Digital Delights - Digital Tribes

You want to make sure your writing portfolio achieves its objectives - if you're an author, that may be to get you a book deal. If you're a student, it's likely academic consideration and if you're a freelance journalist, it could be to get you an article commission. So think hard and be specific about what your portfolio should tell the people that come across it. Doing so will make drafting your copy and planning out the different sections much easier.

To get a job - you'll be sending your portfolio to prospective employers or clients, so your main aim is to impress in the field you work in.

To sell - you've written some great stuff, and now you want to sell it to an agent, publisher or commissioner.

To be more visible - you want a place where people can find you online and learn more about what you do.

Once you know what the aim is, write that down somewhere. As you build your portfolio, every time you write a sentence or add a piece of work, ask yourself "does this addition help my objective?" If the answer if no, don't add it.