Student Portfolio

Undergraduate students create a portfolio to prepare for graduation. 

Your portfolio will be one of the most important projects you do during your undergraduate career. In it, you will collect and evaluate your writing expertise, which you can use when applying to jobs or graduate programs. 

Not only is your portfolio an academic project, but one that will help you in your post-graduate pursuits. 

Undergraduate Portfolio 

In the last semester of your English major, you’ll enroll in ENG 490 – Portfolio. This course is a graded, 1-credit class in which you’ll demonstrate how your English course work and projects meet the department’s goals.

The key to success in your portfolio all comes down to this: between your first semester and your last, save all your English papers, projects, and other documents that relate to the department goals. 

It’ll be very difficult for you to create a portfolio if you don’t keep track of your work throughout your education.

You can find sample portfolios in the English Department. Just ask a professor, and they’ll point you in the right direction.

Portfolio Requirements

Your portfolio should include the following sections:

• a table of contents
• an introductory statement that describes your interest in studying English and how you’ve met the department goals
• abstracts explaining each goal coursework
• documents that support the introductory statement and abstracts, two of which must be a substantial research project
• a resume

Introductory Statement Guidelines

In your introductory statement, you must:

• accurately and purposefully introduce the portfolio documents
• name specific texts, courses, eras, authors, and concepts with accuracy and authority
• provide helpful cues (e.g. introduction, conclusion, foreshadowing, summaries, transitions, other markers) for readers
• name and address all 6 department goals
• offer evidence that it’s been carefully reviewed, scrupulously proofread, and edited for correctness and clarity
• appropriately manage tone and style

Department Goals

For a strong portfolio, you should aim to have at least 2 papers, projects, or other documents to support each department goal. 

1. Reading Experience: Students will demonstrate the breadth of their reading experience, which includes both texts from different genres and texts representing a range of cultural and individual identities
2. Writing Experience: Students will demonstrate that they have written in different modes for different audiences and purposes
3. Language and Discourse: Students will demonstrate an understanding of language and discourse. Avenues to such knowledge include study in the history of the language, formal grammar, rhetoric, and linguistics.
4. Theoretical Perspectives: Students will demonstrate that they understand the significant theoretical “lenses” in their field of study such as literary theory, pedagogical theory and approaches, and theories of language acquisition
5. Historical or Cultural Context: Students will demonstrate an understanding of how texts are historically and culturally situated and how these texts are part of the scope, sequence and framework in their field of study
6. Future Directions: Students will demonstrate an understanding of how their education contributes to their lives and careers outside the classroom. One aim of our program is to develop well-rounded graduates with interests not only in their fields of study, but also in the social and ethical issues of our changing world.