You need at least two posts on topics related to your career goals and portfolio topic for your submission of Project 2. You wrote one on Monday, 2/8.

For your second post, choose one of the topics below, or choose a relevant topic of your own:

Prompt 1: Choose a concept that is important to your career focus. Define it and talk about why it’s important. Examples:

• A creative writer might talk about beauty, rhyme, or plot.
• A technical writer might talk about audience, honesty (as in ethics), or clarity.
• A journalist might talk about accuracy, propaganda, or citizen journalism.
• A teacher might talk about education, book banning, or the common core.

Prompt 2: Respond to something you have read or seen recently that relates to your career focus. Examples:

• A creative writer might respond to an interview with a writer on NPR.
• A technical writer might talk about super (or horrible) documentation she’s recently read.
• A journalist might talk about bias or privacy related to a recent news story.
• A teacher might write about a classroom story in the news or educational legislation.

By 11:59 PM on Sunday, 2/28, post your rough draft:

• Go to Discussions in Canvas.
• Choose the "Project 2 Peer Review" discussion.
• Post a reply to the Discussion (Canvas Documentation) that includes the following information in the body of the message:
  • Tell your classmates the audience and purpose for your portfolio (e.g., I am designing a portfolio for potential employers, with the hope of obtaining an internship in technical writing).
  • State at least three things that you want your readers to help you improve. Let them know the kind of advice you need.
  • If relevant, explain anything else you want your readers to know.
• Include the link to the homepage of your site in your Discussion message.

By the end of class on Monday, 2/29, respond to two drafts:

• Follow the Canvas Documentation to find the drafts you have been assigned. Note that peer review partners are automatically assigned before class begins. Your peer review partners may not be in the same class section that you are in.
• Write a response to each of the two drafts (Canvas Documentation) that includes the following information:
  • Check the title of the site, and tell your partner if it is appropriate and professional.
  • Check the site for the required content, and let the author know if anything is missing. You should find the following:
    • Two blog posts
    • An about page
    • A site information page
    • Working menus
    • Professional sidebar, if present
    • Two fully-developed writing sample pages (widely defined to include audio, video, etc.)
  • Add comments on the content of the draft.
    • Respond to the three things your classmate has asked you about.
    • Comment on at least three things your classmate does well.
    • Include any additional advice or encouragement that you can.
  • If you notice any spelling errors, punctuation errors, or typos, you can mention them in your comments, but please focus more on the content than editing and proofreading.

After 2:30 PM on Monday, 2/29, revise your site:

• Use the Canvas Documentation to find your peers’ feedback.
• Revise your site based on the peer feedback you received.

The About Page for your portfolio can include the image and explanatory statement that you wrote for Project 1 (your identity statement). You need to revise that statement, however, to make it work on the web.

Alternately, you can write a more direct About page that tells someone about you, the author of the site, and why you made the site. At its most basic, the about page identifies you as the author and talks about your career goals or your goals for the portfolio. This content is similar to the author bio that you’d find on the back cover of a book.

Do protect your own privacy and only divulge information that you are comfortable with the entire world reading. If you are in the witness protection program, realize that you do not have to include a photo of yourself or use your real name.

Here are some examples that show the kind of information you might include:

• Nikki Giovanni’s Bio page (creative writer)
• Melody Warnick’s About Me page (freelance journalist)
• Tom Johnson’s About Me page (technical writer)
• Carla Beard’s About page (teacher)
• Not Your Mama’s Gamer About page (teachers, students, gamers)
• Dave Zirin’s Bio page (sportswriter)

I also also have some how-to links that might help you:

• “Meet the Team” Pages: Examples and Trends (Smashing Magazine)
• Are You Making These 7 Mistakes with Your About Page? (Copyblogger)
• How to Write a Short Bio About Yourself (Chron)
• Sections 1 and 2 from Personal Branding Basics with Lorrie Thomas Ross (Lynda.com)

The Site Information Page tells someone about how you made your website. The information is similar to what you would find in a book’s colophon.

You can include the following information on your Site Info page:

• Identify the theme that you used and who made it.
• Provide credit (documentation) for any images that show up on every (or most pages) on your site, like a background image or a header image.
• Outline the plugins you are using and how you are using them.

Here are some random examples that show the kind of information you might include:

• DAVE SABOL (this one is longer than I expect from you)
• Behind the Curtain (Colophon), from Pixelyzed (this page includes historical info that I don’t expect from you)
• Colophon, from The Design Office (this one is bare bones, but has all the necessary info)
• Kevin Shoffner
• Colophon, from The City of Birmingham Choir
• H&W Design Company