22222 ...15 hours

Project Revision

For your final portfolio, you will revise either Project 2 or Project 3. Your revisions should do more than simply correct typos on the sentence level—they should result in stronger critical analysis, rhetorical fluency, and genre awareness. In other words, strong revision requires you to “re-see” your texts, to assess them based on the concepts and theories we’ve learned throughout the semester in order to deepen both your thinking and your writing. Strong revision generally includes all of the following:

· Revising the content to include new information, evidence, or counterarguments.

· Revising the organization to make the text more coherent and/or to better conform to genre conventions.

· Revising the style to create a more effective design and/or sophisticated prose.

Metacognitive Rhetorical Analysis

The “new” part of the final portfolio is a memo (2 pages, single-spaced) in which you will write a critical reflection—essentially, a metacognitive rhetorical analysis—of your work this semester. The audience for this reflection is the faculty in the Department of Writing Studies, Rhetoric, and Composition. This is your final opportunity to demonstrate the analytical skills you’ve developed through our reading, writing, and class discussions. The goal is to analyze the rhetorical nature of the work you’ve produced and evaluate its effectiveness. A strong metacognitive rhetorical analysis will consider how your work this semester has helped you make progress toward achieving the learning outcomes. You should quote, paraphrase, or otherwise reference your work this semester to support your claims, and you should do so in a way that shows the reader that you are connecting your thinking and writing to the learning outcomes. This reflection should demonstrate depth and complexity of thought.

A strong metacognitive rhetorical analysis will consider the following sorts of questions:

· How does this portfolio demonstrate fundamental rhetorical concepts important to critical writing in your field?

· What choices (about audience, genre, content, or design) went into producing this portfolio? How effective were those choices in advancing your argument?

· How effective is this portfolio in demonstrating your ability to locate, evaluate, and use a variety of sources to persuade your readers?

· To what extent does this portfolio demonstrate your ability to analyze discourse community standards to produce texts that follow basic conventions of assigned genres (e.g., organizational strategies, documentation, level of formality, etc.)?

· What revisions did you make for your final portfolio? What rhetorical considerations prompted you to make those changes, and what is their purpose?

· How do the pieces in your final portfolio demonstrate expertise in rhetorical knowledge, genre knowledge, content knowledge, discourse community knowledge, or writing process knowledge?

Outcomes & Assessment

The final portfolio is worth 35 points toward your final grade; a grade of “35” is reserved for truly excellent work. This portfolio should demonstrate your progress toward achieving these course outcomes (which are also the basis for assessment):

· Rhetorical Knowledge: Demonstrate awareness of and responsiveness to audience, context, and purpose.

· Genre Knowledge: Employ genre conventions, both textual and visual, to serve your purpose(s).

· Content Knowledge: Use appropriate, relevant, and compelling content to explore ideas and shape your project.

· Discourse Community Knowledge: Demonstrate attention to and successful execution of the conventions specific to the discourse community, including organization, content, presentation, formatting, and stylistic/syntactical choices.

· Writing Process Knowledge: Evidence significant recursive writing/thinking by developing, exploring, interpreting, evaluating, and revising content, style, and design throughout the portfolio.

· Metacognitive Knowledge: Provide evidence of thoughtful, self-aware reflective practices shaping the portfolio.

Due Date

Monday, May 12, 2014, between 10:30-12:30, in my office: GHH 239. Bring a hard copy to my office (use a binder clip to organize materials). Before you turn in the hard copy of your portfolio, post an electronic copy of all portfolio items (except any process pieces) on Bridges.

Electronic documents posted on Bridges must be titled:

· First Name Last Name Revised Proposal

· First Name Last Name Revised Critical Text

· First Name Last Name Metacognitive Analysis

Note: I do not provide written feedback on final portfolios. If you would like to discuss your portfolio, I would be happy to do so if you make an appointment with me at the beginning of spring semester.

WTNG Assessment: Before you turn in the hard copy of your portfolio, post an anonymous copy of your metacognitive analysis on Bridges under Tests & Quizzes (follow instructions there for posting).

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