Skip to ContentGo to accessibility page
Writing Guide with Handbook

3.9 Portfolio: A Literacy Artifact

Writing Guide with Handbook3.9 Portfolio: A Literacy Artifact

3.9 Portfolio: A Literacy Artifact

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

  • Reflect on the development of composing processes.
  • Consider how those processes affect your work.

Your instructor may require a portfolio as a part of the composition course curriculum. A portfolio is a collection of your work, gathered in a single place for the purpose of assessing your growth and achievement as a writer. A portfolio allows you not only to include writing artifacts but also to reflect on the process of composing those artifacts. In this section, you will have an opportunity to compose a reflection on the process of writing your literacy narrative.

Reflection Prompt

One of the most valuable writing exercises is to reflect on work you have completed or experiences you have had. Reflection supports learning by allowing writers to articulate the impact that experiences have had on various aspects of their lives. In responding to the ideas in this section, take some time to reflect on your experiences, as well as the experiences of others, with literacy and learning. Using the guidelines your instructor provides, compose a reflection that responds to the following questions:

  • How has your understanding of literacies been affected by the opportunity to reflect on your engagement with literacy practices, the practices of those in your composition course community, or the practices of people beyond your immediate community?
  • How will this experience and reflection affect your future engagement with various literacies?

Literacy Narrative Revision

Submitting the best version of your work is an important part of preparing a portfolio. After you have received a graded essay with comments from your instructor, use those comments as a resource to revise the essay for a final time. You will want to use this revised essay for your portfolio submission.

Citation/Attribution
Reuse and redistribution of this content in digital or print format:
  • This book may not be used in the training of large language models or otherwise be ingested into large language models or generative AI offerings without OpenStax's prior written permission.
  • This book uses the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License, which means that you can reuse and modify the material only for noncommercial purposes, must attribute OpenStax, and must distribute any derivative works under the same license.
  • Any commercial printing of this textbook, including using a local or custom printer, must be approved by OpenStax, and proper citation provided.
  • OpenStax-copyrighted images, activities, assessments, and similar components of this book are subject to the same licensing – CC-BY-NC-SA. They can be used for noncommercial purposes with attribution. Commercial use requires permission.
  • Permission requests: Anyone who intends to incorporate this content (including text, images, and other components) into large language models, use it in AI offerings, use it commercially (including in print), and/or has questions about another use case is welcome to complete our reuse request form.
Attribution information
  • If you are redistributing all or part of this book in a noncommercial print format, then you must include on every physical page the following attribution:

    Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/writing-guide/pages/1-unit-introduction

  • If you are redistributing all or part of this book in a noncommercial digital format, then for every page that includes OpenStax content, you must license the derivative work under the same CC-BY-NC-SA license as the original, and include on every digital page view the following attribution:

    Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/writing-guide/pages/1-unit-introduction

Citation information

The information below includes the information needed to generate citations in most major styles (APA, MLA, etc.); you must reformat and organize the information as needed to fit the requirements of the style. Use the information below to generate a citation. We recommend using a citation tool such as this one.

© Apr 23, 2026 OpenStax. Textbook content produced by OpenStax is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License. The OpenStax name, OpenStax logo, OpenStax book covers, OpenStax CNX name, and OpenStax CNX logo, and Rice University name, and Rice University logo trademarks, or wordmarks are not subject to the Creative Commons license and may not be reproduced without the prior and express written consent of Rice University.