Senior Portfolio Requirements

Professional Writing Emphasis Areas

Students with Journalism, Public Relations Writing, and Technical Communication emphases in the English Department are required to submit a graduation portfolio during their final semester.  This portfolio includes a resume and reflective writings, in addition to six examples meeting the criteria listed below.  The portfolio is compiled as part of  EPR/ETC/JOU 401 Senior Portfolio.

Sample Portfolios:

Dawn Baker
Samantha Lord
Bradley Redmond

Documents required for Professional Writing Senior Graduation Portfolios

Journalism majors will meet the following criteria:

*Possible projects

1.  Ability to conduct research and present the results in appropriate written form

*Any research paper (for any course 200-level or higher)

2.  Mastery of traditional journalism conventions such as the inverted pyramid

*News articles (4-5 items, no longer than 10 pages total)

3.  Create documents with an awareness of expectations of a "real world" discourse communities.

*Anything created for an internship
*Document/project created for a client or organization

4.  Ability to write extended journalism stories for specific target audiences

*Feature story
*Investigative story
*In depth report

5.  Mastery of layout and design principles

*Newspaper spread
*Magazine spread

6.  Understanding of ethical and legal issues for journalists

Major assignment addressing issues of media law and ethics

Public Relations Writing majors will meet the following criteria:

*Possible projects

1.  Ability to conduct research and present the results in appropriate written form

*Any research paper (for any course 200-level or higher)

2.  Mastery of public relations and business writing genres

*Example of a longer form such as a backgrounder or proposal
*Collection of news releases (4-5 items, no longer than 10 pages total)
*Collection of correspondence (4-5 items, no longer than 10 pages total)

3.  Create documents with an awareness of expectations of a "real world" discourse communities.

*Anything created for an internship
*Document/project created for a client or organization

4.  Use the technical tools available to public relations professionals to create documents that are visually effective (include description of tools used, i.e. HTML, PageMaker)

*Brochures, newsletters created with Quark, PageMaker, and so on
*Powerpoint presentation--include text of presentation
*Web site/pages

5.  Ability to work in teams to create written projects

*Collaborative project--include information about contribution and thoughts on working in teams in cover sheet

6.  Ability to write persuasively

*Promotional material for an organization, department, or business
*Proposal
*Persuasive essay or research paper

Technical Communication majors will meet the following criteria:

*Possible projects

1.  Ability to conduct research and present the results in appropriate written form

*Any research paper (for any course 200-level or higher)

2.  Mastery of technical and business writing genres

*Formal report
*Collection of correspondence (4-5 items, no longer than 10 pages total)
*Proposal
*Case study

3.  Create documents with an awareness of expectations of a "real world" discourse communities.

*Anything created for an internship
*Document/project created for a client or organization

4.  Use the technical tools available to technical communicators to create documents that are visually effective (include description of tools used., i.e. HTML, FrameMaker, RoboHelp)

*Brochure or document created with Quark, FrameMaker, and so on
*Web site/pages
*Index/help file created with RoboHelp

5.  Ability to work in teams to create written projects

*Collaborative project--include information about contribution and thoughts on working in teams in cover sheet

6.  Ability to guide users through processes or procedures

*Instructions
*Procedure guide
*Explanation of a progress

Convergent Media majors will meet the following criteria:

1.  Mastery of traditional journalism conventions and genres

*News stories (2-3)
*Feature story
*Investigative story
*In depth report

2.  Create documents with an awareness of expectations of "real world" discourse communities.

*Anything created for an internship OR
*Document/project created for a client or organization

3.  Mastery of layout and design principles

*Newspaper spread OR
*Magazine spread

4.  Mastery of Convergent Media production and design principles

*Video package (90 seconds-5 minutes)
*Journalistic audio slideshow
*Blog
*Formal Website

Students are also encouraged to submit more than one example of the above projects, and are welcome to also include podcasts, other video projects, photo portfolios and interactive graphics.

5.  Understanding of ethical and legal issues for journalists

*Major assignment addressing issues of media law and ethics