Major Portfolio

One component of the psychology major degree requirements is the submission of a portfolio of written work. This portfolio is designed to be a purposeful collection of written work that provides a record of your learning, progress, and achievements throughout your academic career. You will be asked to submit 4 pieces of writing from your coursework that demonstrate your progress toward achieving the psychology program’s five major learning objectives (see below). You will also submit a resume/CV, a professional development/career planning exercise, and a portfolio completion form.

Goals of the Portfolio

The major portfolio is designed to fulfill two goals:

1. One goal is to enable psychology faculty to evaluate the success of Lehigh’s undergraduate curriculum in psychology. Periodic revisions to the curriculum will be made based on review of the major portfolios.
2. A second goal is to provide a resource for students. This collection of written work will help you to recognize and reflect on your own intellectual development. In addition, by providing an organized repository of your writing and accomplishments, the portfolio can be useful when you are requesting letters of recommendation or applying to internships, jobs, or graduate school. Thus, you should ensure that your best work is placed in your portfolio.

Portfolio Contents

Part 1: Written Work Demonstrating Progress toward the Psychology Department Learning Objectives
As you progress through the psychology major, you will be required to include 4 pieces of writing in your portfolio. These portfolio items will come from your course work. You do not need to create additional writing to fulfill the portfolio requirement.

Your portfolio should include the following items:

• Item 1: A paper from PSYC 201 to provide a writing sample from early in your major experience
• Item 2: An APA-style research report from PSYC 203
• Items 3 & 4: At least 2 other pieces of written work from PSYC 203, 300-level seminars, or thesis/independent research courses. These pieces may include research proposals, literature reviews, article summaries or critiques, position papers, essay exams, final projects, or anything else you and your professor deem appropriate.
• (Optional) You may include additional work about which you are particularly proud (not to exceed 3 items).

Across these pieces, you are expected to show evidence of achieving the program’s five key learning objectives:

1. The ability to describe and explain key concepts, principles, theories, and findings in psychology
2. Awareness of how psychological principles can be applied in the real world (e.g., to explain social issues, address societal needs, inform public policy)
3. The ability to interpret, critically evaluate, design, and conduct basic psychological research
4. Awareness that psychological processes may vary across individuals and/or sociocultural contexts 
5. The ability to write clearly and effectively about psychological concepts and research

Part 2: Professional Development
In your portfolio, you are also asked to submit the following items related to your professional development:

• Professional Development/Career Planning exercise (to be completed in PSYC 201)
• A CV or resume (to be completed independently in consultation with Lehigh’s Center for Career and Professional Development: https://lehigh.joinhandshake.com)
• (Optional) If you would like to include an optional reflection on your 161 opportunities, internships, or other key experiences within the major, you can do so here. These reflections can be useful as you write personal statements for graduate school or cover letters for jobs.

Part 3: Portfolio Completion Form

• Upon completion of Parts 1 & 2, you should complete the Portfolio Completion Form on coursesite. This form should only be completed after you have uploaded the rest of your materials. The form provides an opportunity to reflect on your intellectual development as you reach the end of the major. By submitting this form you are indicating that you are ready for the department to review your portfolio and process your portfolio requirement. This form is presented as a coursesite quiz, but is not used to grade or evaluate you in anyway.  After answering the questions and pressing the “finish attempt” button, please make sure to press the “submit all and finish” button on the Summary of attempt page.

Procedure and Timeline

You will be introduced to the portfolio requirement and begin to prepare your portfolio in PSYC 201. Reminders about the portfolio requirement will also occur in PSYC 202 and PSYC 203. However, it is your responsibility to upload relevant writing on your own. You should check in with your advisor during your regular pre-registration advising meetings to review your progress in completing the portfolio items.

Portfolios will be maintained using an administrative Course Site called “PSYC Portfolio” followed by your graduation year (e.g., PSYCPortfolio2025 for students graduating in 2025). You can upload each portfolio item through the Course Site interface.

A portfolio including all required documents should be completed by the end of the first semester of your senior year. The Psychology Department will review the completion of your portfolio during the final semester of your senior year. Although you may continue to modify or add to your portfolio during your final semester, a completed portfolio is required for graduation.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Is this portfolio mandatory? Yes. The portfolio is part of the graduation requirements for all psych majors.
• Will I be graded or receive formal feedback on my portfolio? No. Although you should receive a grade and/or feedback on each piece of writing when you initially submit it for your coursework, you will not receive feedback through the portfolio process. The psychology faculty will review a subset of portfolios each year to evaluate how students in our program are doing in meeting our departmental learning objectives. However, all evaluations at this stage will be for psychology majors as a whole; no individual assessment will occur.
• How do I decide what to submit? The goal of the portfolio is to showcase your best work as a psychology major. Thus, you should choose assignments that you think best exemplify what you have learned and how you have grown as a psychology major. Also keep in mind the departmental learning objectives when choosing submissions. If you have a question about whether a class assignment is an appropriate portfolio item, contact the professor for that course or the Director of Undergraduate Studies.
• Can I include assignments beyond those specified? Yes! You can upload up to 3 additional pieces of written work in your portfolio.
• How do I know when my portfolio requirement is complete? Once you have uploaded all the necessary documents and completed the Portfolio Completion Form on coursesite, the Psychology Department will review your portfolio for completion and communicate your fulfillment of the requirement to RAS. Once RAS has processed this request, your degree audit will be updated to reflect completion of the requirement.
• What types of file formats can I upload? Please only upload .doc, .docx, or .pdf files.
• Who do I contact if I have questions or need help? Talk to your psychology major advisor or the Director of Undergraduate Studies.