Senior Survey and Senior Portfolio Requirements rev 04
(English Department Outcomes Assessment)
Colorado State University has mandated that every department gather evidence to assess how well its majors have met departmental goals. The English Department has identified the following three overall goals that should be met by our majors:
Competency in Critical Reading and Interpretive Techniques Students should demonstrate the ability to read critically and closely; to formulate, develop, and support interpretive positions with appropriate evidence; to use the technical and conceptual vocabulary of the field knowledgeably; to use appropriate methodologies, critical approaches, and theoretical perspectives; and to be creative and original.
Effectiveness of Written Expression
Students should demonstrate
the ability to write a focussed, organized, and well-supported essay; and
to write in a variety of forms and genres for a range of audiences on both
literary and non-literary topics.
Historical Consciousness
Students should demonstrate
familiarity with the main writers, texts, genres, periods, and movements
in the literary history of the British Isles and the United States, including
the development of literary and cultural history; and/or familiarity with
the history and development of the English language; and/or familiarity with
literacy issues in their historical contexts.
The English Department asks for your cooperation in doing the following two assessments:
I. Senior Survey
The department asks that you complete
a short survey that may be done on any computer with Internet access. To
fill out the survey, go to http://english.colostate.edu/senior_survey/. During
the second week of your graduating semester: complete the survey
and submit your portfolio (see details below) to the English Department office
(359 Eddy) when you go there to sign your Contract for Graduation. The
department will check that your survey has been completed. Your
Contract for Graduation will not be sent to the CSU Degree Office until you
have completed this survey and submitted the portfolio.
II. Senior Portfolio
Each graduating English major is
required to submit to the Department a portfolio containing at least
three papers representing
the student's best written work from a number of different classes. The papers
should be copies of those turned in to a CSU English professor for a grade
in upper-level E and/or CO courses. Papers must be the originals
or photocopies of the originals and should include the student's name, the
class, the professor to whom the paper was submitted, and the professor's
original grade and comments. The student should label each paper indicating
which type of paper it is intended to represent (see below for the five types).
These portfolios cannot be returned to the student. The portfolio must
be submitted to the English Department office at the same time that the student
submits his/her signed contract for graduation during the
second week in the graduating semester. Your Contract for Graduation
will not be sent to the CSU Degree Office until you have submitted the survey
and the portfolio.
These portfolios will be evaluated by a committee consisting of members of the English faculty for the sole purpose of collecting statistical information regarding the accomplishments of our majors. The portfolios will not be used to evaluate individual students.
The portfolio should consist of at least three papers from at least three of the five categories described below. The papers should be preceded by a short one-to-two page reflection on your portfolio papers, which should include the following:
- List your submitted papers and briefly explain why you chose each.
- Briefly describe what the portfolio shows about you as an effective writer and a critical reader and thinker.
- Briefly indicate what the essays taken as a group show about your future direction(s), personally, intellectually, or professionally.
- Include any other comments about the essays that you would like to add.
The five categories are as follows (the listed courses that the papers might come from are exemplative, not all-inclusive):
1. A paper in which the student writes non-fiction prose with a disciplinary focus for a general audience (such as papers written in COCC 300/301, CO 401, E 311C, 412C).
2. A paper in which the student demonstrates skill at close reading or critical analysis of a text (such as papers written in many upper-level English or composition courses).
3. A paper in which the student uses an appropriate methodology, a critical approach, or a theoretical perspective (such as papers written in E 341, the capstone, and other upper-level English courses).
4. A paper in which the student
- examines a period, movement, or figure in the literary history of the British Isles or the United States (for example, from E 371/2, E 424, E 426, E 427, E 443, E 475, or capstone courses), or
- examines some aspect of the history and/or development of the English language (for example, from E320, E322, E323, E326), or
- examines some aspect of literacy issues in their historical contexts (for example, from E401, E402, E406, ED463).
5. A paper from the student's concentration
- Creative Writing: a set of poems, a short story, or a creative non-fiction essay (for example, from E311A, B, C; E412A, B, C)
- English Education: a paper on the pedagogy of writing and/or reading and/or literature and/or language (for example, from E322, E323, E324, E401, E402, E405, CO301D)
- Language: a paper on language matters (for example, from E320, E322, E323, E324, E326)
- Literature: a paper on a literary topic
- Writing: a paper on literacy issues or writing (for example from E401, E402, E406, E463)
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