WPG Tasks: Planning for the Portfolio

TASK 2: ANALYZING STANDARDS AND REQUIREMENTS

While the final web portfolio is an academic assignnment for my capstone course as professional writing and editing student, he has given us the option of choosing between creating an academic or professional portfolio. The portfolio is a single project as a required assignment for English 491A that anyone in the PWE program might view. The only concrete content requirement is twenty pages of polished writing. Whatever writing I need to include in my portfolio to prove that I have developed my ideas about individual writing projects and collaborative writing with colleagues at my internship is to my discretion. I must post my portfolio on the web and post teh link on my blog by 12 p.m. on Friday, May 1. The standard for my portfolio is to prove the argument I make in my portfolio with evidence of my work.

TASK 3: ANALYZE PURPOSES AND GOALS

In my portfolio, I plan to show

1. the variety of skills I learned, including researching, writing, editing, designing, etc. All considered audiences (Dr. Wible, people associated with the PWE program, future PWE students, potential employers, peers) have an interest in learning what skills PWEs employ in a professional setting.
2. my development as a professional writer by posting drafts and final documents. Professors and employers value people who not only produce valuable work, but can also recognize their flaws and work harder to improve.
3. my ability to complete independent projects. I need to be able think creatively and discipline myself enough to finish a polished document.
4. communication skills. Being able to communicate with colleagues, bosses, clients, or whoever is an essential skill of writers. If I can't determine what I'm writing, why I'm writing it, and to whom I'm writing then my document will surely fail.
5. my ability to work with others. Listening to others and maintaining a professional relationship is key to working in a professional setting. Treat others with respect and they may not only value your opinion and work more but also be more willing to assist you with advice or another point of view in the future.
6. that I can consider critcism in a professional manner and apply other another professional's advice to my work. Understanding that people with more experience often give valuable advice is important to new writers like myself. With others' opinions, I can view all angles of my work.

TASK 4: ANALYZE AUDIENCES

Potential audiences include:

1. Dr. Wible (internship coordinator): needs to give me a grade for the class and is interested in what I learned. You will expect to see evidence of my goals. You would not be happy to see only finished documents. I would like for you to think that my work is professional, I chose my documents carefully, that I have clearly developed as a writer, and that my portfolio is visually appealing.
2. Potential employers: reviewing my skills. They expect to see evidence of my skills. They would not be happy to see unfinished materials or offensive materials. I would like for them to think that my work is professional, I chose my documents carefully, that I have clearly developed as a writer, that my portfolio is visually appealing, and that I would be a great employee.
3. Future PWE students: curious about what PWE students do at their interns. They will not know what to expect to see. I know I didn't when I looked at PWE internship posters. They would not be happy to see a large amount of work or that my work was miserable. I would like for them to think I show evidence of skills that I learned, I portray a variety of documents, and that my portfolio is professional.
4. Anyone associated with the PWE program: curious to what PWE students have accomplished recently. They will expect to see my finished documents. They would not be happy to see anything that would hurt the PWE program's reputation.
5. Classmates: professional interest in colleague's work and curious to what work others produced. They will expect to see drafts and finished documents. They would not be happy to see that my portfolio is better than theirs. I would for them to think that my portfolio is well put together, visually appealing, includes a variety of documents, and that I worked diligently.

WPG Tasks: Planning for the Portfolio

TASK 2: ANALYZING STANDARDS AND REQUIREMENTS

While the final web portfolio is an academic assignnment for my capstone course as professional writing and editing student, he has given us the option of choosing between creating an academic or professional portfolio. The portfolio is a single project as a required assignment for English 491A that anyone in the PWE program might view. The only concrete content requirement is twenty pages of polished writing. Whatever writing I need to include in my portfolio to prove that I have developed my ideas about individual writing projects and collaborative writing with colleagues at my internship is to my discretion. I must post my portfolio on the web and post teh link on my blog by 12 p.m. on Friday, May 1. The standard for my portfolio is to prove the argument I make in my portfolio with evidence of my work.

TASK 3: ANALYZE PURPOSES AND GOALS

In my portfolio, I plan to show:

1. the variety of skills I learned, including researching, writing, editing, designing, etc. All considered audiences (Dr. Wible, people associated with the PWE program, future PWE students, potential employers, peers) have an interest in learning what skills PWEs employ in a professional setting.
2. my development as a professional writer by posting drafts and final documents. Professors and employers value people who not only produce valuable work, but can also recognize their flaws and work harder to improve.
3. my ability to complete independent projects. I need to be able think creatively and discipline myself enough to finish a polished document.
4. communication skills. Being able to communicate with colleagues, bosses, clients, or whoever is an essential skill of writers. If I can't determine what I'm writing, why I'm writing it, and to whom I'm writing then my document will surely fail.
5. my ability to work with others. Listening to others and maintaining a professional relationship is key to working in a professional setting. Treat others with respect and they may not only value your opinion and work more but also be more willing to assist you with advice or another point of view in the future.
6. that I can consider critcism in a professional manner and apply other another professional's advice to my work. Understanding that people with more experience often give valuable advice is important to new writers like myself. With others' opinions, I can view all angles of my work.

TASK 4: ANALYZE AUDIENCES

Potential audiences include:

1. Dr. Wible (internship coordinator): needs to give me a grade for the class and is interested in what I learned. You will expect to see evidence of my goals. You would not be happy to see only finished documents. I would like for you to think that my work is professional, I chose my documents carefully, that I have clearly developed as a writer, and that my portfolio is visually appealing.
2. Potential employers: reviewing my skills. They expect to see evidence of my skills. They would not be happy to see unfinished materials or offensive materials. I would like for them to think that my work is professional, I chose my documents carefully, that I have clearly developed as a writer, that my portfolio is visually appealing, and that I would be a great employee.
3. Future PWE students: curious about what PWE students do at their interns. They will not know what to expect to see. I know I didn't when I looked at PWE internship posters. They would not be happy to see a large amount of work or that my work was miserable. I would like for them to think I show evidence of skills that I learned, I portray a variety of documents, and that my portfolio is professional.
4. Anyone associated with the PWE program: curious to what PWE students have accomplished recently. They will expect to see my finished documents. They would not be happy to see anything that would hurt the PWE program's reputation.
5. Classmates: professional interest in colleague's work and curious to what work others produced. They will expect to see drafts and finished documents. They would not be happy to see that my portfolio is better than theirs. I would for them to think that my portfolio is well put together, visually appealing, includes a variety of documents, and that I worked diligently.

One Big Project

As I suggested in my midterm self assessment, I'm working on a big project, a commuter handbook that the office will publish on its website. I've learned two important lessons from this project already.
I like to work independently and know that I can accomplish a large task on my own. However, my first lesson involves learning to work with others. I've mentioned before that communication seems to be an essential tool for professional writers. Another person in the office and I divided the task of researching the topics. When two people write for one document, not only does someone have to communicate who's doing what (for a lack of better terms) but once both people complete their section, someone must edit the whole document so its language is cohesive. I've learned that editing in this way can be difficult because I want to maintain both voices.
Also, trying to work on all aspects of the document can easily exhaust all of my resources. Tasks for this project include researching, writing, editing, revising, organizing, visually designing, and more. I realized one day that I was trying to focus on all of these components at the same time. While its important to always consider the overall effect of the document, focusing on one task at a time is an efficient way to step towards the final product instead of throwing it all together. Think time management.

Midterm self assessment

First my writing habits stand as always.
When I write during the day (usually just when I have time or get the urge), I am definitely very coherent and employ complete ideas. Like one of the students in Portfolio Keeping, I often expect my readers understand what I'm saying without fully explaining myself. I usually don't have to revise my logical writing more than once or twice. However, I write more meaningfully at night. I anticipate the audience's questions and focus more on the message than the means in which I'm sending it. While I think this type of writing is more persuasive, I usually revise up to 5 or 10 times (and sometimes more). Which mode of thought is more effective depends on the assignment.
I've found myself being too cautious about writing in my internship. I become unmotivated because I'm unsure if I'm doing something the correct way. My hesistance could be due to the flexibility of my work. However, lately I've been very motivated to finish projects because midterm has passed. Now that I feel pressured by time, I'm trying new programs and processes and just revising later. This is working and I hope to continue pushing through my work instead of leaving it for later.
Working on every aspect of a project at once is not working either. I've started focusing on one aspect of a document per day (since my time is limited). For example, one day I will research topics, the next I might work on organization or visual design.
Looking back, I realize that I thought revising many times was bad practice. In fact, depending on the type of writing, several revisions may be necessary. I hope to move forward with this thinking and to continue focusing on one aspect at a time.

"Learns Quickly"

Drafting a resume is difficult for people like me who have little work experience. The skills section can be especially challenging. One skill that always ends up on my resume, and many other student resumes, despite my attempts to come up with something more creative is "learns quickly". What does this really mean? If a person hasn't completed many jobs, how do they know if they learn skills quickly? Maybe it's just a general rule of thumb to say that you are a quick learner. If not, you'll have to learn quickly how to learn quickly.

Actually, I learned how to use a program in a timely manner last week. My internship involves creating documents and considering a lot of visual components. We are creating a commuter risks brochure in basically a four step process. First, we researched what issues of commuting might actually be a risk to these students and what some solutions might be. Next, we drafted the information in a Word document. Then, we organized the information using InDesign. Finally, we will add graphics using Photoshop.

We are on step three of the process. I have never used InDesign or Photoshop, so I was a little hesitant to dive in to the project. My boss is very helpful when I ask him questions, but he shows me the basics then lets me make my own experiences. To my surprise, learning how to use these programs was fairly easy. I organized and edited the information in a couple of hours, and learned how to format everything in just another hour or so. My boss said he was happy I learned quickly, and I appreciated his compliment whether or not he really thought so. Regardless, accomplishing an initially challenging task was very fulfilling.

"Learns quickly" can actually be worth adding to my resume after all.