Before you can present the professional you, you must first recognize who you are as a professional. Often, the portfolio's initial importance is that it forces you to take yourself and your writing seriously and to put it on display for the world--not just the classroom instructor--to see.

The portfolio itself is a non-classroom, world-of-work document. You will be the first to judge its effectiveness. And that judgment may be the first professional evaluation you will make. Put together a portfolio. Take the lead in discovering and presenting the professional you.