This is directly from the materials provided to teachers through Eastern Promise
The WR 121 portfolio requires students incorporate and cite five credible sources, one of which is a scholarly journal article. Citations generated electronically should be checked for accuracy. Citations must enable the reader to locate the information cited, including page numbers of paginated courses and exact URL, DOI number, and database name, as required by the format used. Students should not treat abstracts as sources or rely on online sources requiring payment. Commercial websites are often not credible, but credibility may depend on the student’s project. Generalizations from pro-con sources unsupported by evidence are not credible. Students should also avoid expressing such as “Research says” or “many argue” without indicating which research or which experts. Students should identify information gathered through personal experience or primary research as such so that it is not viewed as plagiarized.
College culture is different from high-school culture because students have not grown up together, and the teachers and environment are new. This lack of familiarity alone encourages higher expectations. In addition, WR 121 acts as a gateway to college-level thinking, reading, and writing, so teachers encourage inquiry, dialogue, multiple perspectives, readings, and paper topics that provide students with experience that will support their learning in college. Students should be encouraged to move up Bloom’s taxonomy toward analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and creation of new knowledge. They should be encouraged to address meaningful research topics rooted in scholarly discourse communities rather than general topics.
Portfolio: To earn credit for WR 121, students will compile an electronic portfolio. The portfolio will include:
- Research paper final draft: 5- to 8-pages, .doc or .rtf, not .pdf, and incorporating and citing a minimum of five credible sources, one of which is a scholarly journal article
- Research paper rough draft: with teacher annotations
- Reflective essay: thesis-driven and effectively structured, addresses learning in WR 121, and analyzes specific details from papers written as part of WR 121
- Timed writing: selected from several samples administered in class during the term, includes prompt in response to brief reading, thesis-driven with paragraphs, typed or handwritten
