Guidelines for Final Portfolio

Writing Portfolio - Due in class 12/10 or emailed by 12/17

General guidelines:

• The portfolio is meant to be a collection of your best writing from the semester, around 4-6 short fiction pieces and one critical piece. The stories can be any length. Quality counts more than quantity. (Highest possible score: 105 points = A+.)

• You should include the story (or stories) you submitted for class discussion. Ideally, it should be a revised version based on comments you got in class. (40 points)

• You can include a new story that you didn’t have a chance to or chose not to bring to the workshop. (would share the 40 points with the other story)

• You should include 3-4 of the short writings that you did in class or as homework. These should be revised final drafts. (40 points)

• It is OK to include both the original and a revised version of something if you’ve made substantial changes. If you do this, clip them together and date each draft. If you just fixed some grammar or cut out a sentence, then just send the new version.

• For the critical piece, write a personal response (about 2 pages, typed) to ANY ONE of the stories we read during the semester—either a published story or a student story. Choose a story you felt strongly about, one you loved or hated or that made you think. Describe the techniques the author uses, what you liked or didn’t like, what you learned about writing from reading this story, and what you would change about it if it were your story. (10 points)

• Include your image notebook (Prompt 3 from 10/8.). You can turn in the actual notebook if you want, OR just type out some pages from it. (10 points)

BONUS: Take one of these images/snippets and expand it into a short story or scene, around 300-600 words. (5 points)

• You can bring your portfolio to the final day of class if it’s ready. If you need more time, you can send it by email.

• If you need anything returned to you, please include a self-addressed stamped envelope.