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Revision was a major topic in our reading for this week, and I’m sure it’s something we’ve all started considering as we put our portfolios together. Revision is important for anyone at any professional level, but for us as students it is especially important. Since most of us will be (or already are) on the job hunt, it is important that we select which documents to use in our portfolio very carefully. How do we want potential employers to perceive us and, more importantly, our work? Personally I’ve spent quite a bit of time going over everything I’ve written during my internship, deciding which documents best showcase my abilities as a writer. This process may have taken my work count down a bit, but I guess the saying, “Less is more,” applies here.
Our reading also discusses many design elements to taken into consideration when putting together a portfolio. Some of them, such as creating individual statements for each section of work, were things I hadn’t really taken into consideration. I had momentarily forgotten that not everyone was familiar with my internship or even the place I interned for. Work that you think is self-explanatory may not be as straightforward to a potential employer.
Luckily, though, we’ve been producing documents for internships that have been used in a professional manner, and so we can avoid the awkward ‘this is a college project’ situation our book discusses. That doesn’t necessarily mean our revision process is over, though. A year from now we could decide to revamp our portfolios and face palm over some of the work we chose to include. It’s a never-ending process.
As Stephanie stated, revision is an important tool not only as students but also as professionals. The readings we had for today suggest revising at multiple levels: locally, new audiences and purposes, to showcase various skills, globally. As an English major, revision becomes a trite topic but the readings offered some strategies that I thought was interesting.
As the author suggested, we have to be able to see our documents through the eyes of the employer. Right now, we are students and our identity is shifting from student to professionals and so we have to look past the classroom grade and understand the responsibilities of the higher standards.
Additionally, I never thought about the fact that multiple skills can be represented in a single document and how an employer would find that appealing. A document might already have the writing aspect but including design and layout adds complexity and shows an employer your ability not only to write but, for example, to work with color or design.
Another aspect that the reading talked about was designing electronic portfolios. For me, the fascinating part was the “Principles of Design” section. I felt like we could use the same tips for out poster board. Having things close together makes people think that they belong in a group and repeating the same fonts or colors unifies a theme. There is actually a law called the “Gestalt Law of Continuation” that says that when you have more than two things side by side or one below the other, the eye naturally is going to look over other things by moving in the same direction (88). Also, choosing an image can cause certain associations with people so it is best to choose generic images.
One thing that I am learning as I complete this internship and degree is not simply just to write, but choosing the right words or designing elements with a certain purpose. The way that we revise our portfolio or design it affects the message or argument that we are sending to others and like Stephanie suggested, it is definitely a never ending process to have our layout just right or writing perfect in order to convey that argument.
I’ve never trusted anyone who doesn’t think they need to revisit their work and am in awe of those who revisit and legitimately do not need to make any revisions. I think they are the writer’s equivalent to unicorns. For those of us whose internships revolve around creating paper documents (as opposed to online), the necessity of revising to present them in an online format is obvious. There’s one pro to that task.
Whether or not one is “forced” to change the format of their work and thus have that mandatory revision opportunity, the additional consideration both Natalie and Angel mention is choosing the right material. As Natalie points out, we cannot assume that our audience will know what we are talking about if we don’t explain it, and Angel questions how to choose the right words and style to convey our purpose. The online portfolio has to speak for itself and has to be able to do so to anyone anywhere for whom we would like to work. That requires a good deal of stepping back and looking with an objective eye.
Of the revision strategies suggested in the book, the ”second set of eyes” line of thinking is mentioned toward the end of chapter 5. Personally, I think it should be given a great deal more emphasis. Reading aloud to oneself can help quite a bit, but nothing helps quite as much as having another person look at it, specifically reading it without hearing you say it. Even reading it to another person is better than just reading it aloud to yourself, but to be completely removed from their reviewing it is going to be closer to an unknown reader’s experience, and even then, if the person who is reading it for you has heard you talk about it, they are going to have a little bit of knowledge the general public will not. Eyes. Lots of eyes.
Catching mistakes is a big part of the revision process – who wants to hire a writer who can’t write? But even more than that, knowing what to present (whether it’s “less is more” as Natalie pointed out or an appropriate-to-range-of-skill larger body of work) can create an impression in the mind of potential employers: an impression of a skillful, appropriate, technical artist. Pointing out every single thing you’ve ever done typically only works if everything is different. If you’re lucky enough to have several different projects that show a range, I think they should be shown. If not, I think the challenge will be to keep the examples from being boring or too scant. Another consideration involves a difficulty of working for others, which is having to do things the way THEY like. Even if we love one piece of our work and aren’t too fond of another, it can be very beneficial to have others look at our choices so that examples that we don’t like but could bring good work aren’t dismissed because of our personal taste (unless you would just hate to have to write that type of thing, no matter what the job paid).
The personal expression part of the book seemed almost counter productive to me, for a couple of reasons. Looking thru the eyes of a potential employer at some of the examples they used, all I could think was “this woman sounds like she needs medication and therapy” and “this guy needs to put on some pants.” Then personally, as I told Angel, I have a hard enough time getting potential employers to look past my “exuberant individuality” to my work. I’m just not very good at blending in professional settings. I have had employers tell me they are always surprised at how very technical my writing is compared to how “free-spirited” I seem. Sometimes it is a compliment, sometimes they seem suspicious, but in an interview, they typically seem disbelieving, no matter how calm and normal I try to be. I really don’t think I want to extend that experience into cyberspace if I can help it (and I am not saying I can). I can turn a very colorful phrase, but I save it for writing songs – a mention of that is probably as personal as I intend to get. I’m still a bit wary of the whole “about me” thing.
Whatever I do, I will definitely get others to look at it. Lots of others. Because I know I am very often the only person who knows what I’m talking about…
As English majors, we have been revising for years. However, this weeks reading has brought the revision process into a new light. In the past, we have been editing solely to receive a better grade. Now, we have to consider many different aspects such as visual and design elements along with theme and industry standards that we didn’t have to think about before. Editing our works is certainly going to be a tedious task, especially when we find that our documents may no longer work in the format that they were created. Changing the format (such as a paper to a magazine-like article) is important to conveying certain messages to certain potential employers. For example, I would love to one day write for the Today show, so I may change many of my documents to multi-media like projects and scripts.
We must also keep in mind that our portfolios are more than a container for all of our work. They are supposed to reflect who we are, and who we’d like to be. They need to demonstrate our skills in ways that are both creative and professional. Therefore, consistency becomes an important framework for our documents. Usually, a theme will help us pull it together.
I liked the idea of creating a logo and a sort-of “brand” for myself. Joy Leake made a very nice one that was not only visually appealing but also hinted at how she viewed her goals and objectives. While I have been focusing mostly on my poster, I have started to consider themes and metaphors that describe me and where I want to be in the next five years.
Chapter five was an especially important reading for me because it gave more detail in how to actually execute certain design elements such as changing resolution. It put more more at ease for sure. Chapter six also addressed some of my lingering questions. Copyright laws can sometimes be quite complicated and it is important for us to be familiar with them. For example, I recently had a conversation with Google about the use of one of their maps in a project I’ve been working on. Although I read their copyright information, I was still slightly confused and didn’t want to use the map without being sure I understood. They were very helpful in guiding me towards the right information.
In class on tuesday, we had the discussion about work-for-hire. Although many of us are unpaid, it is hard to acknowledge that much of what we have created for our internships does not belong to us. It belongs to our companies even though WE made them ourselves. Therefore, it is important to be specific in the way we want to use these documents for our portfolios and to assure our employers that we will not violate their wishes or rights.
Revise, revise, revise. You can do it til you go insane. And that definitely happens. As future professional writers and editors, revising is arguably the most important work we do. Our finished pieces have to be polished and ready. Like Stephanie said, it is important that you understand the audience of your portfolio, and understand that they may not be familiar with your internship. In my portfolio so far, I’ve been using the sandwich method – explain the example, show example, explain again. It gets a little redundant for me to write when creating the portfolio, but I think it will end up being best for the reader. Hopefully, they will never have had to hear of WVU and they don’t need to know anything about the admissions process or college in general.
I was trying my very best to make my portfolio translate from the “college project” to a professional resume-supplementer. I really was. But I’m having issues with this. I wanted to show my main project in its completed, published stage. Time will not allow for that. I’ll simply have to put the content that I wrote for it in its raw form, which is disappointing to me. I’ll have to continue to revise later and add that if I want this to not look so much like a college assignment.
One of the readings discussed copyright information. This has always been really confusing to me, and it mostly just makes me angry about how picky people are. But I guess maybe when I do something worth copying, I’d be angry if someone took it from me, too. Now more than ever as we enter the workforce, it is important that we are aware of these laws. In this profession, ignorance is no excuse.
I also considered using the “sandwich method” when creating my portfolio, but it eventually just became too redundant of a process for me to handle. I understand that our potential audience isn’t familiar with my internship as I am, but I’d still like to think that the things I wrote are pretty self-explanatory. An article is an article and a press release is a press release. With all of my work separated neatly into individual categories, I am a firm believer that one explanation for each genre should suffice.
Like Liz, some of my work I am putting in my portfolio won’t be in its finished state as I’d like it to be. This is disappointing because I feel like it somehow discredits me and what I’ve worked hard to produce. But the bright side is that it won’t be this way forever. All of my work will eventually be in its published, end-product form and I’ll finally be 100% professional and look like I have my life together.
I am lucky, though, that I’m not currently having to deal with the mess of copyright and legal issues like some of my classmates.
I do agree that revising is probably the most important action we’ll take in creating our portfolio. Even the design and text we use to explain our documents needs to be polished and professional. It represents our technical writing skills in the same way our samples/documents do. I have at times used the “sandwich method.” The act of telling them what you will tell them, actually telling them, and then telling them what you told them is purposefully repetitious. I only use this method when it is absolutely necessary.
My audience definitely will not understand my internship experience as well as I do, and I have been taking this into consideration. I have been thinking about including a terms page in my portfolio, where my audience can view definitions for specific words I may use to describe my actions. For example, I would like to represent typesetting as one of my skill areas. This may include describing how I increased/decreased the tracking, leading, or kearning to promote readablility and consistent style within the text. If my audience does not understand what “tracking” is, what “leading” is, or what “kearning” is, it may be pretty difficult for them to comprehend my work. Is anyone else considering a terms page?
Some of my work, as well, will not be in its finished state, as some citations still need to be added to the Works Cited and typesetting will still need to be done on the majority of the text. However, I will include excerpts that seemingly complete.0
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As many of you previously mentioned, this portfolio is signaling our transition from college assignments to professional work. Creating a successful portfolio could get you a job or career, not just an A+. As a result, while revising, we need to think of our audience as potential employers rather than a professor. This week’s reading touches on this subject when discussing multiple levels of revision, which include new audiences/purposes and the demonstration of skills.
The different levels made me think about what documents an employer would be interested in viewing and how they would want the documents presented. Unfortunately, my document selection is somewhat limited, so I can’t really pick and choose. However, I can definitely carefully consider how I want my work presented. First of all, I’ll check thoroughly for small errors (misspellings, etc.) and document organization, because if the documents’ content isn’t professional, then the presentation won’t matter. I’m not sure how I could revise my documents to include more multimedia elements, since two already contain them and the other is an annotated bibliography. The only thing I can think of is including more hyperlinks so readers can easily navigate sources. Next, I plan to use a theme (Creating Connections) that will connect all of the documents’ introductions and create a sense of continuity. I also want to create a color theme that will make the portfolio attractive, yet tasteful. I think colors and subtle designs are an effective way to project your personality. Like Stephanie, I’m concerned being too enthusiastic or creative in the “about me” aspect of the portfolio could cause more harm than good. The focus should be on my documents, not my hobbies or personality.
Revision has always been a tough thing for me to do. I become attached to my work and the way in which it is put together. Needless to say I don’t like change. I have revised many portfolios for specigfic classes and, though I may not have liked the changes I was making I did them because they were necesarry. This is the most important step that our work will go through. It is important that it is professional in apperance as well as content. For example, when I was first applying for an internship most buisnesses wanted samples of my work. What I didn’t realize at the time was that they didnt want examples of things I have written for college classes. They wanted documents that had been cleanly revised and prepared to be published.
While college papers may be the only thing I have to offer them looking back I realize I could have prepared them better. I could have put each through a round of revision. The documents I had sent could have looked more professional. Though it is a step I hate to go through revision is important for creating professional documents.
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