When asked what advice they would give students just beginning their graduate studies, finishing grad students' number one answer was "Take notes on all the books in your bibliographies and keep them organized!"

Guides to graduate studies routinely suggest that you keep copies of all papers and course work. Career development advisors recommend having an up-to-date resume available at all times.

But another reason for creating your graduate web portfolio is to provide not just a reference for what you have done but also a framework for why you are doing it, how you are doing it, and how this several-year enterprise fits into your current and future life. Pretty heady stuff!

You are probably already doing most of your work on computer. From there it is a fairly easy step to put it on the web. Why the web?

The Advantages

"Wherever you go, there you are!"
Have your graduate work where you can get to it from any networked computer for your reference or to show to others.

"Paper is OK to read but you can't do anything with it."
Having an electronic copy of your work gives you more flexibility. You don't need to re-type everything when you need it. You can easily pull out just that information needed at the moment to reuse in new ways.

"Do it on zoo so you can keep a safe copy."
While this doesn't mean you shouldn't keep your own back-ups (you should!), having your work on a server means you have at least one more fairly safe copy.

And especially foir GTFs or for those who teach:
"It's good for you as a student. It's good for your students."
You can give your students the advantages of central, easily accessible, always available information by putting your course materials on the web. Syllabi, class notes, class discussions via listservs or newsgroups, readings, projects--all aspects of of the class can benefit from the web connection.

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