← Chapter 14
English Composition · Chapter 14 · Section 5

Build the Portfolio’s Argument

A portfolio is not a folder. Curation is an argument, sequence is an argument, and the reflective letter is an argument with a claim, evidence and interpretation like any other. Choose three of five artifacts, order them for a grader, then assemble a reflective paragraph and watch a rubric decide whether it earns anything.

The five things you could submit

The prompt lets you choose three. It asks for work that demonstrates the course outcomes and for enough process evidence to show the polish was earned.

What the selection covers

Start hereSelection is an argument. Do not simply submit the three highest grades — submit the three that together demonstrate the widest range of what the outcomes name. A B-minus essay that shows you handling a genuinely hard source can prove more than a safe A.
Where the four categories come from. Many first-year writing programs align their outcomes to the Council of Writing Program Administrators’ Outcomes Statement, whose categories are rhetorical knowledge, critical thinking and composing, processes, and knowledge of conventions. That is why portfolio prompts ask about audience, process and revision and not only about correctness.