Dr.

Carter English 677, Spring 2010

Research Portfolio

Portfolio: "A collection of material artifacts that demonstrates a learning process and includes a reflective analysis.
A portfolio can be used to evaluate progress in a fieldstudy and can be cited as source material." (FieldWork, 503)

Description: Your Research Portfolio “house[s] both the process and the product of [your] fieldwork.” Think of it as
a "behind-the-scenes" account of the field research process that led to the write up of your final project. “Naturally,
the research portfolio will include your final ethnographic essay, but your selection will also show artifacts from the
thinking process that led to this project (FieldWorking, 56-57). “To keep track of your project,” Sustein and Chiseri-
Strater suggest, “you’ll move back and forth among four key activities: collecting, selecting, reflecting, and
projecting” (57).

Portfolio contents: For the Research Portfolio you submit to your instructor, you should select “artifacts from the
thinking process that led to this project. You’ll want to represent selections from the reading, writing, and materials
you’ve relied on along the way: writing exercises, fieldnotes, interview questions, charts, methods of analysis, and
whatever helped you think your way through the final written project” (FieldWorking, 57). The following table
includes the items you are required to include in your Research Portfolio, which will be can presented entirely online
through Wordpress or another free site for sharing your fieldwork and the resulting project. If you’d rather, you can
submit a physical portfolio. Just let me know which option you select.

A different configuration is certainly possible. Just visit with me about the alternative you envision.

placement description other relevant

details

Home (Tab 1) Abstract of research project. What is your key research question? How Abstract should be
did your research project work to address this question? What are your less than 250 words
findings? total

Annotated Annotated Bibliography: Each item listed should include a complete See syllabus for
Bibliography citation, followed by a short description of the item itself and how it details.
(Tab 2) contributes to your overall project. Ideally, you should also provide a
link to the item itself. Your list should include at least 25 items,
including both primary and secondary sources.

Final Project Post your Final Project here, deeply revised and ready for eyes beyond See syllabus for
(Tab 3) those of your classmates and instructor. details.

Translation If you created a poster for this assignment and it isn’t digital, go ahead See syllabus for
Project (Tab 4) and post a photograph. Otherwise, embed video, paste text or images, or details.
somehow get your complete translation project into this section for ease
of viewing.

Final A memo to accompany your final project that describes your research See syllabus for
Reflections and writing experiences and the reasons behind the choices you made in details.
(Tab 5) your final project.

Research Tools For this section, you should include your complete codebook, digital codebook
(page 6) copies of signed consent forms (remove contact information for consent forms
privacy), interview script, survey questions, and other relevant research interview script
tools. survey questions
Dr. Carter English 677, Spring 2010

placement description other relevant

details

Reading Include all of your Reading Responses here. By the end of the term, you You’ve been
Responses should have 10 RRs, plus your weekly responses to classmates. writing this all
(Tab 7) term. Should be
good to go here!

Artifacts and Scan or photograph all artifacts you collected in the process of your Include at least
Fieldnotes (Tab field research. Remember that an artifact is “a material object that THREE
8) belongs to and represents a culture” (FW, 499). Artifacts collected in Conceptual Memos
your research portfolio might include photographs, brochures, and ONE
pamphlets, letters written from one member of the community to Interpretive Memo
another, menus, time sheets, employee reports, church bulletins,
newsletters, sketches, songs, advertisements, and so on. Also included
here are fieldnotes taken in your own hand (especially double-entry
fieldnotes), transcriptions from interviews, recordings from interviews,
maps you created as visual representation of the physical space, and any
other item collected during the research process.

Evaluation

In evaluating your final portfolio, I will be looking for all of the above elements. The following questions will guide
my evaluation:

‣ Does your Research Portfolio contain all of the required artifacts (see above)? Remember, I am looking
for multiple sets of fieldnotes expanded and reflected upon multiple times and numerous artifacts
representing a rigorous research process including loads of reflection and lots of time spent collecting,
selecting, coding, and interpreting these data in terms of your final research project. You should also
include at least three Conceptual Memos and one Interpretive Memo.

‣ Does the Research Portfolio offer evidence of a meticulously researched project filled with obvious
reflection?

‣ Is the Research Portfolio organized in such a way that a visitor completely unfamiliar with the project can
easily navigate it and learn about the research question, context, methods, findings, and implications (see
syllabus for more).

Be certain your Research Portfolio meets these criteria.

A draft of your research portfolio is due at noon Monday, May 3 (for peer review).

Final Research Portfolio is due during finals week, before your presentation.
Dr. Carter English 677, Spring 2010

Free Sites for Storing Text, Images, and Audio

Wordpress allows you to upload images, audio, and video to your blog, but space is limited. One way around this
limit it to store your media elsewhere and embed the media player in your blog. Lots of free sites are available for
this. Here are just a few.

Store MS Word files online at http://www.scribd.com/

1. Create an account (free!)

2. Click “upload”
3. Select relevant file (browse) and upload
4. When uploaded, click link to uploaded file and find “share and embed” tab in upper, right-hand corner.
5. Click “share and embed,” then click “advanced” under the heading “embed”
6. On left-hand side, find “Wordpress.com embed code” and copy that code
7. Go to your Wordpress blog at the page where you want this file, click “edit” and the “html” tab.
8. Paste code into blog, then “update page.
9. New file should be there now!

Store PowerPoint and other slideshow presentations online at http://www.slideshare.net/

1. Create an account (free!)

2. Click “upload”
3. Select relevant file (browse) and upload
4. When uploaded, click link to uploaded file nad find “post to Wordpress” at bottom of file displayed
5. Copy code in second field (begins “[slideshare id=”)
6. Go to your Wordpress blog at the page where you want this file, click edit and then the “html” tab
7. Paste code into blog, then “update page”
8. New file should appear, embedded and playable in your blog right where you want it

Store video at http://www.vimeo.com

1. Create a basic account (free!)

2. Click “upload”
3. Same as above

YouTube is another option for video. Free and easy to use (and embed!)

Store images at http://www.flickr.com or photobucket.com

Same steps as above.