ASSIGNMENT: Portfolio Introduction

Exigence is the catalyst for all communication-the issue, problem, question, or situation that prompts the speaker to write, speak, or compose. Exigence generates purpose which leads to a series of rhetorical choices that we make to ensure that our communication is effective. The rhetorical choices enacted are communication in a particular genre of speech, visual or text-based writing.

Over the course of the semester, you’ve produced multiple genres: news feature story, Linked In profile, elevator pitch, news feature story, and Composition in Two Genres to name a few. You’ve also determined (and produced) genres that best suited your purpose by analyzing the needs and expectations of specific audiences. At this point, you’re skilled at reading audience expectations and communicating to achieve a specific purpose. Every time you borrow money, ask for a favor, speak to an advisor, or argue with a friend about music, you’re prompted by exigence, communicate with a specific purpose, and make choices that better the odds that you’ll achieve your purpose.

This assignment asks you to explain why you made the choices you made in the writing you’ve done for class. In the introduction to your portfolio, describe the interaction between purpose, audience, and genre using examples of your own work. Be specific—point to/quote specific instances to support your explanation. For example, perhaps you chose to make a flyer (genre) because your purpose was to inform patrons of a local shop that Bengali turmeric has been found to contain lead. Because your audience is Bengali, you include both Bengali and English on your flyer. The flyer, is attached to lampposts in the shopping district of a Bengali neighborhood because this is where your audience buys turmeric. 

The purpose of this assignment is to:

Reflect on how the rhetorical choices you’ve made have produced specific genres of writing

describe how the genres you’ve produced are effective in communicating to your target audience support your claims about effective communication using evidence from the writing you’ve produced during the semester design a web-based platform to showcase the writing you’ve done in the FIQWS topic and comp sections

ASSIGNMENT REQUIREMENTS

This introduction to your work should be on the “home page” of your portfolio (the URL link you provide should be connected directly to the landing page).

• Content: You should include in the e-portfolio, at minimum, the assignments listed above (news feature story, Linked In profile, elevator pitch, news feature story, and Composition in Two Genres), but can include much more! A lot of what we understand about purpose and audience will come from the less formal analytical and less formal process pieces. Anything you refer to in the introduction should be included in the portfolio.
• Genre, formatting, and voice: your choice. Use the genre you think will work best here. Formatting depends on the genre. If you write a letter, it should look a like a letter. If you write an academic essay, format as you would an academic essay (APA). Voice and register should match genre–a letter might be less formal and more personal than an academic essay.
• Sources: You need at least two…but you wrote them. You should treat your own compositions as sources for this assignment. You should refer directly to, quote, or paraphrase from your work.
• Accessibility (recommended not required): think about how audiences “read” web-based writing. Use links to layer content in your portfolio introduction. While reading your introduction, your audience might like an opportunity to view the composition as a whole. Providing that access is an efficient web-writing practice.

Length: 750-1000 words

Submission and peer review date are listed on the main schedule page.

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