EN106 Park University Unit 7 Recycling Proposal Portfolio Assignment

Our attention in Unit Seven shifts to preparation for the final portfolio, which is due at the end of this unit. The portfolio counts as 20% of your overall grade in the course.
Final Portfolio Guidelines
Required Components:

A reflective essay (about 4 full pages, double-spaced)
Your two best essays from this class, each with further revision
Artifacts of your writing process

Length: Your reflective essay must be between 800-1200 words. Your two best essays should be as long as they need to be fully achieve their rhetorical purposes.
Style/Format: The revised essays essays should be formatted in a standard scholarly format. (Most students follow MLA or APA guidelines, which are outlined in Easy Writer.) No matter what format you follow, be sure to do the following:

Use 12 point, Times New Roman font, double-spaced.
Use 1-inch margins top, bottom, and sides.
Although no cover page is needed, you should include your name, my name, the course number/title, and date at the upper left-hand corner of the manuscript.

File format: Please submit your portfolio as a single file attachment in a .doc, .docx, or .pdf file. These formats are available in most word processors, including Google Docs and Open Office, and will ensure that your instructor is able to comment on your work.
Works Cited/References: Those essays that refer to outside sources must include a page of Works Cited, References, or whatever bibliography is required by the guidelines you choose.

Use of essays for future courses: Please understand that your portfolio may be used anonymouslyas a sample for future EN106 students and instructors unless you expressly request that it not be used. Your work will only be used for educational purposes.
Why This Assignment Is Important
This portfolio serves as the core assessment measure for EN106 at Park University. Let’s consider that term for a moment. At Park, a “core assessment” is a required assignment that is common across all sections of a course, both online and face-to-face. This assignment is meant to serve as a tool for instructors to evaluate student learning across sections, terms, campus centers, and modalities. In other words, the portfolio is your opportunity to show off what you have learned in this course, and an opportunity for Park faculty to learn more about how our teaching works. Ideally, we use the lessons from your core assessments to inform changes to curriculum. As you prepare the portfolio, think about using it to make an argument: to use a metaphor from the law, you should make a case for what you have learned this term in EN106.
Your portfolio should demonstrate what you know about academic research and writing. Your EN106 portfolio is a “best works portfolio”that is, your portfolio should be a collection of your strongest, most polished academic writing. It will contain three primary pieces: a reflective essay, your two best essays from this class, and artifacts from your writing process.
For most students, the two essays will be the same two essays you improved through revision and expansion in Unit Four and Unit Six.
The next Canvas page will describe in more detail the expectations for your portfolio, and some of the possibilities for how you might organize it.
Assessment Standards
Your portfolio will be evaluated as a whole according to the following assessment standards. Please note that while these standards are similar to those used to grade your essays throughout the course, they are not identical. Please read through these assessment criteria and ensure that your portfolio demonstrates each outcome. In general terms, significant weakness in any one of these areas reduces the grade of your portfolio by a letter grade. However, serious weakness in one area can lead to the loss of two or three letter grades or to a failing grade. We can also discuss these grading criteria in the Instructor’s Office.

Competency

Exceeds Expectation(A)

Meets Expectation(~B-C)

Does Not MeetExpectation(~C-D)

No Evidence(F)

Process:Apply writing processes, collaborative strategies, and effective academic research practices to participate in academic discourse.

Student demonstrates clear evidence of using process and social/collaborative practices to draft, revise, edit, and proof-read.

Student shows some evidence of using process and collaboration to write.

Student does not demonstrate the use of process or collaboration.

No portfolio submitted.

Focus:Maintain a controlling idea/thesis for a variety of academic genres.

The focus, or thesis, of each student essay is not only clear but insightful, memorable, and fully supported.

Student’s writing consistently has a clear focus, though it may not always be unique or insightful.

Student essays are either unfocused or feature commonplace or generic theses.

No portfolio submitted.

Development: Apply strategies for developing academic arguments across the disciplines, including conducting research and incorporating culturally diverse perspectives.

Student essays demonstrate successful and deliberate development strategies, especially in the use of research and culturally diverse perspectives, such that each essay seems fully argued and complete.

Student essays demonstrate some use of development strategies but show room for further development in research, argument, or incorporating diverse perspectives.

Student essays are unsupported, needlessly repetitive, unclear, or otherwise underdeveloped.

No portfolio submitted.

Rhetorical Strategies: Consider the rhetorical situations faced by academic writers to respond appropriately in both writing and research.

Student consistently displays an awareness of audience, context, and genre, and responds creatively and appropriately.

Student shows some awareness of rhetorical situations and responds appropriately.

Student shows little awareness of rhetorical situations.

No portfolio submitted.

Conventions:Use common formats and conventions (e.g., research, structure, documentation, tone, mechanics) for various genres of academic discourse.

Student essays make meaningful use of standard formats and conventions in structure, tone, documentation, and mechanics. Although a few mechanical errors may be present, they do not impede understanding.

Student essays are relatively standard in terms of format, documentation, and mechanics. Errors may be present, but do not impede understanding.

Student essays use inappropriate tone or structure, contain mechanical errors that impede understanding, or show serious deficiencies in terms of documentation (e.g., no Works Cited or References page).

No portfolio submitted.

Rubric
EN 106: First Year Writing Seminar II: Academic Research and Writing

EN 106: First Year Writing Seminar II: Academic Research and Writing

Criteria
Ratings
Pts

This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeLE Thinking 1: Sources and Evidence (Critical Thinking)view longer description
threshold: 3.0 pts

4.0 ptsAccomplished (Capstone)