1. Portfolio Assignment Overview
ENG 113: Composition I

2. Portfolio Assignment The Portfolio Assignment includes:
Major Revisions to your Three Major Papers
Graduation Speech Analysis Paper
Research Paper
Hostile Audience Paper
Brief Revision Description Paragraph
For each revised paper, you will write a fully-developed paragraph where you describe the changes that you made (or chose not to make), why you made those choices, and how they improve the essay
The original drafts with the feedback worksheets attached

3. Revising Your Writing
Even if you received full credit for your drafts, you must substantially revise your papers
Full credit on the draft meant you met the requirements of that assignment
The portfolio is a new assignment with new requirements including major changes based on the peer review feedback and my comments
Adding missing components
Eliminating unnecessary elements
Fixing unclear areas
Reorganizing for better flow
And more…
Please note: fixing spelling, grammar, and other mechanical errors do not count as “revisions” since the original draft should not have included errors in the first place!
Be sure to proofread!
Additions should be in bold type

4. Revising Your Writing Please note:
Properly citing material borrowed from sources with MLA style in-text citations and a complete and correct Works Cited page is mandatory
If you include outside sources in your essays, you must cite them. If citations were missing in the draft, you must add them to the final version.
If material from outside sources is included in the final version and the citations and/or Works Cited are missing or incomplete, You will receive zero points for that essay.
Missing or improper citations is plagiarism – you must revise to eliminate plagiarism!

5. Reflective Introduction
For each revised paper, you are required to write a brief paragraph in which you:
Describe the changes that you made (or didn’t make) to the paper based on the feedback you received
Explain why you chose to make the changes you did make
Defend why you chose not to make the changes you did not make
Explain how the changes improved the essay
The minimum length for each paper is one fully developed paragraph

6. Assembling the Portfolio
You should assemble the materials for your portfolio in pocket folder in the following order:
Revision Description Paragraph for the Graduation Speech Analysis
Revised Graduation Speech Analysis Paper (with additions in bold type)
Draft Graduation Speech Analysis Paper (with feedback worksheets)
Revision Description Paragraph for the Research Paper
Revised Research Paper (with additions in bold type)
Draft Research Paper (with feedback worksheets)
Revision Description Paragraph for the Hostile Audience Paper
Revised Hostile Audience Paper (with additions in bold type)
Draft Hostile Audience Paper (with feedback worksheets)

7. Portfolio Points
The portfolio is worth 100 points (30 points per revised essay and 10 points for the revision description paragraphs)
Remember: additions must be in bold type
Remember: The in text citations and Works Cited page must be complete and correct for each essay that includes material from outside sources. If the citations are missing or incomplete, you will receive zero points for that essay.

8. Portfolio Points Please note:
You can only receive credit for revising drafts that you handed in and received feedback for during the semester
If you are missing a draft, you must hand it in before your Individual Conference
The last day to hand in late work is:
November 27 by 11:59 PM
No late work will be accepted after that date!
If you do not hand in a draft, you will earn zero points for revising that major paper. However, you can still earn points for revising the major papers that you did hand in.

9. Revisions Revision must reflect major changes in the papers
You must fix spelling, grammar, and other errors but that does not count as revisions
They should have been eliminated from the draft in the first place!
Complete and correct in-text citations and Works Cited page are mandatory.
They do not count as revisions since they should have been included in the polished draft!
Major revisions might include:
Adding material (in bold type)
Eliminating unnecessary information
Reorganizing the paper and including clearer transitions
Rewording sentences and paragraphs so that they are clearer and more concise
Integrating information from sources with a identifying tag/signal phrase and explanation of the significance of the quotation
Updating the introduction to include a “hook” and convey the content of the essay more effectively
Rewriting the conclusion to eliminate the repetition of points already made and to “clinch” the essay in a creative or memorable way

10. Why Revise?
Writing is a recursive process—there is always the opportunity to go back and improve what you have written
Revising allows you to:
Improve the clarity of your ideas
Fix the flow of your paper by improving its organization
Eliminate any other problems with the content of your paper

11. Re-Vision Revision means that you: Do not rush or skip your revision!
Look over your paragraphs with a fresh eye
Identify and fix any problems with content, clarity, or organization
Identify and fix any problems with grammar, mechanics (spelling, punctuation, formatting), and word choice
Do not rush or skip your revision!
By taking your time to carefully revise your writing, you will improve your writing (and, most likely, get a better grade)

12. Revision Means Content Revision Structural Revision
Editing for Coherence and Precision

13. Major Revisions Major Revisions include:
Adding information that was missing from the draft, but was necessary
Deleting information that was included in the draft, but was unnecessary
Rearranging the content of paragraphs or reorganizing the paper as a whole so that the information flows better

14. Major Revisions Major Revisions should be:
Based on the Feedback that you received from your peer and from me
Review the feedback
How did the readers react to your writing?
What confused them?
What parts of the essay may have made their reading experience difficult?
Decide which comments will help you improve the essay
The goal of the revisions is to improve the essay to strengthen the argument and improve the reader’s experience
Disregard comments that are unhelpful
Make the changes!
You will describe the changes that you made (or chose not to make), why you made those choices, and how they improved your essay in your reflective introduction for each essay

15. Major Revisions Major Revisions DO NOT include:
Fixing spelling, grammar, or others mistakes
These mistakes should not have been part of the polished draft
Correcting citations
Any information that is not common knowledge and was borrowed from outside sources, including summaries, paraphrases, and quotations, MUST be cited properly with MLA style in-text citations and a complete and correct Works Cited page.
Missing, incorrect, or incomplete citations may result in a zero on the revised paper since improper citation is plagiarism

16. Editing is Essential Be sure to edit for coherence and precision
Make sure to eliminate mistakes before handing in a polished draft!
Editing allows you to:
Locate awkward sentences and other problems
Fix wrong word choices and other mistakes
Identify spelling, grammar, and other errors
Get a better grade!
By editing, you assure:
Your sentences communicate your intended meaning
The reader understands what you mean immediately
Editing is all about making sure that nothing interferes with the meaning of your writing coming through!

17. What is Editing?
Editing is an intense effort to find and solve whatever problems remain in a piece of writing after revision
During editing, you pay attention to the small details that you may have missed earlier in the process

18. What is Editing? Editing includes:
Reworking awkward, wordy, or unclear sentences
Including effective transitions
Checking for flow and focus within individual sentences
Checking for flow and focus within individual paragraphs
Checking for flow and focus from one paragraph to the next
Correcting errors of grammar, spelling, or punctuation
Attending to formalities, such as formatting, in- text citations, and Works Cited pages

19. Why Edit?
Some people may feel that editing does not matter – after all, it is content that counts.
However, content cannot be separated from the way it is expressed
A poorly edited paper:
Irritates or distracts the reader
Your meaning may get lost
Sentences may not communicate the way you intend
Readers may struggle to understand your points
Your paragraphs may wander
May give the wrong impression of you as a writer
The writer lacks skill or discipline to attend to details
The writer does not care about the topic
Editing allows you to communicate better with your reader
Clear communication may lead to better grades in college and better results in the “real world.”

20. How Do Writers Edit?
To edit your work effectively, you should take time to read over your draft and fix problems. This means you need to factor in editing time before the due date
Tips
Approach the paper with fresh eyes.
Take time away from the paper before editing it.
You will be fresher and more detached from your writing
Avoid trying to do all the editing at one time.
Try fifteen to twenty-minute sessions with breaks in between.
Otherwise, you might find it difficult to keep the high level of concentration necessary for editing properly
Exchange papers with another student and edit each other’s drafts.
This will help you find problems that you missed during self-editing

21. Proofreading
Proofreading means to look at the final version of the paper to find the “small,” but important errors
In proofreading, you move sentence by sentence through your paper looking for errors like misspelled words, typos, and word choice problems
Look because most errors of this type have to be seen, not heard, detected by the eye and not the ear
Mark the errors and then go back and correct each one

22. Proofreading Examples
Confusing its (possessive form of it) and it’s (conjunction of it is)
Confusing there, their, they’re
Confusing to, too, two
Misspelled words
Typos
Omitting a word you meant to include, or typing a word or phrase twice
Not putting titles in quotation marks or italics

23. Proofreading
Proofreading will catch misspellings, typos, word choice errors, and other problems missed during spiraling down
Also, as you fixed errors during editing, you may have made new mistakes in the sentences you rewrote
Proofreading is an essential, last focus of editing
Do not skip or skimp on your proofreading
These types of errors are easily spotted by readers assessing your writing
Spell checkers and grammar checkers are not reliable
Use the programs, but recognize that they may miss many mistakes or may identify something as an error that is actually not wrong

24. Proofreading Errors you miss will be marked by your professors
You will be able to see errors that you make frequently
They indicate that you do not recognize the error as an error or do not understand how to correct it in all cases
Once you have identified errors that you make frequently, make a note of it
Create an editing checklist of the errors that you make frequently
Include a description of the error, what you typically do wrong, and how to correct it
You might include an example or two
Consult the editing checklist each time you edit a paper

25. Next Steps Hand in the Research Paper
Sign up for Individual Conferences
Schedule will be posted on Moodle
Attend your Individual Conference
I will hand back your hostile audience paper
We will discuss the revisions that you plan to make to your essays
Graduation Speech Analysis, Research Paper, Hostile Audience Paper
Complete major revisions (additions in bold type)
Hand in portfolio (in pocket folder)
Due at the beginning of class on December 8