406 Portfolio Guidelines

Department of Earth Science |Northeastern Illinois University

AQUEOUS GEOCHEMISTRY
ESCI 406
Spring, 2005

Portfolio Guidelines Dr. Sanders

Your portfolio should include the homework assignments relating to the portfolio that you did this semester. They should be corrected and revised according to the comments that I made on them when you handed them in the first time. They also should be put into a neat, professional-looking, easy-to-use format.

FORMAT

* The portfolio should be professionally presented, in a permanent (or semi-permanent) binder. Possibilities include a three-ring binder, plastic spiral-type binding, copy-shop binding, and similar methods.

* The portfolio should include the results of the portfolio-related homework assignments from this semester.

* Dividers should appear between the various entries. These could be three-ring divider pages, color pages, or some other divider that makes it easy to find the entry that you are looking for.

* The following components should be included:

    - Title Page: Include a title, your name, and the date
    - Table of Contents (no need to number the pages, but do number the entries)
    - An entry for each one of the portfolio-related homework projects that we worked on. Each one needs a title!
    - Appendices (each one must have a title page): The analysis sets should be included here.
    - References

* Within each entry should be included a title, introduction that includes a statement of what the objective is and a discussion of any relevant terms/concepts, a description of the method(s) used, the results, and a discussion of the results. Be sure to discuss the results! It's not enough to simply present a list of numbers--you must also interpret them in a geologic context.

* The text of the portfolio should be typed, double-spaced, and free of grammatical, spelling, and typographical errors.

* Calculations/formulas may be neatly hand-printed.

* In many cases, it is convenient to present a sample calculation, and then simply to summarize the rest of the calculations and results in a table. You don't need to present each and every calculation of each and every sample, as long as I can follow your methods by using the example. In fact, the sample calculation and tabulated summary is preferred.

* The source of any information that you use that is not from your own brain must be cited! Use the author, date format. The list of references must include all sources that were cited.

EVALUATION

The portfolio of analyses constitutes 20% of your grade. I will evaluate it based on several aspects. If your portfolio is not typed, double-spaced (calculations and formulas may be neatly printed), I will not read it at all and the score will be zero. Otherwise, evaluation will be based on the following:

    * The portfolio contains all of the required components (listed above) (3 points)
    * The analyses are complete, accurate, well-reasoned, and revised according to the comments that you received on the first drafts. Each entry includes title, objective, methods, results, and discussion. (15 points)
    * The portfolio is professional-looking, neat, and easy to use, according to the format guidelines given above. (2 points)

Department of Earth Science | Northeastern Illinois University