HMHV 201
Greg Martin

The HMHV 201 Portfolio: The Preface and the Final Draft

The Preface

The preface is a 3-5 page self-evaluation exploring your development as a writer over the course of the semester, as well as an exploration of the development of your essay over the course of the semester. In the course of your preface, you should speak to how the essay changed from your initial conception of it to the draft you're turning in with your portfolio.  In doing so, make sure to use the critical vocabulary of craft that we used all semester in discussing narrative: terms and concepts like plot and conflict--Freytag's pyramid or triangle: ground situation, rising action, turning point, resolution) characterization, setting, object and image, problem rooted in character (remember Leonardo).

Here are some optional questions/prompts to consider and to help guide you as you write the preface. Don't feel that you need to respond to every prompt, but let these prompts guide your thinking as you write a thorough, thoughtful preface.

• What was the most helpful piece of advice you received in the workshops, in office hours with Me or Jenn, or in other feedback from your peers? How did address this in revision? To what effect? Or, to think of this another way, what was the most difficult (constructive but challenging) piece of advice you received in the workshop or your narrative critique? How did you to address this in revision?
• What exercise helped your essay to develop the most and why?
• What craft problem did you struggle most with throughout the semester? 
• What do you think is most ambitious about your portfolio?  Where do you feel yourself taking risks?
• Write about at least three readings from the semester and speak to how they influenced the writing of your own essay over the course of the semester. (Your preface must, in some substantive way, write about the way the readings influenced your writing.)
• How has the course, its readings and your writing, influenced your views about becoming a physician? Or your views about the profession of medicine, itself?
• What do you understand now, about storytelling, about revision, about the artistic process, that you didn't understand before entering this course?
• Richard Ford says, "Our imagination loves to be filled with an object or to grasp at anything that is too large for its capacity."  What question does your story raise about living in the world that won't reduce to a simple answer? What do you want your readers to ponder long after they put down your essay? Cite at least two places in your draft  where you attempted to raise and address this question.

So, you are going to write about your growth as a writer, and you are also going to write in a very specific way about the development of your essay. You can organize this preface with a complex, original introduction, followed by paragraphs organized, one after the other, according to the prompts above. Or you can surprise me and Jenn with your artistic ingenuity and design, covering the same topics in a way that makes the best sense to you (but is still clearly organized.)

Know that so much of the writing (if not all—really—every sentence) for this preface can be found in your own writing journal (which you should look over) and in the self-evaluations you wrote for each essay draft.

The preface is (because it is, after all, a preface) the first thing that I read when I pick up your draft. The thoughtfulness of the preface--the tone, the insights, the reflection, the specific vocabulary of craft--is a way for you to demonstrate your learning over the course of the semester.. Too often, in the past, the preface is clearly done at the last minute, as a kind of after-thought. These prefaces are far too general--they fail to refer in meaningful ways to specific readings or specific places in your final draft or in your drafting process. The preface is the place where you can articulate the many things you've learned about storytelling in this class; it's also a place for you to reflect on the ways your thoughts have changed about the profession of medicine itself.

Final Draft Expectations and Criteria

•  Essay drafts must be complete. They must have a clear beginning, middle, and end. 

•  The essay has a compelling title.

•  Essay drafts must be proofread carefully. 

•  The essay's subject is focused.

•  The reader has a clear sense of why the essay is being told now . The reader should have a sense of the essay's urgency.

•  The beginning of the essay is compelling and it creates an “exchange of expectations” with the reader, which the essay then attempts to meet.

•  The essay has a clear ground situation and it supplies the reader with all the basic, orienting facts they need.

•  The essay has a retrospective point of view which includes the act of remembering.

•  The essay has a clear conflict, which is developed and which evolves. The obstacles to this conflict are formidable.

•  Exposition (information, facts,especially about the specific illness) enhances the meaning of the narrative for the reader.

•  The essay balances vivid scene and summary for dramatic effect.

•  Details are concrete and significant and alive to the senses. 

•  The writer pays heightened attention to language: to figurative language, to diction, to active verbs, to sentence variety, to economy.

•  The essay isn't merely about its subject; the essay has something to say about its subject. It does so through explicit reflection throughout the essay, but it also does so by posing questions for the reader to consider which have no easy answer.

•  There is a clear turning point in the essay.

•  There is a denouement or resolution which follows this turning point.

•  The essay is an exploration of change.

Essay should be 15-20 pages long, double-spaced, 12 point font.

Note: Essays may exceed this length by 2-3 pages, but if these extra pages do not amplify or develop the essay's themes, then these extra pages could count against your overall grade. The grade is based on quality, not quantity. Going beyond 20 pages will not help you if there are sentences/paragraphs/pages in the earlier parts of the draft which you should have cut. If your draft is too long, apply the 10% rule. Do a word count. Figure out what 10% of the total is and cut everywhere--look at every sentence--until you reduce the total length by 10%.

Portfolios are due, via email, to me (gmartin@unm.edu) and cc'd to Jenn (akajesais@gmail.com) by 5:00 pm on Wed 12/14. (If you want to turn in your portfolio earlier, we will begin accepting and reviewing them on Tuesday 12/13 at 11:00.)

Good Luck!