English 1101

Unit 2 & 3 Projects

UNIT 2: Rhetorical Analysis Project

In Unit 2 you will investigate and report on a research question you choose. You will conduct research into at least four different genres, gather, and evaluate the information in those sources, and present a report on your findings. This report will be based on your investigating, analysis, and thinking of your sources, and what you have learned from your investigation.

Assignments and Due Dates (you will receive additional assignment sheets that explain each step more thoroughly when the due dates come closer)

1. Your Proposal with a research question Due Wed – 10/09 (10 Points): This will outline your intent for the project and the research question you will be investigating. Remember, this should be something you are interested in, since you’ll be continuing with this topic during Unit 3 as well.
2.  Initial Annotated Bibliography Due Mon – 10/16. (40 points): gather information on, and analyze four sources consisting of at least three different genres. I will have a hand out that shows the exact format I would like for you to follow, but essentially you will be summarizing the sources and evaluating their credibility.
3. Reflective analysis of each source Due Mon – 10/21. (50 points): After you have made your first annotated bibliography, I then want you to investigate those sources by means of rhetorical analysis with your research question in mind. Essentially, I want you to think about the reasoning behind the author’s choices they made when writing, and who they were writing for. You will also compare and contrast your analyses of sources to examine how the issue is discussed in a variety of genres.

Your analysis of each source must be at least 200 words. You must analyze not only what the source says, but how and why it says it.

4. Rough draft of your report Due Mon – 10/28. (50 points rough draft + 10 points for peer review): Include a Works Cited page of your sources. Bring two (2) copies of your rough draft to class to participate in the peer writing-workshop
5. 1500-word Final Draft with a Works Cited page Due Mon 11/04. (100 points.)
6. Reflection Paper Due Wed. 11/06 (25 points).: After the final draft you will write a reflection paper that will discuss what you have learned during the process.

Grading:

As always, I will be grading by using the rubric I provided on the first day of class on the syllabus, and how well you follow the directions of each assignment. Please ask me if you need any clarification.

 UNIT 3: Writing in a New Genre

In Unit 3, you will be re-purposing your research from Unit 2 to create a new composition, in a new genre. You might want to write a magazine article (with a specific audience in mind), a comic, a children’s book, short story, a video essay, a podcast etc. You may also create a multimedia piece with a written section if you want to do that instead.

This is to say, the assignment is left largely open. You can choose whatever rhetorical vehicle you want, as long as you are re-purposing your research from Unit 2, and that you are conscious of your rhetorical situation and the audience that you are communicating to. (For example: You cannot simply write an “article.” If you choose that route, then you will have to have a specific publication in mind and write towards that audience.)

Assignments and Due Dates (you will receive additional assignment sheets that explain each step more thoroughly when the due dates come closer)

1. Proposal Due. Wed -11/13. (10 points): The proposal will be a write up about what genre you are composing in and why do you think that genre will be effective in communicating your Unit 2 research to a specific audience. Essentially you will write: What do you want to say? Why is your topic important to you and to the community at large? Why is the genre you chose best suited to communicating your message?
2. Outline Due Wed. – 11/20. (40 points): Once you’ve narrowed your focus/have chosen your genre, you will provide me with an outline your project showing how it will communicate the central argument.
3.  Rough draft Due: Mon – 12/02. (50 points for the rough draft & 10 points for the peer review): Bring two copies of your rough draft to class to participate in the peer writing-workshop.
4. Final draft. Due: Mon – 12/09 (100 points)
5. Reflection Due: Wed – 12/11. (50 points): You will write a reflection on your project after you completed it. I will give you more specific questions at the time that this is assigned but your papers should be at least 500 words.

Grading:

You will be graded in accordance with the rubric I provided the first day of class, but since this is a more specialized assignment, I will be paying extra attention to the following:

1. Genre Awareness. Your project must show that you have a handle on the genre you are working in. This means that you must be conscious of what rules the genre has, and you will have shown that you can implement them.
2. Audience Awareness. As I have stated numerous times (and will no doubt state it numerous more times in class) Your project must have a clear audience, and your project must be conscious of that audience. You will be graded on how well you do this.

I used this for the first time this semester. I’ve noticed that most students chose to write short stories, op-eds and open letters.

Paper #3: Writing in a New Genre

In this paper, you will be using your research from Unit 2 to compose in a new genre. You might want to write a declaration, a manifesto, a rulebook, a magazine article (from a particular publication), a comic book, a children’s book, short story, a video essay etc. The possibilities are virtually endless, except you must:

1. Have a rhetorical understanding of the genre you choose
2. Make use of the research you did in Unit 2

It would help you to have a specific example of the genre in which you choose to write. Perhaps you discovered the genre while you were doing research for paper #2. You might have written about this genre, in some form, so use the knowledge you already have, and the knowledge you will gain from further research, to craft the best version of a document in the genre you’ve chosen. If you are choosing to do something say in video or song, you must transcribe the words. Word Count: I want you to follow the rules of the genre and don’t want you to write to fulfill a word count. That said, the piece you write needs to be well-developed. I also want you to write at least a 500 word reflection on the paper. I will hand out a separate sheet with questions that need to be addressed in the reflection. Reflections are written and submitted once you receive a grade for the paper,

Some ways you might want to get started:

Question your intent. Think, “What do I have to say? Why do I care about this topic? What is the best genre for me to communicate what I have to say?”

Choose a genre you like and that you think best fits your intent. If you decide for instance that you want to talk about bodegas, or your bodega specifically, perhaps an exposé is best.

The point here is, the topic and genre should gel.

Steps

1. Consider again how your research and genre analysis in Unit 2 has addressed/influenced your line of questioning. What do you want to say? Why is your topic important to you and to the community at large? Which genre is best suited to communicating your message?
2. Once you’ve narrowed your focus/have chosen your genre, outline your argument. How will your support your general claim? What kind of sources would strengthen your argument?
3. Conduct further research, if necessary, to support your claims/vision.
4. Begin writing. Bring in research and the methodological knowledge you’ve gained from our investigation into genre and rhetoric. Look to your source/mentor text for ideas about structure.
5. Incorporate reflection and feedback in order to improve the final product.

How will this be graded:

• Accuracy of genre analysis-Did you identify the common elements of this genre?
• Care and creativity- Did you put time and effort into the project?
• Repurposing- The question/argument from your research paper is present 

Again, I did take a bulk of this assignment from examples from last session’s PD. It worked well and I am impressed with the caliber of papers I’ve received this semester.

English 1101 D371 Paper #2: Research Report

Due Dates

Proposal/Conceptual Outline: 3/16

First Draft: 3/23

Final Draft: 3/25

In this unit, we are reading about the community around us. More specifically, we are reading and analyzing issues that are relevant to New Yorkers. You will choose a relevant topic that interests you, and report on a specific question you’d like to investigate within that topic.

Since the Unit 2 and Unit 3 papers are closely linked, in order to explain Unit 2, I have to talk about Units 2 + 3 together, because you’re going to have to use some foresight in the research decisions you make; there will be planning, trial, error, planning again. It’s all part of the process.

In Unit 3, you’ll be writing a document in a new genre, one you haven’t written in before, about what you’ve decided to research in unit 2. For example, you might write a manifesto, or a comic book. Maybe you want to write a speech addressing a problem you outlined or discovered in your research for Unit 2.

You don’t need to know exactly what you’re going to be doing in Unit 3 yet. HOWEVER, you’ll be doing some things in Unit 2 that you’ll need for Unit 3:

1. Researching a question about a NYC community or issue that you are truly curious about. You will use some of your research from Unit 2 when you write Unit 3.
2. Researching a variety of different genres, which will inform what you write in Unit 3.

So, Unit 2 will be an investigation into and report on a specific question about a topic that interests you. You will conduct research into various genres (4 sources), gather and evaluate the information in those sources, and present a report on your findings. For this assignment, you will not need a thesis statement; rather, I am asking you think investigate, analyze, and report what you have learned from your investigation. You may arrive at an answer to you initial question, or you may find you’re asking the wrong questions and will need to rethink your approach.

1. Ask and develop specific question. This should be something you care about, something you’ve always wondered about – something that will keep you engaged, as you’ll be continuing this line of inquiry in Unit 3 as well.
2. Have your question approved by me (REQUIRED). If you change your question, your new question must be approved. Due 3/16  (You cannot change your question past 3/18).
3. Research, gather information on, and analyze 4 sources consisting of at least 3 different genres.
4. Read and annotate sources with your question in mind. Take notes on the relationship between the source and your question. Consider throughout: what did I learn from this source? About my own process of thought? About my reading process? My writing process?
5. Write your report. The best way to go about this is to write the report for each source, then write the intro and conclusion. Remember that format and appearance count, so give yourself time to proofread and make it look good!

Your analysis of each source must be at least 300 words – this is both content analysis AND rhetorical analysis, which we have discussed and will continue to discuss during this unit. In other words, you must analyze not only what the source says, but also who its intended audience is, what its history is, its purpose, etc. Remember, try to make this as interesting to your readers as possible. This gives you some leeway in choosing how you want to format your report, but make sure you consider what is best for your audience.

The entire report, consisting of source analysis, introduction, and conclusion, should be at least 1800 words. 

Grading System

1. Is your document readable and informative? Does it teach us about what you’ve learned, as it relates to question? Does it teach us, not only about the content of the sources you’ve chosen, but also the rhetorical situation surrounding those sources? In other words, is it a “good” source? Good for whom? Why?
2. Did you do good research here? One of the main goals of the assignment is to learn something new about your topic AND to help you learn to find information on your own, to be applied to future situations. If you simply choose the first three options on Google, that’s not doing enough, and your topic will most likely not be as nuanced as it could be.
3. Did you find sources in at least three different genres? Do the genres you chose “gel” with the content – that is, do the genres you chose make sense for the goals of both Units 2 and 3?
4. Your report must look good, and must be organized in a way that makes sense to the reader you have in mind (and to me!).
5. Is your language appropriate to the audience you have in mind? No matter how you chose to write it, the type of language you use (how it is written) must be consistent and must be appropriate to your audience. You should be able to explain with a good line of reasoning why you chose the language you chose.
6. Cite your sources.

Look HERE for some tips and quite a few examples of Units 2 and 3 for 1101.

• Make sure you review the unit descriptions of Units 2 and 3 in prior blog posts.
• Drafts of these assignments are due on the Open Lab on May 4. You can post them together, and just click both categories: 1101 Unit 2 and 1101 Unit 3.
• There will be an optional Zoom meeting on Thursday, April 30 at 3 pm (link at the bottom of this page) to talk about Units 2 and 3.

Important Upcoming Dates

• Thursday April 30: Optional Zoom meeting to discuss 1101 Units 2 and 3
• Monday May 4: Deadline for posting 1101 Units 2 and 3.
• Monday May 11: Deadline for Commenting on partners’ Units (same partners as before.)
• Thursday May 14: By noon, post a draft of a final portfolio assignment (with reflection) for 1101. This is the assignment as you would give it to students. 3 PM ZOOM MEETING!
• Thursday, May 28: The final syllabi, and all unit assignments for 1101 and 1121 are due. Please note: final syllabi do not need to include the whole schedule for courses–they will include all your course goals and policies.
• Thursday, May 28: Student grades due. All portfolios uploaded to the PD Dropbox folder (I will provide link shortly)

I have a couple ideas for low-stakes assignments for the Genre Awareness unit in 1101.

First, I’ve found that students most readily know genre as a term related to music/film, and therefore I think it would be useful to start there.

1. In class, play a short clip from a recent horror/thriller film (Midsommar/Us).

Discuss w/ class: What makes this a horror film? Are there any things that, if you took them away, would change the genre?

Writing Prompt: Imagine being asked to rewrite this as a romantic comedy. What would change? What would you have to add to make it romantic and funny?

2. Play clip from Seinfeld’s “The Subway” where riders strain to hear an indecipherable announcement.

Class Discussion: What are the conventions of a subway announcement?

Writing: What other ways can you find that information? What are the strengths and weaknesses of these other different genres/modes? What is unique about subway announcements versus all other genres/modes?

Concepts to tie in (for both): How do considerations of audience/purpose/constraints/genre conventions impact the content and form and mode of the text? Can we write out a procedure for identifying the conventions of a genre given some exemplar?

Prompt: What are some strategies or low-stakes assignments you might use to teach your students what genre is, and how and why we move between genres in order to reach our audiences and achieve our desired outcomes? Try to think of strategies that you might be able to use online.

Genre Awareness (First Steps?)

• To prepare for class discussion and activities, I could ask students to read and annotate a three-page excerpt from The Bedford Book of Genres (Braziller, 2nd edition; pages 30, 32, 39). Doing so would introduce students to a framework for analyzing rhetorical situation and genre conventions. This specific excerpt provides a chart template, specific questions, and an engaging example.
• In a low-stakes assignment or discussion, I could offer students a long list of genres. I could ask students to brainstorm which different “types of texts” they’ve read in the past two weeks. Then I could ask students to choose one specific text that they’ve read recently and fill in the chart mentioned above.

Moving Between Genres (Intermediate Steps?)

• To prepare for class discussion and activities, I could ask students to read and annotate “Navigating Genres” by Kerry Dirk.
• In a low-stakes assignment, I could ask students to find something that they had written in a previous class, for work, or on social media. Then I could ask students to fill in the chart mentioned above for that specific text.
• In class, with blank copies of the chart, I could ask students to brainstorm in groups how they could move the information from that specific text into another genre for a new specific audience: Given a new audience, what could they really accomplish with this new text, in a new genre, and how could the text look?

Genre Awareness versus Audience Awareness (Early On, or Much Later On?)

• I wonder how I could separate, organize, or integrate class discussions about genre awareness and audience awareness.
• For example, I’m thinking of WIRED’s 5 LEVELS series (1 Season, 10 Episodes): “Can everything be explained to everyone in terms they can understand? In 5 Levels, an expert scientist explains a high-level subject in five different layers of complexity— first to a child, then a teenager, then an undergrad majoring in the same subject, a grad student and, finally, a colleague.”
• In a given video, while all the conversations are part of the same multimodal text, and while the modes of live conversation within the video generally remain the same, each live conversation uses different rhetorical appeals and communication styles.
• So perhaps I could use one of these videos to jump from choices in live conversation (across audiences) to choices in written texts (across audiences and across genres)?

To teach genre I was thinking about having an assignment with two parts: first the  students would choose  a genre that they are familiar with and write about the core rules and rhetorical strategies of the genre, and who the desired audience is. After they have solidified their set of rules, I would then have them analyze a work of art in the genre of their choosing through the rules that they have written.

The second part of the assignment would be for them to locate a parody of the genre they are choosing, and have them write about the parody and whether it adheres to or plays with the rules of the genre that they had established previously. After they have analyzed this, then they will be asked about  the effects that the parody has on the desired audience.

I did something similar at the beginning of our multi-modal composition unit on the discussion board this semester after instruction began online and the students seemed to understand and respond well. Since this was successful I think it could be easily done through online platforms.

Q: What are some strategies or low-stakes assignments you might use to teach your students what genre is, and how and why we move between genres in order to reach our audiences and achieve our desired outcomes? Try to think of strategies that you might be able to use online.

A: I liked the idea presented in the Murder/Rhetoric piece we read, since my trashy TV of choice is crime drama. Having a student review how one documents a crime scene is a good way to look for specific details. Then having a student write those details in different forms: from police report to a newspaper article–from newspaper article to a feature piece or eulogy–from a feature piece to… I’d say you could do the same with other jumping off points, and you could have a series of questions with each genre used: Who is the audience in A? Why do you say this? What does A want to see? What about B? (And so forth.) All of these would easily be taken from the internet.