As a product, a portfolio is a collection of student work that exhibits the writer's efforts and achievements. As a process, portfolio writing permits both writers and readers to reflect on the writer's body of work. As a major project, it can emerge from the writing students do as a regular part of their course work has the potential to move with the student across a program or major affords students opportunities to reflect on their writing as a regular part of their course work permits the instructor to assess students' cumulative work holistically Types Portfolios can be formative or summative, or a combination of the two. Formative portfolios are works in progress and, therefore, should be responded to as such.
Summative portfolios are summaries or products.
They allow students to demonstrate their knowledge in a cumulative fashion. They might then add an introductory essay reflecting on their cumulative learning experience, organize the documents in a folder with an appropriate coversheet and table of contents, and submit the portfolio as the product of their semester's work. Although there are several types of formal writing, this document will focus on term projects. If the project is positioned as the culminating or pivotal course activity, other tasks can be devised in relation or response to it. Like all other assignments, term projects need to be tied to course goals.