Writing Prompt

Description

Rhetorical Situation for Visual Presentation/Argument Today’s culture is governed by visual rhetoric and has proven to be an effective tool for presentations or arguments. Consider how often the visual image grabs your attention? A quick Google search provides a variety of numbers on how many advertisements Americans are exposed to everyday…the numbers carry into the thousands, 5000 in 2007 for the average New Yorker as reported by New York Times. With visual arguments, come stories (cultural narratives). Stories that share cultural values, such as the American Dream, which provides images of a white picket fence, two-car garage and a few kids and at least one dog! The value is if you work hard you’ll achieve this. Most of us are familiar with Tommy Hilfiger ads, this is one of the first marketers that comes to mind as a purveyor of this dream, which imbues itself with an idealized from of patriotism. For this project, we’re not writing ads or marketing, but we are going to work with visual presentations, either with a 6 panel pamphlet, or a Power Point presentation (10-12 slides, not presented) – I want to see writing with color & image design). I’m open to ideas here as long as they have a real world application (say, a brochure for your company you researched or a Power Point of Beer Hub of San Diego). As writers, it is important to become skilled at composing informative pieces that respond to the rhetorical situation of a visual presentation that utilizes images, document design (layout, color, limited words, etc), while considering the target audience. Research shows that utilizing visuals in writing require small chunks of information rather than longer text passages. The audience responds to color and images first, a large title can be an image. Think of this project as choosing visual enhancements to your writing, which include layout, font, etc. An analysis of the audience is important and with peer review you’ll have opportunity to discuss this, for how you appeal to this anticipated audience requires thoughtful, insightful rhetorical choices. Need MS Word or information on creating visual arguments. Project Learning Outcomes: • Learn about design and how to use various features for Microsoft office or Adobe or similar software, but must be able to save as pdf • Gain experience visual presentations • Craft content for specific readership Choosing Your Topic The topic of your pamphlet can be coupled with Module 2 or 3. As mentioned above, a real world situation or something more fun, say a children’s story or health brochure, can be your choice. A few student topics (Audience/Purpose): • Study Abroad Program (College Students / Choose program) • Concrete Canoe (College Students / Join Engineering Club) • Physics Basics (High School Students / Consider Physics as Major) • Micro Brewery (Hi-light San Diego / Tourist promotion) • Tri-athlete (People interested in Sports / Inform & Gain support) • College 101 (High School / Basic need to know for first gen education) Evaluation Criteria: For a favorable evaluation, your visual presentation must: • Have a title that indicates your topic and a title background that is visually engaging and effective. • Have clear indication of purpose (maybe in title/subtitle), written by you. • Include subheadings as needed to break up the pamphlet into main parts. • Integrate at least two appropriate images to enhance the purpose, keep in mind color design and placement. • Build trust with audience (credibility): remember you build this with logic and emotional relevance (what shared value are does this appealing to, story or goal / purpose of presentation). • Have a call to action (may be up to small paragraph) in your own words, in which you either propose a solution or sum up proposed solution or action desired to take • Have overall visual appeal: spacing, using headline and subheading font size options, emphasizing with bold or upper case, and including effective visuals all contribute to the overall look and appeal. • Demonstrate intentional design: remember to compose your written text in small sections rather than one long text, use appropriate writing style and tone. • Contain no plagiarized material: o Allofthetextcomposedbyyoumustbeoriginalandmustbewell-written: appropriate style;; sentence integrity;; no typos;; no spelling, mechanical or grammar errors. o Youmayincludequotesand/orparaphrases,butmustdocumentthemwithin your text as follows: § If you include quotes or paraphrases within your own comments, incorporate in-text attributions for every reference. • Example: According to Charles Blow in his New York Times article, “Still a Nation of Immigrants,” the immigration issue in the US is “heating up.” • Notice that the author, the publication and the name of the article are all included here. In physical pamphlet, you reference the source within or have a separate section. Research for appropriate audience/context. • For Power Point, you can list your sources on last slide.