A rough publish is due in week three. A peer review is due in week four (Post this exact paper to the peer review forum in the week four module, so your peers can review it.)
Purpose:
To research a central conversation in your field, major, or community in an effort to understand various stakeholder perspectives
To analyze public texts in various media and genres, focusing on how textual production is shaped rhetorically
Overview: Public texts are those produced for public consumption—in other words, they are created with the aim of reaching public audiences and can be meant to educate others, to engage others in an issue or topic, and/or to shape opinion and policy. We are surrounded by public texts on a daily basis—news, social media posts, artwork, flyers, brochures, websites, and literary works—but how often have you stopped to examine the choices made in these texts, or the responses they evoke in readers and viewers? In this project, you will have the chance to do just that as you work to research and analyze public texts that speak to a big question or central conversation happening in your field, major, or community. In doing so, you will aim to understand how different stakeholders present their stance; how these choices are dictated by the creator’s audience, purpose, medium, and genre; and how effective these choices are in achieving their goals. In analyzing a sampling of public texts—created by different stakeholders and presented in a range of media and genres—you will endeavor to cultivate your personal understanding of the central conversation you’re exploring.
Steps to completion:
Choose a “big question” or central conversation in your field, major, or community in which you have a vested interest and that you would like to explore for the term.
Begin collecting “data” for your research. For this assignment, you will find a sampling of public texts representing a range of stakeholder perspectives and presented in a range of media and genres. Consider that “text” is broadly defined and can include websites, social media threads, artwork, brochures, infographics, print publications (popular or scholarly articles, Op-Eds, essays, fiction, non-fiction), performances, and so forth. Rather than feeling limited to locate a specific “type” of text, your goal should be to find texts varied in their presentation and in their target audience. Collect texts until you feel you have a base-level understanding of different perspectives surrounding your chosen topic.
Closely read your chosen texts, working to understand how the text’s argument or perspective is shaped rhetorically. Consider the following questions for each text:
What is the text’s explicit message? Implicit message? What details or clues from the text help you understand the central message?
Who is the target audience for this text? What clues about the audience are presented (or implied) in the text or context (such as place of publication)? What assumptions does the text make about its target viewers?
What rhetorical appeals are present within the text? In other words, does the creator of the text use pathos, ethos, or logos to evoke a response from readers or viewers? How effectively are these appeals used, and toward what end?
What underlying values, attitudes, or beliefs does the text’s creator bring to the work? What ideological stance is set forth within the text? What details in the text signal its ideological biases and frameworks?
How does the media (mode of delivery) and genre (form of the text) shape the message the reader or viewer receives?
Overall, how effective is the text in presenting its message to its target audience?
What does this text help you understand about the larger conversation or issue you’re exploring this term?
Begin planning your textual analysis, focusing on your responses from Step 3. For this assignment, you may choose one of the following options to present your analysis:
Traditional essay with visuals of each text
SlideShare, Google Slides, Prezi, or PowerPoint with visuals of each text
Poster or collage with visuals of each text
Note: whatever your choice, you should include a combination of visuals and text to support your analysis.
publish your textual analysis, using the following guidelines to organize your work.
In the Introduction, provide an overview of the “big question” or conversation that you explored in your analysis and the stakeholders involved.
In the Body section, lay out your analysis of the public texts you reviewed. This section essentially provides a synopsis of your responses to the questions in step 3, but should be anchored by an overarching claim about the persuasive effectiveness of the texts you’ve reviewed. To do so, you will need to identify the key strategies used by various stakeholders and to evaluate whether those strategies are effective rhetorical choices.
In the Conclusion, reflect on what you learned from the analysis – what can be gleaned from the analysis? What do we learn about the larger question or conversation from analyzing various texts and stakeholder perspectives?
Any topic is fine