1. When is the portfolio due?
For the class of 2014, portfolios are due on Friday, May 17, 2013 by 4:30 p.m. If your portfolio is ready before May 17, please turn it in early. This helps us a lot!  

2. What do I need to turn in?
Please refer to the Portfolio Requirement Sheet for your class year.
Portfolio Requirements (Class of 2014 and beyond)

 3. Where do I turn in my portfolio?
To Liz Musicant in Leighton 230.  If Liz is not available, you may put your portfolio in her  mailbox in the Sociology/Anthropology lounge (turn right after walking into Leighton from the Bald Spot). Do not drop portfolios off at the Write Place.

Please verify that your folder contains the following:

• A CD of your reflective essay, your papers and (if possible) the assignments you were responding to.
• Your summary sheet (if you have your original copy, it's pink).
• Your signed research authorization form (if you have your original copy, it's green).
• Your reflective essay.
• Your papers in hard copy (ideally without grades or your professors' comments).
• The original assignment for each paper if possible. Otherwise, write what you remember about the assignment.

We'll check for these items when you hand in your portfolio and will ask you to complete any missing forms, etc.

4. Do I need to submit a paper for every "Gen Ed" category and every "Overlay" listed on the pink submission form?
No, but you do need to submit at least one paper for each of the criteria listed on the form under #2 (observation, analysis, interpretation, documented sources, thesis-driven argument).

 5. Do all of my papers have to come from Carleton class assignments?
Yes. You may also include work completed while on off-campus studies. If you're a transfer student, you can include work from your previous institution.

6. Can I get my old assignments and papers from Moodle?
If you wrote the paper during the current academic year, yes. If you need an older assignment and/or paper, you'll need to work with someone who has access to the Moodle Archive for that course.  Contact the instructor of the course or Carleton's Academic Technologists (at@carleton.edu) for help.

7. I lost my folder. Can I get a new one?
Sure, just stop by Leighton 230. Otherwise feel free to use any folder.

8. I lost my forms. Can I get new ones?
Copies of all forms are available in Leighton 230, or you may download and print them from the links here.

Portfolio Submission Form
Research Authorization Form

9. I lost my CD. Can I get a new one?
We did make a few extra CDs. If you want one, stop by Leighton 230. If the extras are still here, you can have one. Otherwise any CD will do.

10. Is it OK to revise my papers before submitting them?
Yes. Readers like to see that you care enough about your work to revise it.

11. Do my title pages, charts, graphs and bibliographies count in the 30 pp. I'm allowed?
No.  And please be sure to include bibliographies. Readers do look at them.

12. Does the reflective essay count in the 30 pp.?
No.

13. May I use first person in my reflective essay?
Yes! Please do.

14. What else is required in that “reflective” essay?
Faculty readers count on this essay to prepare them to read your portfolio, so consider this a persuasive document. Establish your voice, lead your reader through the portfolio, and make an argument. Use the portfolio contents as evidence to demonstrate convincingly whatever you want to say about yourself as a college writer. Most people write 2-3 pages.

15. May I submit a paper written as part of a group?
Probably. If you can show in your reflective essay or in a memo attached to the group paper which part (or parts) are your work, you’re in business.

16. May I submit a paper written in a language other than English?
Yes, but be sure to fulfill all the requirements of the portfolio in your papers that are in English. We can't guarantee that we'll have a faculty portfolio reader available to read papers in any other language.

17. I'd like to include a paper from a class that I'm taking now, but that paper won't be done by the portfolio due date. Can I add it later?
Yes. Turn in your partial portfolio by the due date and list the information about the paper-in-progress on your summary form with the information about your other papers. Please include a note telling us that you'll add that paper when it's complete and be sure to mention this to us when you hand in your portfolio.

18. I lost most of my papers in a computer disaster. What do I do?
Talk with Carol Rutz (x 4082) right away. There may be a way to manage, and a conversation is the essential first step.

19. What happens if I don’t submit a portfolio by the end of my sixth term?
The Academic Standing Committee will decide how to deal with those who do not submit portfolios on time. One thing is clear: You will not be excused from preparing a portfolio and a hold will be put on your registration until we receive your portfolio. It's probably best to do it and save us all a lot of trouble.

20. When will I find out how I did?
Portfolios are scored by faculty in June, and results are typically e-mailed to students in late June or early July.

21. When will I get my portfolio back?
You will receive the hard copy along with reader comments in your campus PO box early in the next term you are on campus.

22. I’m worried that my portfolio will not pass. What happens if I fail?
Every year, some portfolios are rated “needs work,” which means that the writers will meet with the Writing Program Director or another writing professional on campus to describe the problems and agree on remedies. Each situation is highly individual. For example, you may be asked to revise material in your portfolio, work with a tutor on your writing, or work with the Writing Program Director on papers for the next term. Once you have completed the extra work, your degree audit will show a “pass.”

23. The permission form you ask me to sign refers to “ongoing research” about student writing. What’s up with that?
The College is interested, for faculty and curriculum development purposes, in knowing what kinds of writing students are assigned and in which courses, and many related questions that can only be answered by examining actual student writing. As the permission form states, you will never be personally identified in any such research. 

24. How did the Writing Portfolio begin anyway?
Great question. It all began when the Carleton faculty voted to include the entire class of 2005 in a pilot project on portfolio assessment of student writing. Click here to find out more.

25. Are there information sessions for students working on portfolios?
Yes. Have your RA invite Carol Rutz to meet with the first-year and sophomore students on your floor. Sophomores will also be invited to an evening help session about 10 days before portfolios are due.

26. I have more questions. Who can I contact?

We're happy to help. Please contact...

Carol Rutz, Director of the College Writing Program, by e-mail or at extension 4082.
or
Liz Musicant, Assistant to the Director of the Writing Program by e-mail or at extension 4108.