The Purpose

This assignment asks you to think about and process different stances on your research topic as a way of understanding the context and arguments relevant to your research topic. In addition, this assignment asks you to consider and implement different argumentative appeals about your research topic based on your perception of how to be most persuasive about an issue in terms of varying contexts, audience, and points of view.

General assignment:

For the contextual analysis assignment, you have TWO different options that will allow you to customize the assignment to your own research methods and learning style. Explore both assignment links before deciding on your assignment. You will need to commit to an assignment option no later than class on Wednesday, October 22nd.

Sources and Sides assignment

Covers & Contents assignment

 

Context Summary: Wednesday, Oct. 22

 

Draft1: Friday, Oct. 24

Draft2: Monday, Oct. 27

Revision: Friday, Oct. 31

Envision ch. 3, your own sources, including one source in-depth

Post Context Summary under Personal work

Post draft1 under Personal work

Print out draft2 (can be b/w) and bring to class

Post revision under Personal Work and also turned in as a portfolio

Context Summary: For Wednesday, the 22nd, you should write a 1-2 page draft of your context summary. This summary should be posted on-line.

Draft1: For Friday the 24th, each student should bring in a draft of each of their sides. The drafts, at a minimum, should be a 10 minute free-write that includes a preliminary visual. The key for the draft is conveying the message and persona for each side. You may experiment with the medium for the side as well (i.e., its format, context, and accompanying layout) but this is not mandatory. Post your draft under your personal work unless it is best represented printed out -- in which case, bring one print out to class in addition to storing it on PanFora.

Draft2: For Monday the 27th, each student should bring a "dress rehearsal" of their multiple sides project to class -- a thorough mock-up of the project, complete with images and design -- although you may print it in b/w. At this time, you should also bring drafts of your introductory and concluding frames for peer review. Bring one print out to class of your entire project.

Revision: Each "side" should be a position paper approximately 2-3 pages academic pages in length (approximately 600-900 words); this length (but not word count) might change when you format it as a popular article. The introductory frame will be between 1 paragraph and 1 page long; the concluding contextual analysis should be 1-2 pages in length.

The different sides should be produced in a format consistent (as far as you are technically capable) with its context - i.e. an essay from the Daily should be in multiple columns, with an appropriate header and footer and use of visuals. You must use at least one visual in each side in a rhetorically effective manner. You should site your secondary sources; if that is inappropriate for your context (i.e., a Newsweek article rarely contains footnotes or parenthetical documentation) you should include a brief works cited list in your concluding frame.

The Multiple Sides Popular Article Project is graded as a portfolio: in other words, while you will receive comments on each individual side, it is your overall project that is assessed when composing your grade.

To clarify: Your final Multiple Sides portfolio (which should be turned in in an actual portfolio or folder as well as posted on-line) should contain 1) the introductory frame; 2) the three "sides"; 3) the concluding frame 4) your (revised) context summary. This project is worth 20% of your grade for the class.