During the Communications Solutions Project, you will employ some of the strategies you've learned and refined in completeing the previous projects to solve a problem or fill a need for an organization through creating effective communications. This project also gives you the opportunity to network within one of your several communities and, with your final deliverables, make a contribution. Though you will be completing this project individually, you will also work with your classmates to exchange ideas and feedback in your blogs.

project prompt and summary

For this project, you will identify a problem, gap, or need in your workplace or another organization of which you are a member, then create the piece(s) of communication that will solve the problem, bridge the gap, and/or meet the need you’ve identified. In Step 1, you will select an organization and identify the problem or need to be addressed. For Step 2, network within the organization to collect ideas and suggestions. For Step 3, you will write a project plan memo wherein you will describe the organization, outline the problem or need, identify the best form of communication to effectively solve the problem or meet the need, considering both audience and purpose, as well as medium(s), design, content, tone,etc. In Step 4, you will create the communication(s) you've chosen as the most effective solution. In the process of completing each step, you will work closely with your classmates through blog posts, comments, and replies, gathering and offering advice and suggestions.

project goals

This project emphasizes several important goals that all professional writers should bear in mind and that are consistent with those of the Professional Writing Program at Purdue. In the Communications Solutions Project, you will exercise and refine your ability to shape your writing for very specific situations and purposes:

Writing in Context

• Writing for a range of defined audiences and stakeholders

Project Management

• Understanding, developing, and employing various strategies for planning, researching, drafting, revising, and editing communications in various media.
• Selecting and using appropriate technologies that effectively and ethically address professional situations and audiences.
• Building professional ethos through documentation and accountability.

Document Design
Make rhetorical design decisions about workplace documents, including

• Understanding and adapting to genre conventions and audience expectations
• Understanding and implementing design principles of format and layout
• Drafting, researching, testing, and revising visual designs and information architecture

Teamwork
Apply strategies for successful teamwork and collaboration, such as

• Working online with colleagues

Research
Understand and use various research methods to produce professional documents, including

• Analyzing organizational contexts
• Analyzing audience and purpose
  

deliverables

Step 1: Select an organization. Organizations you might consider: your workplace, clubs you belong to, community organizations with whom you have ties, small businesses, not for profits, etc. Most important is that you have the ability to implement the solution(s) you create, either personally or via your connection with the decision maker(s) in the organization.

Step 2: Identify the problem or need. For example, one student in a previous class identified a need for the IT people at the financial institution she worked for to communicate the particulars about the migration of all operations from one computer platform to another and how the migration would impact each group, specifically, from clients to tellers to office personnel. Another student identified a need in the development and leasing agency, for which she worked, for materials to advertise and promote new apartments they had built in unique, older, sometimes unusual, buildings. Additionally, determine whether or not the organization has specific kinds of communications in mind to solve the problem or meet the need ~ a brochure, sales letter, flyers, web page, newsletter, a combination of these or others, etc.

Research examples of the kind of document(s)/communication(s) you’ve decided to or been asked to create to solve the problem or fulfill the need. Study the examples you’ve found to determine what works and what doesn’t; consider design and format, effective visual argument, as well as content and tone.

Step 3:Project plan memo. Write a one to two page memo to me identifying the organization and the problem or need for which you will be creating the communication(s). Discuss the kind(s) of communication you’ve chosen or been asked to create, the content, the most effective visual design, overall tone, and so on. Identify, as well, your audience for the final product, and your desired outcome (and I don't mean the grade you hope to get ). Keep in mind the format for memos (heading, headers and sub-headers, and highlighted lists where appropriate).

Step 4: The Communications Solution: Create the communication(s) that will solve the problem. Remember, if there is more than one document, each needs to look like part of the “set” ~ which is to say, design elements, including font, highlighting, logo, and so on, need to be consistent from “document” to “document” (be they paper/print or electronic or some other medium)

grading

The Communications Solutions Project is worth 25% of your course grade. The breakdown for each of its components is as follows: Project Plan Memo (30%); The Communications Solutions Deliverable(s)(70%).

grading criteria

Grades for this project will be based on content, tone, format/design, audience awareness, and effectiveness in accomplishing the purpose for which the communications were created. Your writing will need to be precise, accurate, and well-suited to the organizational context and to the rhetorical occasion.

revision

You will have opportunities to consult with your client organization, your instructor, and your classmates throughout the project. Furthermore, the ultimate "test" of the quality of your work will be whether or not the organization can use it to solve the problem or meet the need for which it was created. That being the case, and this being the final project of the semester, revisions after the final draft has been turned in and graded will not normally be allowed.