project overview
In this assignment, you will create a documentation portfolio or propose an alternate assignment of similar scope. Whether you choose the portfolio or a self-defined project, you will be required to complete the reflective statement component. This project page first outlines the documentation portfolio option and then offers guidelines for self-defined project option. As always, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.


documentation portfolio option
The documentation portfolio offers you a chance to further refine the projects you have created in the course and feature them in a persuasive format for current and/or future employers. Having a documentation portfolio at job interviews or employment reviews can help you prove your writing, design, and collaboration skills. Such portfolios allow you to evidence your abilities and discuss your talents in specific, rather than abstract, terms. Your documentation portfolio will include seven components: a portfolio overview, your quick reference card, your documentation plan & instructor tutorial documentation, job ad, job analysis form, writing sample assessment chart, and a reflection statement talking about your professional writing experience and your future learning goals. In this last unit of the course, you will learn to

• revise and edit course projects for your documentation portfolio,
• analyze potential audiences for your documentation portfolio,
• determine the skills represented by the documents in your portfolio,
• articulate the merits of your work in terms of those skills, and
• reflect on your own learning experiences and discuss your future learning goals.

documentation portfolio components
Your documentation portfolio is an individual project, and thus, it should reflect your specific purposes. Rather than creating a print-based portfolio, you may elect to develop a web version. Regardless of the medium for your portfolio, you will create the same documents. My hope is that beyond our class, you will continue to develop your portfolio, adding other writing and design projects that feature your expertise. Use the following links for detailed descriptions of each project component and resources:

• revised course documents--quick reference card and instructor tutorial
• portfolio overview
• reflective statement
• project resources

In the documentation portfolio project, you will not follow individual project component deadlines. All of the components of your portfolio will be collected, sorted (portfolio overview, your writing samples, and reflection statement), and placed in a folder. If you are creating a web documentation portfolio, you will only provide hard copies of the reflection statement. With the web option, the portfolio overview and writing samples should be online at the time of our conference, and you should bring me an electronic copy of those files. At a scheduled 15-minute time during the first three days of finals week, Monday, May 11 - Wednesday, May 13, you will submit your completed documentation portfolio for evaluation.

Remember if you have any questions about these project guidelines or deadlines, do not hesitate to contact me.

top | documentation portfolio project | revised course documents | portfolio overview | reflective statement | project resources | self-defined project | text links


revised course documents
Your documentation portfolio should feature your best work. Throughout the course, you have been developing rhetorically-situated documentation projects that can be even further revised and edited for inclusion in your portfolio. This project component does not require you to draft any new materials. Rather, you will revisit your projects and work to polish them.

how do I develop my revised course documentation?
Return to your final quick reference deliverable and instructor tutorial documentation and attend to the following:

• Review each document for content revisions. Does the documentation need further contextualization? Are there steps that are out of order or skipped? Are the results both accurate and encouraging to the audience? Do you have any inconsistencies in formatting or language use? Do you need to add screen shots? or clean up your current image files?
• Create a list of content revisions and complete those revisions.
• Edit your documents. Do you have any proofreading mistakes? grammar errors? Have you cited all your sources carefully?
• Save the files and create multiple copies of your polished course documentation.

how do I format my revised course documentation?
Your documentation projects should follow the formatting guidelines established for each of them. If you are creating a web documentation portfolio, you should convert your files to Adobe PDFs and perhaps create screen shots of some pages for inclusion on the page.

when do I submit my revised course documentation?
Your documentation revisions are due at our scheduled final conference time. If you are constructing a web portfolio.

top | documentation portfolio project | revised course documents | portfolio overview | reflective statement | project resources | self-defined project | text links

portfolio overview
Your portfolio overview will provide both descriptive and persuasive information about your writing samples. This overview should address each writing sample separately and offer brief paragraph summaries of the project's context and its merits. This information also can be useful if you ever want to reference your portfolio in a cover letter or job interview situation. You will have defined the writing samples in meaningful, rhetorically sound ways. Such statements also can be further developed if you ever have to prepare a documentation presentation.

how do I develop my portfolio overview?
Based upon your job and writing skills analyses, you will write brief, persuasive paragraphs which include the following:

• Title of the Writing Sample
• 
  You should develop your own design for the portfolio overview. If you are working in print, consider the audience and think about color, font style, bullet style, white space, page formatting, and other design and layout considerations. If you are developing a web documentation portfolio, consider web page layout and design as well as navigational structures.
  
  when do I submit my revised course documentation?
  Your documentation revisions are due at our scheduled final conference time. During the course of this project, I am available to review this or any other component. Feel free to schedule an appointment with me.
  
  top | documentation portfolio project | revised course documents | portfolio overview | reflective statement | project resources | self-defined project | text links

  
  reflective statement
  Your reflective statement requires you to consider what you have learned in our course and how that knowledge will impact other areas of your career and life. This statement should discuss specific aspects of your work in the course. From working with clients and peers to negotiating the software you documented.

  how do I develop my reflective statement?
  I will provide a prompt for your reflective statement. Using that prompt, you will develop your statement with a guiding idea/purpose. Through well-developed paragraphs, you will discuss issues surrounding your guiding idea/purpose.

  how should we format my reflective statement?
  Your approximately 3-page reflective statement should follow these formatting guidelines:

  • 1-inch margins on all sides,
  • single-spaced body text,
  • title text in 16-point Arial font,
  • your name below the title text in 14-point Arial font,
  • any level-one headings in bolded 12-point Arial font,
  • body text in 12-point Times or Times New Roman font,
  • formatting that is full block (i.e. no indention at the beginning of paragraphs, left justified text, and one blank line between paragraphs).
  • continuous pagination and your name in footer.

  when do I submit my reflective statement for evaluation?
  Your documentation revisions are due at our scheduled final conference time. During the course of this project, I am available to review this or any other component. Feel free to schedule an appointment with me.
  
  top | documentation portfolio project | revised course documents | portfolio overview | reflective statement | project resources | self-defined project | text links
  
  
  

  project resources
  This project asks you to consider technical editing and portfolio creation. Audience, purpose, and your role as technical documentation author will be central to not only this project but all course activites. Developing rhetorically-situated documents is one of the primary goals of the course. Other aspects of this project are covered through the following supplemental resources:
  
  documentation portfolios
  building a technical writing portfolio
  http://www.writersblock.ca/winter1999/essay.htm
  
  word-builder
  http://www.word-builder.com/sciwriting/
  
  wing group
  http://wing-group.com/pdoc.asp
  
  amber evan's technical writing portfolio
  http://web.csuchico.edu/~gustafso/tableTechWritPort.html
  
  top | documentation portfolio project | revised course documents | portfolio overview | reflective statement | project resources | self-defined project | text links
  
  
  

  self-defined project option
  If the documentation portfolio project does not attend to your own specific purposes, then you may propose an alternate project of similar scope. Your proposal will be in the form of a memo addressed to me. Even if you create such a project, you still must complete the reflective statement component as part of your unit 4 assignment. Your self-defined project must:

  • include technical documentation or instructions as part of its product,
  • have a well-defined audience and purpose which you will formally outline in your memo,
  • be clearly defined in terms of the project deliverables which you will formally outline in your memo,
  • be of similar scope as the documentation portfolio project,
  • be approved by me on or before Friday, April 9,
  • be related to a specific learning goal or objective you have for your work in our course which you discuss in your memo,
  • not be related to another course, and
  • not be for direct financial gain or loss.

  how do I develop my self-defined project?
  Your first task will be to define the audience, purpose, scope, and deliverables for your project. You should draft a memo, addressed to me, that provides this information as well as rationales for how your self-defined project will meet specific learning goals you have for your participation in our course. If you want to pursue such a project, we will schedule a conference at which we will discuss your proposal. We will discuss the project and make any necessary adjustments to the audience, purpose, scope, or deliverables you propose. After any changes, you will write down the agreed upon plan, and you will begin your work on your self-defined project.

  how do I format my self-defined project?
  Using Microsoft Word, draft a memo that adheres to the formatting guidelines provided on the quick reference project page.

  when do I submit my reflective statement for evaluation?
  Your documentation revisions are due at our scheduled final conference time. During the course of this project, I am available to review this or any other component. Feel free to schedule an appointment with me.
  
  top | documentation portfolio project | revised course documents | portfolio overview | reflective statement | project resources | self-defined project | text links