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Resources for Professional Writing Portfolio

In our ongoing series on portfolio resources, this week, we will be talking about how to create a portfolio that best showcases work from within the Professional and Digital Writing concentration. While there are many different ways to create a portfolio, we hope these resources can help get you started and thinking about what your portfolio might look like.

Looking for resources creating a teaching portfolio? Then check out this blog post!

Purpose 

“Similar to a teaching portfolio and like other job-related materials, a professional portfolio builds ethos, or credibility. Creating a professional portfolio gives you an opportunity to reflect on your path through the MA in WRD and to make meaningful connections between your coursework and your professional goals. A persuasive professional portfolio presents appealing materials that enhance the appeal of the job candidate. Rather than telling prospective employers that you are a “good writer” or “good designer,” show them a well-written and well-designed project in content strategy that helped a community partner achieve its goals. A professional portfolio may also demonstrate technological ability and creativity. In this way, you become more engaged in promoting your accomplishments, knowledge, skills, and abilities.”

Jason Kalin, Director of MA in WRD

Getting Started

Because there are so many different directions a professional portfolio can go, it might help by starting to think about what kinds of jobs you might be applying for and what you want to convey about your professional and personal identity. Thinking about that identity before choosing what will go in it can make that selection and curation process that much easier. 

Here are some brainstorming questions to consider:

  • Are there any common themes across the classes that I’ve taken that could be a meaningful thread to weave in my portfolio? 
  • Who is my audience for this portfolio? What are their values, and what kind of work do they want to see? 
  • How do I want to be perceived through my portfolio?
    • Consider writing down some adjectives that might help guide both artifact selection and the design process. 

MA in WRD Director Jason Kalin also adds, “In addition to being visually appealing, a professional portfolio should collect materials that demonstrate your specific skills, abilities, and accomplishments. The chosen artifacts should be concrete and specific and should emphasize the qualifications for a particular career or professional field. Most important, the portfolio should not only show what or how much you have done, but also why what you have done matters.”

Potential Artifacts to Consider 

So what might go in your final teaching portfolio? Below is a list of some deliverables from classes that you might consider including in your professional portfolio.

  • Final Service Learning Project (WRD 521 – Technical Writing) 
  • Edited Resume and Cover Letters (WRD 523 – Editing)
  • Redesign of Existing Document & Proposal Memo (WRD 524 – Document Design)
  • Grant Proposal & LOIs (WRD 526 – Grant and Proposal Writing)
  • Content Critique or Content Strategy Report (WRD 532 – Content Strategy)
  • Multimodal Projects and Rhetorical Rationale (WRD 533 – Writing Across Media) 
  • Internship Deliverables (WRD 590 – Internship in Professional and Digital Writing)
  • Blog Posts (WRD GA or UCWbL)
  • Research Projects, Publications, Conference Presentations 
  • Resume / CV 

While this list mainly addresses courses from within the Professional and Digital Writing concentration, many other artifacts from Rhetoric and Discourse or Teaching courses could be used in a less educationally-oriented portfolio with some attention to framing and presentation.

Portfolio Examples 

Anthony Melville’s Portfolio

Anthony Melville graduated from DePaul’s master’s program in June of 2018, and created this professional portfolio to showcase his best work to potential employers. Not only does this portfolio include embedded samples of his report writing and document redesigns, but his Content Strategy tab walks through his process of working with a client, showing his abilities in user testing, facilitation, and working with a team.

Chelsea Moats’ Portfolio

Chelsea Moats is a technical writer. Her portfolio, while not the most visually stunning or easy to navigate has one super cool feature that is worth sharing. On her Portfolio tab, her projects are all tagged and sortable. Try clicking on the small text “Rhetoric” or “Documentation” and see how the different project tiles move around!

Rebecca Hobson’s Portfolio

Rebecca Hobson is a freelance journalist, copywriter and maker based in Bristol with a clean, organized, and compelling portfolio that shows the various kinds of work she does. Her home page bypasses some of the clunky and sometimes tacky “get to know me” business, and forces readers to dive into her site. Using strong visuals and a straightforward menu, the portfolio comes off as deceptively simple, but proves to be chock-full of content. 

General Resources

Academic Resources