Below, you’ll find brief descriptions of our major projects this semester, as well as links to the more in-depth guidelines posts. Keep in mind that you’ll need to complete (at least) three drafts for each of these assignments. For descriptions of our semi-weekly writing assignments, please see the Blog Post Info page and the Rhetoric and Advertisements Presentation Info page.
- Assignment #1: Visual/Aural Genre Analysis. How does a song get categorized in a particular genre of music? What characteristics attract us to our favorite artists and styles? And how do artists make use of genre characteristics to convey meaning in their songs? For this essay, you’ll need to use rhetorical analysis as you look at a song addressing an event covered in a media outlet. Cite news articles that discuss the event as evidence, and offer background information from reliable sources about the artist you are discussing, providing overall context for your audience. Clearly identify the genre of the song you are focusing on, and define that category using research in order to provide context for your readers. Explain your reasons for choosing to place the song you’ve chosen as partaking in that genre. What characteristics does the song display that clearly makes it part of the genre? How does genre play a part in the meaning of the song? How does the artist use elements of that genre in order to talk about a significant event in a way that the news outlets were unable to approach? In your essay, use rhetorical analysis to back up your points. Provide examples from the lyrics and point to specific moments in the music. Provide links to YouTube videos or MP3 files of the songs on GrooveShark or other websites, and feel free to use images (album covers, news photos, etc.) to supplement your text.
- Assignment #2: Empirical Research Project. For this assignment, we will work with some of the genres and research conventions common to social science and hard science disciplines. You will complete a 6-8 page research paper, focusing on primary research supplemented by secondary sources. (We will work on learning proper documentation formats as well as learning to find and evaluate sources.) As you begin your secondary research, you will meet with a librarian for an individual research session in order to get the process started. Your analysis and report will center around a two-part study – an autoethnography and a quantitative data analysis – that you propose, develop, conduct and analyze. In accordance with the genres in which you are writing, you’ll need to include a brief literature review of secondary sources that help your readers understand your hypothesis, methods, and the conclusions you draw from the study. As part of this assignment, you will be required to include visualizations of your data in an appropriate digital format (most likely graphs, charts, etc.).
- Assignment #3: Writing in the Disciplines (WiD) Media Analysis Project. For this paper, you’ll need to rely upon the skills of rhetorical analysis and genre identification that you’ve honed throughout the semester. What does it mean to be a writer and communicator in and about the profession you are hoping to go pursue as a career? This project will require you to choose piece of mainstream media that displays misconceptions regarding an issue of concern for your major field of study. (This piece of media might come from a newspaper, a TV show, a popular website, a movie, music, etc.) The issue of concern should be specific; rather than discussing misconceptions about your future profession or major, you should be identifying misconceptions about an important issue, concept, problem, or practice related to your major field of study. Using research from at least three scholarly journal articles in your field, explain not only how the mainstream source “gets the issue wrong,” but also the differences between how the topic at hand is discussed and presented by the media, how it is viewed by the public, and, by comparison, how it is discussed by experts in your field. How does the mainstream media piece differ from the scholarly piece in its approach to your discipline as a whole? What rhetorical moves are made in each piece you review? You’ll need to describe the major themes, genres, modalities, etc., and rhetorically analyze the pieces in detail. Make sure that you carefully discuss the rhetorical choices of the authors. What common conversations can you see running through these pieces? How do these texts reflect discussions that are important to your field in different ways? How might these common issues be approached differently? I encourage you to bring in multiple sources for comparison in your discussion. Given the genres and modalities that you observe in these texts, as well as other rhetorical choices such as tone, style, etc., what can you say about writing in your field?
- Assignment 4: Resume and Analysis. This assignment will ask you to explore the types of experiences that you have had, and to document them using a specific genre – the resume or CV. In addition, you will be responsible for writing a 2-3 page analysis of those experiences. Where do you see gaps in your experiences? In your types of experiences? What will you need to do during the next few years to become a professional in your field? As we compose this assignment, we will meet with a representative from the Career Services office to discuss internship possibilities.
- Final Portfolio: This will be a digital representation of the work you’ve done over the course of the semester. You will need to include major assignments in the portfolio, as well as the shorter assignments that we worked on in class or for homework. Equally as important is the design and format of the portfolio. (We will discuss this closer to the end of the semester in relation to the rhetorical principles we’ve gone over this semester.) Your Final Reflective Narrative will be an integral part of the portfolio, acting as a guide for readers.
- Final Reflective Narrative: As you design your final portfolio, you’ll need to create an audio, video, or text-based commentary describing the rhetorical choices you made in designing the portfolio, as well as your writing process throughout the semester. (Think of this as a sort of cover letter for your portfolio.) Details should be provided regarding each assignment included in the portfolio, as well as a reflection about your overall experience this semester. (More guidelines for this assignment will be provided as we get closer to the end of the course.)
