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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.When I was thinking about my online portfolio for this class, I thought that my main design decisions would be what kind of fonts, color schemes, and images to use. Until reading Chapter 3 of PTPC, I had yet to consider that I could choose an overall theme that in a way represents me. Of all the themes mentioned, I am leaning towards Professional Personality. I would like to use this theme in a way that primarily represents what I would like to incorporate into my career. I also liked the conceptual theme example used in the book. I think that a conceptual theme centered on the idea of growth could be used to highlight my growth as a professional writer and communicate that I would like to further develop my skills. I’m considering this as my second option.
As far as the genres represented in my portfolio, there will be edited texts (an excerpt from the book Po-EX in different stages) which emphasize copy-editing and typesetting. This fits under the genre of Technical Writing and Documentation. However, I will also include the front cover of the book as well as diagrams that I created within the text. These fit under the Graphics genre. Since I will be representing both, I’d like to have the distinction exist in my portfolio so that both skills are recognized. I have not decided yet how I will make this distinction.
As students, we have a tendency to think about our work as “for this class” or “for that class.” Chapter 2 in PTPC, “Creating a Portfolio Identity” emphasizes the importance of shifting our mindset, especially when developing a portfolio. This chapter suggests that one must first analyze their own personality and what they would like to represent about themselves. In two sentences: discuss aspects of your personality while making connections between these traits and your career goals.
This chapter also suggests that one analyzes the rhetorical situation of his/her portfolio. Since we are past the midway point this semester and have to be thinking about our portfolios anyway, let’s each attempt this analysis.
Purpose: : What skill set would you like to put the most emphasis on? (Table 2.1 pg. 29) What materials will you use to represent this skill set? What exactly will they show about you?
Audience – How will you market your skills to attain a specific job? What type of job are you looking for? How will your preferred career fit your personality?
How can you represent the skills not only through the work represented in your portfolio but through the development of the porfolio itself? Designing an online porfolio will definitely speak to your graphic/technological skills whether you want it to or not. Start thinking about the design. And, as mentioned by one of the other discussion leaders, it may help to look at some porfolio-making sites. Hopefully, the spouting off of class favorites will give you a few options.
Self-awareness should be valued inside and outside of the work place. But, I definitely agree that it is unhealthy to be critiquing and reflecting upon yourself one-hundred percent of the time. The articles by Zimmerman and Varhol insist self-review before meeting with a supervisor for a formal performance review. To me, that is a very appropriate time to reflect, as I would absolutely hate to be unprepared for a meeting when the topic is my work.
The Center for Literary Computing is a pretty small operation, and I highly doubt that my mid-semester review will require Dr. Baldwin to ask me many questions. However,knowing the different forms that performance reviews could take on may benefit me as I enter the workplace as a graduate.
One of the articles suggested making a list of your accomplishments before the review. This may help make the argument that you’re doing well. I see this as a very helpful suggestion because I know that I rarely talk myself up or mention my strengths. There is a difference between modesty and self-representation, and I imagine that I will need to be more forthcoming about my accomplishments at work when I actually have to partake in a formal performance review.
Kendra Potts’s “My Entry-Level Life” also struck a chord with me. All of us in this class are reaching the end of our undergraduate careers, so it makes sense that this reading assignment would stand out. I definitely believe that my internship is providing me with valuable experience. However, when I find an entry-level job after graduation, I will still start at a lower level in the organization and work my way up–this way of thinking is very similar to the American dream. Maybe I’m still naïve, or maybe there’s some truth in it.
Regarding deadlines, I tend to agree with Kendra Potts. Many of the CLC (Center for Literary Computing) projects I’m working on require correspondence with people inside and outside of the University similar to how Kendra’s projects rely on tasks completed by other departments. For example, I am editing essays translated from Portuguese, but I communicate with one of the authors in Portugal to receive source information. This delays my progress a bit, but it is a necessary part of my editorial work. From this experience, I’m learning that deadlines are more or less goals. They may not always be reachable, but they’re what you should aim for. Thinking of deadlines this way may help ease the pressure if you’re feeling overwhelmed.
In “Learning to Work with Emotions During an Internship” I was able to relate to some of Sara’s experiences in the work place. Specifically, I was able to relate to the way Sara handled the situation when she was asked to do more work. She said that she would get to it as soon as she could. So far in my internship, I have learned the importance of time management. When you’re approaching a deadline, that project may sometimes have to take precedence over other projects you are involved in.
