Overview
The final project requires you to take the research you have been doing on how/why a group writes, and present it in three different formats:
- The formal academic version
- The informal version
- The multimodal version
All three versions need to communicate your original ideas and learning about your topic, and all three versions should use appropriate rhetorical appeals to convince your target audience that you are communicating something new, original, and important.
A complete rough draft/child’s draft of the formal academic or informal version must be brought to class for peer review on Tuesday, December 11.
Final polished drafts of the formal academic version and the informal version must be turned in no later than 1110 hrs on Tuesday, December 18.
Be prepared to present your multimodal version in class during our final exam period on Tuesday, December 18, 7:00 am to 9:00 am. If you are planning a presentation with an audio component, a five-minute presentation is appropriate. There is no word-count or other constraint on your multimodal presentation.
Formal Academic
This version must include all of the following sections:
Introduction: This section should provide all relevant background material. It should explain your topic, and information that is generally known by all people familiar with your topic. End your introduction with a general statement about what you plan to argue about your topic (this should be a single sentence, but it should be something that we can argue about).
Methods & Results: Describe the method you used to gather your data. Who (if anyone) did you talk to? What questions did you ask? Where did you find your data? How many samples did you look at? Briefly summarize your data by objectively describing trends.
Discussion: Present three specific arguments that can be used to support the general statement you made in your introduction. Each specific argument should have an assertion, supporting evidence, and analysis (See 11/15, Interlude, 11/20, Part 2, and 11/27, Part 3 for more information about these sections and how they fit together).
Conclusion: Describe the implications of your research. How does your research and your arguments change the way we think about the topic? In what way are you adding to our general understanding that you described in your introduction? Then, describe the applications of your research. Here, describe either real-world applications of your findings (for example, should we change the way we train people to write in specific disciplines?), or describe questions that you still have about your topic that were not answered by your research and could be future avenues of inquiry.
The formal academic paper must be a minimum of 1250 words, not including references. It must be in MLA style, have a title, use proper in-text citations, and have a list of works cited.
Informal Version
This version can be in any genre you would like to use (for example, some students asked if they could write a story) to communicate what is important to the audience you choose. You will need to:
- Follow the genre conventions
- Clearly communicate who your intended audience is
- Clearly communicate the ideas of value
- Clearly be operating from the same data set with the same main assumptions/arguments as your Formal Academic version
- Write a minimum of 1250 words
Multimodal Version
You may use any form of media you would like for this version EXCEPT for PowerPoint/Google Slides/Prezi, or the equivalent.
Your multimodal presentation must:
- Incorporate at least three of the Modes (visual, audio, gestural, spatial, linguistic)
- Modes must complement each other, not repeat each other
- Clearly communicate who your intended audience is
- Clearly communicate the ideas of value
- Clearly be operating from the same data set with the same main assumptions/arguments as your Formal Academic version
- NOT be a PowerPoint/Google Slides/Prezi or equivalent
Assessment
Points will be given for both process and product:
Overall Writing Process (5 points):
- Invention—1 point for engaging in and showing work
- Organization—1 point for engaging in and showing work
- Drafting—1 point for engaging in and showing work
- Revision—1 point for engaging in and showing work
- Editing—1 point for engaging in and showing work
Versions (5 points per version):
- Formal meets all assignment requirements
- Informal meets all assignment requirements
- Multimodal meets all assignment requirements
Product (5 points per version):
- Context & Purpose for Writing—up to 1 point, depending on demonstrated skill
- Content Development—up to 1 point, depending on demonstrated skill
- Genre & Disciplinary Conventions—up to 1 point, depending on demonstrated skill
- Sources & Evidence—up to 1 point, depending on demonstrated skill
- Control of Syntax & Mechanics—up to 1 point, depending on demonstrated skill