Portfolio: assignments

What goes into the portfolio

This is the list of writing exercises for your portfolio on your website. New exercises will be added to the top.

Spend the Spring break catching up, rewriting and polishing to perfection.

Portfolio part 2
Portfolio part 1:
Various exercises to build towards the chapter:
  1. 1-2 paragraph with basic ideas and reasons why you are interested. Due: Friday March 15
    • Dig a bit deeper than “dragons are cool” (they are)
    • What in the course so far has guided you to this topic?
    • What in the list of readings has sparked your curiosity?
  2. List of sources (articles, books, sites) you have identified as potentially useful so far Due: Tuesday March 19, by start of class
    • Includes “I haven’t looked through this yet but I think it might be useful”, and “based on the title,…”, and “I saw a reference to this in another text.”
    • E-mail to me or hand in print-out
  3. A description of your chapter/section’s contents. Due Tuesday March 26, by start of class
    • Topic (now firmly settled)
    • Main ideas you want to highlight
    • What you hope the reader will learn from the chapter
    • Post on your website, e-mail to me, or submit on paper.
  4. “Annotated bibliography”: List of sources you have read and assessed useful for further use. Due April 2, by start of class in electronic form or printed out.
    • Use Chicago Notes and Bibliography style- use the Bibliography formatting for this exercise.
    • Strive for at least three sources (chapters, articles, or full-length books). If you cannot find three reputable sources, provide an overview of your search process: where did you search, which terms etc. Remember for Chinese terms there may be an alternative transcription. This will help me to guide you towards more/other materials.
    • Each annotation should include:
      • A brief (3 sentence) summary of the contents of each.
      • A brief explanation of how you intend to use this information.
      • Shortcomings you noticed in the source (doesn’t answer a particular question, reasons why you think it is not sufficiently scholarly to use, etc.)
    • Here are some concrete examples from the OWL at Purdue.
  5. An outline of your chapter/section Due April 9, by start of class
    • Include an introduction (or other section) worked out in full prose
      • Why? This helps me to find out where your strengths are as a writer, and which areas have room for improvement.
    • Note that you may have to rewrite your introduction as your writing and research progresses
      • As you discover new ideas and insights, you have to adjust.
  6. A first full draft Due April 23, by start of class
    • Include references in Chicago Style (notes and bibliography)
    • Indicate where you want to make further changes, or need some assistance
  7. A second draft Due April 30, by start of class
    • This is essentially your final draft for the writing process. Any changes after this will be cosmetic (e.g. spelling, formatting of references, and factual mistakes that slipped in)
  8. The fully edited, final version ready to go into the textbook Version 1 Due Monday May 6
Portfolio part 1
Tang Short Stories

Choose ONE of these two options, post on your blog by Sunday, March 24, 11.59PM. Write appr. 300 words. (More is fine, but make sure it’s good quality)

  1. “The Ant Hill”, the leading newspaper of the ant world, has just learned of the death of Chunyu Fen. The editor has requested from you an obituary for this remarkable man. The ant-editor wants a draft or outline on his desk as soon as you can, because they are going to press soon.
  2. Ten years after the dream in the pillow, Lu Sheng has found out where the Taoist [Daoist] priest Lü Weng lives. Lu Sheng is unable to travel to him right now, so he decides to write him a letter, and he asks you to help him write it. He wants to thank Lü Weng once again, and update the priest on developments in his life since parting ways. What do you write on Lu Sheng’s behalf?
Library visit

If you were in the library session on February 26: Provide a guide for your fellow students and future students of this course about the following questions:

  • Where should you start your exploration of sources (primary or secondary) for a deeper study of the topics we cover in this course?
  • What criteria do you use for determining if a (secondary) source is a scholarly and authoritative source?
    • What kind of problems can you experience in judging a source’s reliability or authority?
  • Make sure to write your guide in clear and accessible language, so those who were not in the session can use your post as a starting point for their own exploration.
  • Why? Your fellow students may find this useful information, and it is good to have a place where you can quickly check if the sources you find tick enough boxes to be used in your projects. This is also useful for other courses which require you to assess the reliability and authority of a text.
Survival Guide

Time Travel Inc. is a start-up which has developed a time machine to take tourists back in the past. The project is still under development, but you have a job as a historical researcher with the company.

A team of highly trained agents will go undercover during the Warring States and early Imperial period (fourth Century BCE- late 2nd Century CE). Upon their return, they will report back and deepen our understanding of this time period. Your task is to write a small section of the “survival guide” for these agents, on views of the afterlife, and beliefs in ghosts.

What are the beliefs of life after death, ghosts and ancestors they should be aware of? What religious or ritual practices are associated with death and funerals? What questions do you want answered through their observation, (because we don’t have this information through archaeology or texts)? 

Your guide can be quite detailed, aim for at least 300 words, but you may go longer.

Why? Extracting the main points from texts or classes and presenting it in an accessible piece of writing is a great skill.

Brief summary of a biography

Write a summary of one of these biographies in maximum 300 words, while maintaining the key take-aways of the story. 

Why? In the textbook chapter you may have to summarize long stories in a few paragraphs, so the reader of your chapter will understand the story in the context of the ideas you are discussing.

Introducing the Classic of Mountains and Seas

Write in one post two brief introductions of what the Classic of Mountains and Seas is. If you prefer, you can also upload a voice-recording or a video.

  1. Imagine one of your fellow students has missed Thursday’s class: how would you explain to them what this text is?
  2. How would you explain what this text is to somebody who is not in this course at all? (For instance: your roommate, or a good friend from your FYS.)

Why? Writing/talking is communicating ideas, but you need to adjust the information, tone and context you provide to your reader or audience. With two different targets in mind, you should end up with two subtly different ways of introducing the Classic.

What is the “Tribute of Yu”?

Brief writing assignment: What is “The Tribute of Yu”?

  • What kind of information does it contain?
  • Who might have found that useful?
  • What is the goal of the writer of this text?
  • How is this text useful for us?
  • What information can and can’t we get from this text?

There is no specified format, but you can always use this post as a way to improve your writing skills. You may write a list of bullet points, but doing that well also requires skill.

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