Below are the questions I asked my advisor while I was working on the Final Exam Portfolio. I have bolded and highlighted the answers I received, but everything is verbatim. I'm including my (long and detailed) questions so you are able to see the answers in the full context.
First Set of Questions
1. What style should be used? A former student told me it was CMoS, another said MLA.
CMS
2. Can I use work products from a course that is in-progress?
YES
3. Should work products be submitted in separate files or should everything be collated into one file? One of my work products is an Excel spreadsheet paired with a marketing blog, so would I embed the Excel spreadsheet into the overall Word document or submit it separately?
EITHER WAY IS FINE, BUT I WOULD EMBED THE EXCEL SPREADSHEET INTO THE WORD DOCUMENT
4. Related to that, how do we submit a work product that is multimedia? For example, my second choice for my third work product was a curated event display. I have photos of my display during the event, Word files of the artifact information cards that were printed for the display, my research notes in an .rtf document, research notes written in a (paper) notebook, a collection of source material from my research, and scans I made of photos.
IF POSSIBLE, TRY TO PUT THIS ALL TOGETHER IN ONE DOCUMENT-- WITH PHOTOS, NOTES, SCREENSHOTS, WHATEVER WORKS.
5. The instructions indicate that we cannot submit a website as a work product unless it "shows some competency other than website design/creation." My first choice for my third work product was the library website I created in the Web Development for Information Professionals course. The course was primarily learning to design and create a website, but we were required to make our website as a library's website, which required learning what website visitors would find useful in a library's website and then create the content ourselves. I had hoped to use this as my third work product, but if it is too close to being unacceptable, I would rather know now.
YES, THIS IS FINE, JUST EXPLAIN YOUR PROCESS IN GATHERING THE INFO, AND DESCRIBE THE CONTENT, AND INCLUDE SCREENSHOTS OF THE FINAL PRODUCE
6. Many of my courses had a series of smaller assignments rather than one large assignment, or broke up the assignment into multiple parts due throughout the semester. Would it be acceptable to submit a collection of smaller assignments that form a larger overall work product, or should the work product be a single item?
YES, A COLLECTION OF SMALLER ASSIGNMENTS THAT FORM A LARGER OVERALL WORK IS FINE
7. How problematic is it that two (or three, depending) of my work products include websites? In Information Ethics, all our assignments and research was submitted by posting onto a blog. In Collection Development, the companion to the collection I created is a website that was created to be a marketing visual.
SUBMITTING MULTIPLE WEBSITES IS FINE, JUST SHOW HOW EACH ONE MEETS THE COMPETENCIES YOU'VE IDENTIFIED
8. I got the sense that the work products should be a general overview of skills learned. That is, each work product highlights a different aspect of librarianship or skill. Should I make sure each work product is different in its content/topic, or is it better if my work products were related to one another that go along with my Professional Development Plan? For example, I'm focusing on Special Collections and Archives in my professional development, so should my work products be items that were focused on that area or items that are more general librarianship?
EITHER WAY IS FINE.
Second Set of Questions
1. Can I submit more than three work products? And if so, is it better to stick to three work products rather than doing extra?
2. We should submit everything in Word, correct? i.e. we shouldn't submit it as a PDF or MHT?
I would stick with three work products and save them each as Word docs.
Third Set of Questions
I'm doing some final editing on my FEP and just wanted to check with you about length. I have about 30 pages right now, including table of contents and work product appendixes. Should I do some trimming of the length? One friend said that 20 pages was too long and we have to be succinct, another friend said that 29 pages was fine.
Regarding tone in the professional development plan, should I keep the tone more like a professional performance report or should I include a more personal style? I feel my past experiences in college are necessary in conveying my motivations for becoming a professional librarian, but I am unsure how much detail is too much for this particular document.
Quick answers to your questions:
No, there is length requirement, but that said, shorter is a little easier for your faculty readers!
I recommend keeping a more professional tone in your PD plan.