Overview. Each semester when you take a BA/MD seminar or participate in the summer practicum, the BA/MD Academic Advisor will collect a portfolio containing a twelve- to fifteen-page sample of your best written work from the course, and, if necessary, from one or more of your other courses for which you submitted written work during the semester.
The portfolio provides an ongoing record of your progress in writing on a variety of topics and in a variety of genres. The Curriculum Committee will use the portfolio to evaluate the longitudinal effectiveness of the writing components in the HMHV curriculum, and your Physician Mentor will use the portfolio to encourage you to think reflectively about your accomplishments during the semester and to discuss your personal progress.
What is the portfolio? A portfolio is a twelve- to fifteen-page collection of your work representing what you believe to be your best writing of the semester. The portfolio must include at least one representative sample of your writing for the HMHV program—short essays, term papers, research papers, personal essays, memoirs, examination essays, lab reports, and/or creative writing. The semester in which you take the HMHV: 201 Seminar: Literature, Fine Arts & Medicine, you should submit your personal essay and preface, when required, or your longer paper, when required, for the Portfolio. In other semesters, the writing sample may be in the form of one longer paper, or a combination of three or four papers of no fewer than 750 words each. At least one writing sample should come from the seminar or practicum.
Each portfolio must include a three- to five-page (750- to 1250-word) preface or cover letter reflecting on the work you have done and the academic and personal gains you have made during the semester. The preface or cover letter should discuss briefly what you were trying to achieve in the written works assembled in the preface, should consider how well you think you accomplished your learning objectives for the semester, and reflect upon how you have developed as a writer and student so far. (See the Guidelines for Composition and Evaluation for more details.) Thus, the preface or cover letter should present a synopsis or profile of your growth as a student in general, as well as discuss your writing in particular.
Papers in the portfolio should be at least three double-spaced pages long (750 words), and the portfolio should contain a total of twelve to fifteen pages of your writing. You may revise the portfolio papers before submitting them, though you need not do so (see “Preparing the Portfolio” below).
Preparing the portfolio. Submit the portfolio both in hard copy and electronically (via e-mail as a pdf file) at the end of the semester to the BA/MD Academic Advisor. Follow these guidelines for submitting papers:
Submitting the portfolio. Turn in a hard copy of the portfolio in a manila envelope addressed to the BA/MD Academic Advisor and e-mail to the advisor as a pdf or rtf attachment (Pdf files ensure that your work cannot be modified.) Please copy your Physician Mentor, so that he or she will be able to read your portfolio and discuss it with you. Assemble the preface and writing sample(s) in one electronic file with your name and “portfolio” in the subject line. Be sure that both the hard copy and electronic copy of the portfolio meet the criteria indicated in “Preparing the portfolio” (above).
The Preface/Cover Letter. As an example of reflective writing in which you discuss your learning experience in general and your writing in particular, the preface or cover letter is an essential component of the portfolio. The preface or cover letter gives you the opportunity to assess your own work in terms of meeting the objectives you set out to achieve for the writing assignment, your sense of progress or improvement from draft to final version, and your growth as a writer. In addition, and importantly, the preface or cover letter allows you to think about your overall learning objectives for the semester and to consider how well you have grown as a student and person. The cover letter answers such questions as: What did I learn about myself as a student, person, and writer this semester? What were my learning objectives and to what degree did I achieve them? What did I do well in the papers assembled for the preface? How did my writing improve and how did my writing help me to improve as a student, if it did? The cover letter should be at least 750 words (three double-spaced pages).
Each reflective preface or cover letter should address the following outcomes or points:
The preface also should address at least three of the following in relation to the writing you have assembled for your portfolio:
What are the goals of the BA/MD program for the development of my writing skills? Because writing involves a variety of skills and competencies, from basic grammar to critical and analytical thinking, improvement in writing is a crucial component of the BA/MD program’s curricular goals. Over the undergraduate portion of the program, BA/MD students should demonstrate increasing proficiency in the following:
What should I concentrate on when revising my essays for inclusion in the portfolio? The following guidelines apply primarily to academic writing, but as a general rule of thumb are characteristics found in all good writing. When you revise and proofread your essays keep in mind these points:
Rev. January 26th, 2008
