Portfolio (A Sample Introduction For You)

A portfolio mainly includes a cover page, a table of contents, an introduction, samples of your work, and anything else you feel would give a person a picture of who you are. Since it's always beneficial to at least obtain an image of what to write, I included a sample of a portfolio introduction I had written.

Note: Please refer to the links after each paragraph for the piece described.

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When you look at yourself in the mirror, you might see a person with imagination, a dreamer of speed and vividness, with a personal touch for adventure. Or you might see a person with diligence, a believer of rules and conformity, with a taste for realism. Though we all see ourselves differently, those parts of us emerge when we craft stories and analysis, and study the world around us through unique lenses. During this process, we not only learn from others through their experiences and their concealed past of living, but also find the key in discovering ourselves and the truth to our path. In this school year, I have grasped new ideas through reading and writing alone, and have seen passion worth exploring and pursuing beyond the limits of a classroom.

Stories are forms of self-expression, and therefore, the best way to write beyond the norm. I have found a particular interest in writing stories since I could openly and creatively express myself by getting the reader to understand me better. In “The Science Teacher,” I aim to build a mysterious and eerie mood, and an image of a dangerous teacher who indirectly rids people if they trouble him. Since stories are usually expanded to more than a hundred pages, this piece challenges me to shorten the plot—and the suspense that leads to it—to just seven. Writing is a two way street in which both the writer and the reader must contribute to the story with the writer starting it, and the reader concluding it. To a writer, because a story has no ending, it is up to a reader’s imagination and ability to take over. With “Mr. Johnston was gone.” as the last line of the story, I try to build suspense by leaving the scenario open for the reader to wonder and examine.

http://renacheneveryday.blogspot.com/2014/05/short-story-science-teacher.html

In “Beautifully Haunting,” however, I intend to craft a more humorous and lighthearted story of a harmless ghost who haunts a big old apartment building that has previously been a French film studio. Since ghosts are usually associated with unpleasant appearances and behaviors, I try to make Sydney White seem likeable, relatable, and most significantly, human. By portraying White as both nostalgic and friendly (“Each time when she enters my room, she would first offer me a coy smile before drifting into the closet.”), I give the message that ghosts, like humans, exhibit feelings as well, and thus, tearing down the common misconception that all ghosts are cruel, and heartless, only desiring a good scare. What I found most challenging is time-jumping within the frame of the story, traveling from a toddler to a teenager and then to an adult. By carefully inserting “over the years” and “to this day,” I aim to time-jump, and primarily, let the reader know I am time-jumping, without doling out the age. And finally, by generating many plots for these stories, I came to realize that all stories hold something in common: versatility, as anything or any moment, or even anyone, could make a story materialize. You’re feeling happy? Write a story. Spilled water on your shirt? Write a story!

http://renacheneveryday.blogspot.com/2014/05/short-story-beautifully-haunting.html

Although a memoir is another form of self-expression, it is different when you compare it to a story as a memoir goes beyond a personal narrative and is an account of a real person’s life. Since everyone who is interesting has a past, and a story worth telling, I plan to center the memoir on a more rebellious side of myself. Using the literary device anaphora, I want to stress the importance of my change from someone who is insensitive and stubborn, to someone who finally realizes and appreciates what she has: the 7 bitter “do not wear,” and the nostalgic “I still wanted to go back… I still wanted to be…” The difficult part in writing the memoir isn’t the events I could say, or the devices I could use, but rather, the actual telling of the story to the reader. This is personal, and fairly emotional, and it is hard to transform these troublesome memories into fine art. But, since I never believe in endings, just like the idea that there are no goodbyes, I took a turn for optimism, making “BEGIN” the last word of the account, because who knows what adventures could happen next; it’s a mystery for the reader to solve.

http://renacheneveryday.blogspot.com/2014/05/memoir-feeling-seventeen.html

On the critical side, in David Wallace’s “Ticket to the Fair,” I mainly seek to portray how descriptive and exact Wallace’s writing is. Like a true journalist and author, Wallace timestamps each moment of the day, letting the reader identify exactly when and what is happening, and uses figurative language and overstatements so shrewdly that the piece would appear incomplete and rigid without them. What I also center the essay on is Wallace’s honesty and how he “leaves the readers sensing as if they can see, smell, taste, touch, and hear everything he [Wallace] does.” But the problem and hardest part in analyzing this piece is the question if everything Wallace said is an accurate portrait of the real point. Although it’s his first trip to the fair, Wallace derides almost everything—even horses: “The horses’ faces are long and somehow suggestive of coffins.” Thus, it’s questionable whether Wallace is possibly over-exaggerating what he has seen. Is the fair really as bad as he claims it to be?

http://renacheneveryday.blogspot.com/2014/05/annotation-of-wallace-david-ticket-to.html

Lastly, in Robert Frost’s “After Apple Picking,” I aim to capture the many meanings of apple picking. However, since every line of a poem could present multiple allusions, I find it challenging to locate the message Frost wants to portray. Analyzing the poem made me realize that picking apples may provide either an extended metaphor of seasonal transformations, and thus, death, or the feeling of traveling amid a waking and dream-like state. I notice that Frost’s style of poetry, though straightforward and clear, is not written colloquially. That is, Frost’s skill to convey such a depth of sensitivity in his poem through the medium of conversational speech divulges a big understanding of the human language in subjects of sensation, conflict, and struggle that would be inconceivable in any other form.

http://renacheneveryday.blogspot.com/2014/05/robert-frosts-after-apple-picking.html

When I look into the mirror, I don’t just see a student with bursting ideas, but also a holder of creativity and passion, with determination to improve her reading and writing skills. These creative and critical assignments have helped me make those improvements and to, ultimately, take the next step on the ladder of literature. Creating stories allows me to artistically express myself. And analyzing novels and poems help me learn to think critically and sensibly. I never thought I would explore outside the box, beyond the limits of literature, and see an unknown version of me—and take an ordinary passage and craft it into artwork.

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A table of contents should look something like this:

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1
1. Introduction…………………………..….………………………………………………..2

Chapter 2: Creative Work
2. The Science Teacher…...……………………………………………………………….....4
3. Beautifully Haunting…...………………………………………….…………………….....11
4. Feeling Seventeen…..……………………………………………………………………..13

Chapter 3: Critical Work
5. David Wallace’s “Ticket to the Fair”…………………………………………….………....16
6. Robert Frost’s “After Apple Picking”…………………………………………………........19