syllabus
calendar
blackboard
student.email resources

last.updated 5.05.09

 

Projects Proposal


Purpose

This assignment is asking you to produce an exploratory document that articulates what you will accomplish with your individual projects (WikiRhet, Rhetorical Analysis, and Demonstration of Application) this semester. By doing some preliminary research and organizing your thinking, you not only address this issue for yourself, you also prove to the instructor that the work you are planning on doing is viable. If you are struggling to cognitively organize your projects, this is your writing-to-learn opportunity.


Instructions–Invention

Begin this process by reading through the assignments descriptions for the work you are required to do in this course. As you read through these project descriptions, think about how you want to respond to them. Remember that you are encouraged to do research and produce documents that are relevant to your academic and/or professional interests. Therefore, you will benefit from envisioning a way to connect these projects; this connection, of course, is not a requirement. You may want to start this process by asking yourself:

  • What type of work might I be asked to produce in my future prodession?
  • How does rhetoric get used in my future profession?
  • What does the scholarship in my field say about rhetoric?
  • What do I want to take away from this course?

Once you determine what you want to learn more about, do some preliminary research on the topic(s) related to your chosen inquiries. Although, this assignment will give you an opportunity to plan an inquiry above and beyond what we will be covering in class, you are encouraged to continue to do more outside research for your projects throughout the course of the semester.

Instructions–Writing

Write a document that describes the work that you will be doing over the course of the semester. This document should include, but is not limited to...

  • a description of what you will be doing for the projects. Listing all of the articles you will do for WikiRhet Revisions is not necessary, but describe the general type of corpus you plan to draw from.
  • an explanation as to why you have chosen this topic or specific outcomes for these documents. Why will this topic and these outcomes be relevant to you?
  • proving that you have chosen viable inquiries by discussing the resources you will work from. Support this with evidence to demonstrate that you have enough resources to sustain your inquiry. It is assumed that several options that you find for the WikiRhet Revisions will provide some of this evidence. For some less examined topics, you may have to extrapolate from resources that you can argue are similar to your topic
  • a ranked list of three possible concepts you want to compose an entry on for the WikiRhet Concept Entry. The 11 possible topics will come from the topics we will discuss on the calendar.
  • anticipating and articulating problems that you may experience during your inquiry. It is already assumed that the brevity of the semester will be an issue.

It is understood that over the course of the semester, the focus of your inquiry may change. However, you should be mostly committed to the project you propose. You are strongly advised to consult the instructor about any major changes that you make.


Criteria

Logistics:

  • 500-750 w0rds
  • single-spaced
  • This document is due on May 18, 2008 to the instructor as a hard copy

  • 50 points

In addition to the general evaluation criteria, the instructor will be looking for evidence of...

  • a sense of audience–do you provide enough information and detail about your projects that your audience (i.e., the instructor) has a clear sense of what you have done and what you will be doing
  • your projects' viability
  • an informed understanding of rhetoric. Does your inquiry demonstrate an understanding of the issues relevant to the rhetoric and writing?
  • an ability to articulate your knowledge of the course topics and your own research and writing processes
  • appropriate use of conventions, including MLA or APA citation formatting