ENGL 124 Summer 2019: Social Issue Project Prompts Multi-Genre Inquiry: An important part of a university education is learning how to identify, think critically about, and respond in writing to important public issues. Our ENGL 124 class focuses on writing in various settings. For your projects this semester, choose a social issue or controversy, one related to your field of study or some other issue about which you deeply care. Choose wisely since this topic will accompany you for the whole length of the course. You will explore this issue for different purposes and in different genres. Examples of social issues can be found on Canvas in Module 1 by clicking on the “60 Powerful Social Issue Ads” link. Projects: Your goal this semester is to develop four distinct projects, that, when read together, form a complete argument. Each project will argue your stance on your social issue in a different way. It may be helpful to think of these projects as a portfolio, each piece attracting a different kind of reader who will be persuaded by different techniques. I am asking you to create four different pieces that together shape a coherent whole so that your reader can get a sense of how the pieces connect and what the overall frame or question is. In order to define this frame or question for yourself, you will write an introductory piece, i.e. a proposal. All four pieces should be balanced, meaning contribute equally to the entirety of the project. In other words, approach each part with equal diligence so that each piece contributes meaningfully and significantly by adding something to the argument in a way that no other approach could. The evidence used must fit the genre, i.e. is more academic in the last two pieces than in the first one. Still, each piece must show that the writer has researched the topic thoroughly enough to persuade the reader that the presented perspective is valid. The evidence must be presented fairly and add enough depth to further the reader’s understanding. This means that the writer (a) cannot rely on one or two pieces of evidence and (b) must use scholarly material to gain credibility. Each project is specifically outlined in the remainder of this document. There are two samples on Canvas: one on the death penalty and one on handwashing. I will refer to the samples throughout this document. Proposal Page Contribution Due: Saturday, June 15th Peer Responses Due: Sunday, June 16th Begin with a short (approximately 1 paragraph) proposal. OUTLINE: Below is the skeletal outline for your proposal. Your proposal should be written in PARAGRAPH FORM. I have filled in the outline with sample information for global warming. Your proposal of course will be on whatever social issue you choose. There are two sample proposals in essay form at the bottom of this folder, one on the Death Penalty and one on Handwashing. This outline was adapted from your "Proposals" reading. Your outline points are bolded below: • • • • • States problem: Our global temperature is rising Presents solution: We need to lower the emission of greenhouse gases describes ways to implement solution: Everyone should buy an electric car/trade in their current car for electric Describes what will happen without change: without the change, our temperature will continue to rise and there will be dire consequences Reiterates solution: buy electric! Project 1: Profile Rough Draft Due: Saturday, June 22nd Peer Responses Due: Sunday, June 23rd Final Draft Due: Wednesday, June 26th Readings: Trimbur, “Profiles” Trimbur, “How Form Embodies Purpose” Trimbur, “Visual Design” For your first paper, CHOOSE A PERSON, GROUP, PLACE, OR EVENT that is central to the social issue you wrote about in your proposal. You will discuss how this group, person, etc. is central to your social issue by explaining the person’s relevant experience, the organization’s mission/goals, the place’s significance to the social issue, or the event’s relevance to the social issue. This is NOT a formal argumentative essay! Instead, you will take a “snapshot” of your profile topic and explain how that topic is pertinent to your social issue. THE EXPLICIT ARGUMENT ON YOUR STANCE ON YOUR ISSUE WILL COME LATER AS A SEPARATE PROJECT (COMMENTARY). For example, the student who chose the death penalty as her social issue chose the Innocence Project as her profile subject. The Innocence Project is an organization that works to overturn wrongful convictions of inmates. Notice that she discusses how the organization was founded, what the organization does, and specific cases that the organization helped to overturn. Note that the student is NOT yet arguing against the death penalty outright. She is only discussing the innocent project’s contribution to the cause. As an another example, the student who completed her projects on handwashing decided to profile Myriam Sidibe, a woman who advocates for children to wash their hands to avoid spreading and acquiring oftentimes deadly diseases. Again, this student is not yet arguing that we need to wash our hands; instead, she is discussing only Myriam Sidibe and her contributions to the handwashing cause. Finally, include a visual of your topic/subject in your profile. Criteria for the profile essay • 3-4 pages + Works Cited page • well integrated quotations/paraphrases • clear organization and cohesive paragraphs • correctness in grammar and mechanics, adherence to MLA standards • engaging style of writing, employing a variety of rhetorical strategies Project 2: Fact Sheet Rough Draft Due: Saturday, 6/29 Peer Responses Due: Sunday, 6/30 Final Draft Due: Wednesday, 7/3 Readings: Trimbur, “Reports” A Fact Sheet is a short (1-2 pages) report, using facts, graphics, bullets, etc. to inform and persuade in a neutral/objective tone and with the help of visual aids. Fact sheets communicate quickly specific points and information, strongly relying on logos. In short, they are simple arguments using a combination of visual and text written and targeted at a specific audience (girls, boys, parents, voters, young, old) or a wide range, a general audience, of readers. For this project, you will do some additional research on your topic, finding EXPERT sources to establish your ethos (scholarly journals, respected organizations, government agencies, books by noted professionals), thus shedding a new, more factual light on the social issue of your choice. You can format the Fact Sheet any way you’d like. However, you do need to use footnotes (see Canvas for help with this). You can use subheadings to separate your facts, a T-chart to compare two different ideas about your social issue, a flow chart, any format that you think will be most effective in conveying your argument. You will NOT, however, comment on any of the facts. The facts should speak for themselves and point the reader to your social issue and your stance. Please see Canvas for the death penalty and handwashing examples. Criteria for this project: § a 1-2-page Fact Sheet (depending on your layout) § at least 6 professional sources § reports on your social issue, § uses text written in columns, pictures, graphs, boxes, etc., § carefully employs elements of visual design (such as colors, fonts, etc.), § and uses Chicago Style Footnotes to Cite ANY o Fact o Idea o Data o Opinion o Concepts Project 3: Commentaries Page Contribution Due: Saturday, 7/6 Page Contribution Peer Responses: Sunday, 7/7 Rough Draft Due: Wednesday, 7/10 Peer Responses Due: Sunday, 7/14 Final Draft Due: Sunday, 7/21 Readings: Trimbur, “Commentary” (Chapter 9: 287-313) “Argumentation” After you have profiled and thoroughly researched your topic, create TWO commentaries. Your purpose is to critically analyze and interpret your social issue and to help your readers to understand it and its implications. Since you will write for two different sets of readers, this assignment will also give you the experience of how writers must shift the same material as well as their tone, style and use of appeals in order to fit a new rhetorical situation. COMMENTARY 1: Your first commentary will be a 6-8 page argumentative essay. This is your chance to finally give your explicit argument about your social issue! In our Canvas examples, one student explicitly argues against the death penalty, giving several reasons why she thinks we need to abolish it, and the other students gives a clear argument about handwashing being a viable solution to many of the world’s diseases. The goal for Commentary #1 (essay commentary) is to put everything together that you’ve been working on this semester into one coherent, sustained argumentative essay. For Commentary #1, you CAN REUSE MATERIAL FROM YOUR PREVIOUS PROJECTS (PROPOSAL, PROFILE, AND FACT SHEET). Most students find it helpful to return to the proposal from the beginning of the semester, and expand upon what they’ve written, adding facts from their fact sheet, and using their profile topic as an example. However, depending on your social issue, you will determine what (if any) material from your pervious projects will be most useful to you. There are samples on Canvas to help you. Criteria: • Clear thesis about your stance on your social issue • AT LEAST FIVE (5) relevant, scholarly sources to support your reasoning (can reuse sources from profile and fact sheet and/or find new sources) • Comprehensive analysis and exploration of the chosen issue • Written for a clearly defined audience • Clear organization of cohesive paragraphs • Correctness in grammar and mechanics • Works cited page (does not count toward page count) • MLA format COMMENTARY 2: Your second commentary will be a creative commentary. For the creative commentary, you can choose from different genres, such as formal commentary or parody, a commentary aimed at a specific social or age group, a visual such as a cartoon commentary (of your own making!), a twitter message, or a more literary commentary such as a poem. There are no limits to your creativity with this project. You can literally create anything you’d like, as long as your social issue and your stance are clear. The only thing I ask is that you CREATE SOMETHING. Simply taking an image or video off of Google will NOT suffice. There are lots of examples on Canvas to help you. Once done, submit to our Creative Commentaries Padlet and to Canvas. Criteria: • Clearly explores the social issue • Social issue and stance can be clearly identified • Has some creativity! Have fun with this! NOTE: Both commentaries will receive SEPARATE grades and have SEPARATE submission links on Canvas and are both due Sunday, July 21st. PRESENTATION: Due Date: Wednesday, 7/17 Peer Reviews Due: Saturday, 7/20 For this assignment, you will organize the main points from your social issue projects into a Google Slides, PowerPoint, Adobe Spark Page, Microsoft Sway page, Prezi, or a medium of your choosing. This is a way for everyone to see what you’ve been working on! All students must submit their presentation to earn at least a “B” in the course. To earn a “pass,” presentations must adhere to the prompt guidelines. If you are doing a slide show, you MUST include at least 10 slides covering the following information: • • • • • • background information about the issue differing viewpoints about the issue your stance/opinion on the issue (this would be a good place to discuss your essay commentary—present the material in a different way that teaches the class about your issue) important facts you deem essential to presenting the issue to your classmates description of the creative project (how you came up with it, why you think it is a good representation of your stance on the issue, what the project actually IS); include your creative commentary in your slide show Optional: record your voice narrating the presentation! For an Adobe Spark or Microsoft Sway page, be sure to include all of the same information outlined above. Post your presentation to our Social Issue Presentation Padlet. Then, view/watch some of your peers’ presentations and comment on at least two of them for a “complete” score.
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