Major Project Assignment: Mock-up of a Multimodal Text

So far, we have looked at how discourse communities use different genres of text to talk about the issues that matter to them as well as the rhetorical strategies that they often employ. We have also examined how different texts make complex claims and refer to one another other about the claims they make as well as how they agree or disagree with the arguments of others. Now, I am asking you to think about how you would intervene in the discussion taking place in the discourse community that we've been studying (or in some other community that is interesting to you). Basically, this assignment is about creating a mock-up or storyboard for how you would create a multimodal text that has something to say about a particular issue and then making an educated guess about how you think your text would be received.

The assignment has two major parts:

Part One: You will create a mockup or storyboard (this is a kind of detailed plan for a multimodal text) that presents how you would create a text with a complex claim about an issue that matters to the discourse community that we have been looking at. Your mock-up or storyboard could be for a comic, video, podcast, website, object, or some other multimodal text. To get a better sense of a how to approach creating a mock-up or storyboard, look back at Chapter 6 of the Writer/Designer text for help.

Just to be clear: I am asking you to create a mock-up or storyboard for a multimodal text, but you are NOT responsible for then making a complete multimodal text based on that mock-up! You will have a chance to do that later in the course after you get to experiment a little more with making multimodal texts.

Part Two: In addition, you will also write a composition statement that examines why you have chosen a particular type of multimodal text, what you think using this kind of text will allow you to do, how you would distribute this text so that people could see it, and what kind of response you think this text would receive. Also, please use MLA formatting and provide a "Works Cited page."

Some questions you'll want to address are:

1. Why are you choosing this kind of text?

2. What modes of communication would it use? What would they allow you to do? What would they not allow you to do?

3. What claim would your text make? What would it try to accomplish?

4. Who would your intended audience be? What would they expect from this kind of text?

5. How do you anticipate they would respond to this text?

6. What sources of information would you draw upon or refer to in order to make your claim convincing? Is that something you would need to do? Would you cite those sources in your text?

If you have any questions, please come to see me after class or come to office hours or email me; I will be happy to talk this over with you!

This will be a multi-draft assignment. After you compose a first draft, you will get feedback not only from me, but also from your classmates during peer review sessions. Once you get this feedback and think it over, you will create a second draft of your assignment.

Outcomes targeted: 1, 2, 3, 4

Remember that, since your text will present a claim or argument, it should include:

• A unique and complex stake-driven claim of your own, clearly articulated and supported throughout the text.
• Thoughtful incorporation of secondary materials (this can include reading we've done for class).
• A single, clear conversation between your argument and the supporting texts that you choose.