Technical Details

For this assignment, you will move from researching and analyzing your topic, as you did in the research essay, to creating a composition that uses two different genres to communicate to two separate audiences about that same topic. You will use your previous research to inform your creative strategy and help you make the rhetorical choices necessary to create an effective composition. These two genres are up to you to decide upon, based on your analysis of the rhetorical situation and the way in which you respond to it.

You will strategically target two specific audiences, then develop key messages to communicate to those audiences—based on knowledge of your topic gained from developing the research essay—and finally create two genres designed to communicate those messages to your audiences. You will also write a rationale to communicate the connections between genres and your strategies for choosing them—think of it as performing rhetorical analysis on yourself.

This assignment requires you to engage your critical thinking, rhetorical awareness, and reflection capabilities in order to most effectively communicate with your specified audiences. Your strategy will determine the choices you make in communicating to your audiences, how you present the research, and what you create to convey your message.

Just as you did for the research essay, for this composition project you will engage in a series of short writing assignments designed to help you focus your thinking about audiences, message, and outcome before you begin the composition.

Short Assignment #1: Potential Genres Proposal
For this assignment, you will explore various genres that might be appropriate to your project, and write a proposal outlining the ones you’re thinking about using in your composition. This proposal is designed to help you explore several possible genres and then narrow in on a strategy for the two specific genres you will ultimately use in your project. You should also consider your audience strategy as you write this.

Short Assignment #2: Audience Strategy
This strategy will be developed based on your research essay and your genres proposal. The audience strategy is the blueprint or foundation of your composition, so it is critical to develop a strategy with the end effect in mind. Planning in advance about how you will communicate your ideas to your two audiences will ensure its success; poor planning will result in a less-than-effective final project.

Short Assignment #3: Reflection on Your Composition
In this reflection, you will analyze the process of moving from your research essay to your composition project, as well as think through questions that involve the key terms. Think about what rhetorical choices you have made, and consider the following questions: 1) Audience—what barriers in communicating to your audience(s) did you encounter? How did you overcome these barriers? 2) Process—how was the composing process different from your research essay? 3) Genre—why did you choose the two genres that you did? How did the genre affect the audience choice? 4) Reflection—what rhetorical practices did you find yourself using? Were they effective in the way you presented them?

Goals

With this assignment, we ask you to take the next steps in your work with rhetorical analysis and the key rhetorical terms. Rather than simply evaluating the rhetoric of others, you are now being asked to consider your own rhetorical choices. Crafting separate compositions in distinct genres forces you to consider the most effective ways to present your information while simultaneously expanding the scope of the types of work that qualify as “composition.” Creativity is absolutely encouraged!

Requirements

• Two genres of communication created for your two separate audiences
• A rationale for your composition that orients your reader to the purpose of your work and its significance to your audience

No minimum or maximum word count applies, though citations should be included as always.

Timeline

• Mon, 3/30 — Potential genre proposal & audience strategy due
• Weds, 4/1 — Rough draft due
• Weds, 4/15 — Final draft due
• Mon, 4/20 — Post-assignment reflection due

Evaluation Rubric

• Potential genre proposal — 10%
• Audience strategy — 10%
• Composition 1 — 20%
• Composition 2 — 20%
• Rationale — 25%
• Sentence-level concerns — 10%
• Formatting — 5%