Write a cover letter to preface your portfolio and demonstrate that you have progressed on the learning outcomes for the course. Introduce each of the documents in your portfolio, using them as eviden

WRIT 200: Practicum in Writing

10 points

Write a 2 page, single-spaced, cover letter to preface your portfolio and demonstrate that you have progressed on the learning outcomes for the course. Introduce each of the documents in your portfolio, using them as evidence to support your argument that you have met the requirements and are ready to advance to WRIT 300. Explain how the process of drafting and revising your writing, as well as interacting with your colleagues, allowed you to achieve the course outcomes. You should also specifically point out how you used the feedback that you received on your drafts to improve them for the portfolio.

Your goal here is to reflect on your own work during the fall semester, to assess how far you have come, and to be able to demonstrate your progress to the "gatekeepers" of WRIT 300. A successful cover letter will strike an effective balance between personal narrative and evidence-based persuasion

If you've ever applied for an internship, a scholarship, or professional employment, you have probably written a cover letter as part of your application. (If you haven't yet, you will!) A strong cover letter can often make the difference between an average applicant and an outstanding one. If your resume or CV is data-driven, the cover letter interprets that data in narrative form, highlighting the important elements.

In this case, the portfolio cover letter should serve as an introduction to your portfolio, and to you as a writer and emerging scholar. It will set the tone for the work that follows it and create a memorable first impression. You should describe your journey through this writing class, tell us what you learned along the way, and (importantly) show us how the writing you've chosen to include reveals your progress in achieving the outcomes that the university has set up for WRIT 200.

Audience: UB Writing Program Faculty

Format: Professional Letter (include a header, salutation, sign-off, etc.)

• To engage in metacognition about your own writing process.

• To introduce yourself as an emerging voice in your academic/professional field.

• To demonstrate how the writing in your portfolio proves that you have met the learning outcomes for WRIT 200 (Page 2)

WRIT 200 Student Learning Outcomes

Students will read, write, and analyze a variety of texts produced for multiple purposes, audiences, and genres. They will produce documents which demonstrate that they can:

• understand ways in which contexts shape reading and writing

• identify, analyze, and write in multiple genres effectively

• identify, analyze, and apply rhetorical concepts such as audience, purpose, context, and tone

• establish, develop, and support a controlling idea, which is focused by a clear sense of purpose and audience, in a range of documents

• organize documents based on the rhetorical situation.

Students will understand and apply processes for reading, writing, and research. They will produce documents which demonstrate that they can:

• set purposes and goals for reading, writing, and research

• summarize, interpret, and respond to the ideas of others

• organize evidence in ways that support their own points of view

• select, organize, and cite evidence in ways that are ethical and appropriate to academic genres

• revise documents with purpose over several drafts and revisions.

Students will engage in and critically self-reflect about reading and writing as social processes. They will produce documents which demonstrate that they can:

• successfully engage in self-reflective activities to assessing their own reading and writing in relation to their own learning goals and values

• use a variety of effective strategies for giving constructive feedback on peers’ writing

• analyze and ethically incorporate feedback into their own writing

• use a range of effective strategies to revise documents for global concerns with purpose over several drafts

• use a range of effective strategies for editing and proofreading their own work for local concerns

Students will demonstrate an understanding of textual conventions appropriately to writing tasks in their field. They will produce documents which demonstrate that they can:

• identify and use discipline-specific guidelines for citing and documenting sources

• apply genre, format, and structure conventions appropriately to a range of documents

• employ electronic media appropriate to the disciplinary context

• demonstrate proficient control of grammar, sentence variety, word choice, and appropriate conventions.