively in
different genres.

Course readings: Include work that showcases your application of the reading
assignments.

Personal investment: Consider which pieces of writing best reflect your personal
investment and interest. Which pieces are you proudest of? Which were the most
challenging or satisfying to write? Which pieces did you invest an enormous amount of
time revising?
Grade
The Portfolio is worth 25% of your entire grade.
English 251 Cover Letter
Instructor Bryan Fry
The 4-6 page cover letter is perhaps the most important part of the portfolio. In the cover letter,
you reflect on your writing and development as a whole. Most importantly, it is a place for you
to present what you are accomplishing in the Portfolio; your cover letter is where you make your
claims, and the Portfolio is where I look for the evidence. In other words, your cover letter is a
road map that tells me where to look in your Portfolio for your comprehension of voice, style,
and overall craft of at least two genres. Therefore, if you write about imagery in poetry, you will
want to ensure that you have worked on imagery in each poem included in your portfolio. The
object here is not to promote your writing as perfect (especially since few writers, even
professional writers, ever declare their writing to be “finished’), but to recognize that, as writers,
we all have areas which are strong and areas which we continue to work on.
There is no standard format for a portfolio cover letter, but you should include your name, class,
and the date. You will be expected to discuss the following in 4-6 pages.

A description of yourself as a writer of craft and your development over the semester—
what did you learn about yourself? What are your strong areas? What are your weak
areas?

Address your improvement as a writer based on what you have read this semester. You
should incorporate passages from your reading assignments as well as passages from
your own writing.

You’ll need to draw on your textbook as well as any class readings that have influenced
your work. Make sure to provide passages from these readings for support.

Address your comprehension of craft in at least four of the following areas (two for each
genre):
Poetry: Images, Energy, Tension, Pattern, Diction, Rhythm, Syntax and Grammar
Nonfiction: Images, Energy, Tension, Cueing, Scene, Specificity and Detail, Developing
Character, Dialogue, Rhythm of Sentences, Diction
Fiction: Images, Energy, Tension, Dialogue, Character Presentation, Point of View,
Sentence Variation, Diction

Address what you will continue to work on as a writer in the future.
Be sure to incorporate passages from your own writing in every paragraph following the
introduction of your letter. You should also make sure to write using academic conventions.
Though the letter is more informal, you are still expected to use complete sentences and follow
basic academic conventions. Telling me that you learned the value of craft when you are
misspelling words and writing in non-rhetorical fragments is not necessarily going to impress
me!
Extra Credit:
Do a word count for one of your essays or stories. Suppose it has been accepted for publication,
but the magazine has one condition: You must cut it by 10 percent. Figure out your word count
goal and work toward it. Be both aggressive and picky. Cut any expendable scenes or
paragraphs, but also wring out every extraneous word and phrase. Cut beyond the 10 percent if it
feels right to do so. Include both drafts in your portfolio—place the word count in the upper
right hand corner of each draft. Discuss this process somewhere in your cover letter.