This document outlines the requirements for the final portfolio project in an English 309 course on rhetorical style. The portfolio consists of two parts: 1) a 1000-word reflective memo addressing the five learning objectives of the course and 2) a revised sample of the student's previous work. The reflective memo must include five sections, with three goals or tasks for each section, addressing how the student's work demonstrates achieving each of the five learning objectives relating to rhetorical style, genre, research, and collaboration. The portfolio is meant to allow students to reflect on and demonstrate what they have learned about rhetorical style over the course of the semester.

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Project 6:
Final Portfolio (200 points)
Educator and philosopher John Dewey argued, “We don’t learn from experience – we learn
from reflecting on our experience.” In other words, only in the concerted effort to recollect and
make sense of what you’ve done that genuine knowledge is created. To that end, the last
project we’ll be completing in English 309 this semester is a portfolio. The portfolio will be a
blending of definition, reflection, and a collection of evidence.
Your final portfolio will consist of two things:
1. A reflective memo (approximately 1000 words) (100 points).
2. A revised version of either the white paper or the imitative essay (100 points).
The basis for your final portfolio will be the course learning objectives, which are spelled out in
the syllabus:
1. Describe style as rhetorical, a product of audience, purpose,
and genre.
2. Effectively compose in a wide range of written genres using the
style appropriate to that genre, audience, and purpose.
3. Thoroughly analyze the stylistic devices of a given piece of
prose, and imitate those devices in your own writing.
4. Apply advanced research skills to advance your own writing
goals.
5. Effectively give and receive feedback about writing in small and
large-group settings.

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Accordingly, your reflective memo will consist of five sections:
Section One
In section one, you’ll be working with the first course objective: “Describe style as rhetorical, a
product of audience, purpose, and genre.” You have three goals in this section:
1. Explain and/or define style as we have talked about it this semester. I expect you to use
Performing Prose and the other sources we read in class to support your ideas.
2. Explain how style is rhetorical, making sure to include information about audience,
purpose, and genre. Again, use concepts from Performing Prose in your explanation.
3. Include an example from your own writing showing evidence that you’ve met this
objective. For example, you might ask the portfolio reader to look over two of the
pieces in your portfolio, explain the different rhetorical situations for each of these
documents, and explain how these different rhetorical situations made it necessary to
write in a different style.
Section Two
In this section, you’ll be working with the second course objective: “Effectively compose in a
wide range of written genres using the style appropriate to that genre, audience, and purpose.”
You have three goals in this section:
1. For each of the three pieces in your portfolio, write a description of the piece’s genre,
purpose(s), and audience(s).
2. After you write this description, explain how each piece required a different style (with
the goal of making sure your portfolio reader understands how you determined which
style was appropriate for the piece in light of the piece’s genre, purpose(s), and
audience(s)).
3. Make an argument for why each piece is successful—how each was effectively
composed.
Section Three
In this section, you’ll be working with the third course objective: “Thoroughly analyze the
stylistic devices of a given piece of prose, and imitate those devices in your own writing.” You
have three goals in this section:
1. Explain the importance of style for a reader and for a writer (you may find it helpful to
review Performing Prose when writing this explanation).
2. Explain what stylistic features of the model essay you imitated made this the model
essay unique.
3. Explain what you did to imitate the style of the model essay. (You may find it helpful to
show a comparison between sentences/sections of the model essay and your essay
during this explanation.)
Section Four
In this section, you’ll be working with the fourth course objective: “Apply advanced research
skills to advance your own writing goals.” You have three goals in this section:

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1. Explain how you approached the research you did about your topic this semester.
Consider discussing the process of picking a topic and how research played into that
process.
2. Explain how you used research in each of the three pieces you’ve included in the
portfolio.
3. Explain how you cited research in each of the three pieces you’ve included in the
portfolio (thinking about the differences in style requirements for each). You may find
that 2 and 3 in this section are answered at the same time.
Section Five
In this section, you’ll be working with the fifth course objective: “Effectively give and receive
feedback about writing in small and large-group settings.” You have one goal in this section:
• During this semester, you worked with a partners and groups during the drafting and
revision stages of writing (during brainstorming, and in peer review activities, for
example), and you worked collaboratively to make meaning of the concepts we were
studying (especially during the imitative essay). Write a short reflection describing the
challenges you face in collaboration situations, and describe a couple of strategies you
might be able to employ in the future to make these collaborations more successful.
Formatting, Organization, Ethos
As you construct this portfolio, you should continue thinking about style as it relates to the
rhetorical situation I’ve given you with this assignment. Consider things like developing ethos,
formatting that might be appropriate in this situation, the importance of following the
conventions and style of professional business writing in this situation (since many folks write a
letter or a memo to address the five sections above), what I might need as an audience, etc.
I’m not going to tell you how to format this final reflective “portfolio”—that’s up to you. But
remember that this is a style course, I’m your teacher, and it’s my job to evaluate your ability to
follow the conventions we’ve been learning about this semester.