The purpose of the portfolio is to give you a chance to show me what you have learned from the course in addition to what you have shown in the other written course material.

You should begin composing material for the portfolio during the first week of the semester. Material should be added each week throughout the semester. At the end of the semester you should select about eight to ten of your best entries, and submit only these to be graded. Part of the portfolio process involves your own evaluation of your work. You do that by going through your collected material at the end of the semester in order to select only the best material for my evaluation.

Good sources of portfolio material:

1. A good type of portfolio entry is a rewrite of a report, exercise or essay answer on which you did not do very well the first time you wrote it. However, be sure to find out why your paper or answer was not graded very high the first time. Don't just assume that you understood the issue, but did not express it adequately. To be good the rewrite must express very good understanding of the topic. (Better than would have been adequate for a good grade when the assignment was first done.) The best rewrites are usually composed after discussion with me during office hours. Rewrites must be accompanied in the portfolio by the original material that has been recomposed.

2. Your reflections on any of the specific course topics covered either in the readings or in the lectures and discussions. Such reflections will be graded upon the extent to which they show good understanding of the relevant topics.

3. Your reflections on newspaper or magazine articles dealing with issues relevant to the course material. These reflections should be accompanied by a copy of the article under discussion whenever possible. Identify the article with the title and date of the publication from which it came. Your reflections should reveal understanding of the larger ethical issues involved with the topics discussed in the article. The best material of this type involves articles illustrating application of course material, together with your explanation of the specific course material involved.

4. Other independent exploration, explanation, or reflection upon issues relevant to ethics.

You are welcome to submit material that you have been composing for the portfolio any time during the semester, and as often as you wish. I will read the material and make comments concerning how you might improve it before returning it to you. The material will not be graded during these early submissions.

Consider your final version of the portfolio to be a paper submitted for the course. Be sure it is neatly composed on a typewriter or word processor, with attention to spelling, grammar, and organization.