Project 3: Multimodal Composing

Due: Monday, May 13th

Incremental due dates:

For this project you will use your op-ed/opinion essay about an issue City Tech students should care about (both the research you did and the argument you made) and present it in a multimodal text composed for a specific audience. You will then write a proposal for distribution in which you analyze and explain what you have created.

Part 1

For this part of Project 3, your creation will go beyond the written word; instead you will communicate to a particular audience, using multimodal composing. Think about what you want to say and to whom and choose a genre that is appropriate for your audience.

Remember, the audience you are trying to reach is City Tech students, and perhaps a specific subset of City Tech students (eg. Nursing students, gamers in a gaming club), so don’t choose the genre arbitrarily.

Next, choose a genre:

• TED Talk (include written transcript along with the video, use visual materials)
• Wikipedia entry (include visuals/images)
• Video, photographic, or graphic essay 
• Blog post (include images and/or video/audio)
• Informational brochure (include images/graphics)
• Infographic
• Social media thread (include images/graphics)
• Poster with Public Service Announcement (PSA) 
• Podcast (include transcript)
• Interview (video or audio; include transcript)
• Zine (pronounced zeen)
• Detailed proposal or script for video/podcast/etc
• You might think of something else!

You want to choose a genre that is going to speak to the group of students at City Tech you’re aiming to reach. You also want to make sure your genre makes sense for your topic and message. Consider, for example: who would be most likely to watch a TEDTalk? What is the point of a PSA poster and who do you think you’d reach with that genre? Who might be attracted to the information on an Instagram page with well-curated stories?

Part 2

Additionally, you will write a proposal for distributing your multimodal text to the chosen audience that you would share with the group or with a relevant audience to show why your multimodal text should be shared. This proposal, approximately 600-900 words, will

• analyze what you have created,
• explain your inspirations, intentions, and choices in your creative and critical processes
• provide a rationale for why this audience would benefit from encountering this multimodal text in this particular genre and about this particular topic
• Propose a distribution plan, to ensure that your composition, and therefore your message, reaches your audience.

Here are the grading criteria for the Multimodal project:

Your successful multimodal creation…

• follows the conventions and formatting of your chosen multimodal genre.
• integrates the research and argument from your op-ed/opinion essay.
• uses quotations and/or makes reference to specific data or facts from your research.
• uses tone, language, grammar, and sentence structure appropriate for this genre and audience.
• is accompanied by Part 2 that analyzes the choices you made and how you executed them in your creation in a substantial way, approximately 600-900 words.
• has been carefully proofread, stylized, and polished.

Your successful Distribution Proposal will address the following:

• your purpose: why did you compose the work on your specific topic?
• your audience: what did you understand about your audience, why were they an appropriate choice for your topic, and how did this affect the compositional choices you made?
• your choice of genre: why did you choose this genre for your audience, topic, and argument?
• your plan: how will you make sure your audience sees your piece and messages? What steps and actions will you take?

(adapted from Dr. Carrie Hall, Ruth Garcia, and Suzanne Miller’s Multimodal Projects)