Introduction
Thus far, you have produced several rhetorical documents, both as individuals and as groups. You have created text and images in order to persuade various audiences of decision makers. In the Employment Project, you created resumes and cover letters with fairly straightforward arguments: “I am the best person for a particular position in a particular organization.” That is, you should decide to give me the job.
In the White Paper project, you faced a more complex rhetorical situation. White papers have to begin by convincing the audiences that there is a problem that needs to be addressed. Then, they have to anticipate objections and propose viable solutions. All the while, the white paper has to spur the audience to action. Unlike the employment project, however, the white paper project required collaboration not only within your groups, but also with the audience you imagined for the project. Though the paper did not address an actual audience, it still had to address stakeholders with varying background knowledge, interests, and power.
Project Summary
For this project, groups of 3-4 members will be asked to locate a real world client and negotiate a reasonable and mutually beneficial writing project which will be completed by the end of the semester. In working with community members, students will operate in a real world writing environment that requires collaboration with their group, their organization, and their instructor to complete the project by semester's end. It is each group's responsibility to establish their own client and project, though all clients and projects are subject to instructor approval. The instructor will veto any project for an organization which has individuals from the group as members, as well as organizations which have formal marketing departments. Students are encouraged to work with non-profit organizations, student organizations, academic departments, and small businesses. Potential projects include the following:
- A brochure for an after school program
- A policy manual for Habitat for Humanity
- A press release for a charity event
- A marketing campaign for a coffeeshop live music series
- A market analysis and series of fliers for a campus club membership drive
- A promotion for an academic department guest speaker
- Internal policy documents for a departmental office
It is crucial that projects are appropriate in length and content. The project needs to take roughly six weeks to produce, so project options too small or ambitious may need some revision. It is also crucial that the project is mutually beneficial; the work needs to be of importance to the organization and educational for the students. For potential organizations, check out the United Way, the Journal and Courier List of Lafayette Organizations, the Boiler Volunteer Nework, or the student organizations at SSINFO.
Project Goals
This project emphasizes several important goals that all professional writers should bear in mind and that are consistent with those of Professional Writing at Purdue. The Public Document Project emphasizes the collaborative writing process in context. It will include research specific to the organization and will require appropriate technology in producing a document designed to meet the organization's specific needs:
Writing in ContextAnalyze professional cultures, social contexts, and audiences to determine how they shape the various purposes and forms of writing, such as persuasion, organizational communication, and public discourse.
Writing ProcessDevelop and understand various strategies for planning, researching, drafting, revising, and editing documents that respond effectively and ethically to professional situations and audiences.
CollaborationLearn and apply strategies for successful collaboration, such as working and communicating on-line with colleagues, setting and achieving project goals, and responding constructively to peers' work.
ResearchUnderstand and use various research methods to produce professional documents, including analyzing professional contexts, assessing and using information resources, and determining how various media and technologies affect and are affected by users and readers.
TechnologyDevelop strategies for using and adapting various communication technologies to manage projects and produce informative and usable professional documents.
Document DesignLearn to argue with visual data, understanding and implementing various principles of format, layout, and design of professional documents that meet multiple user and reader needs.
Deliverables
There will be both group and individual deliverables for this project, though group work composes the majority of the project and grade.
Group Deliverable 1: Short Memo: This 100 word rough draft memo (a Word document sent by email) should inform the instructor of your group members, and suggest the kinds of organizations the group will contact and the kinds of projects that the group is interested in undertaking. This will be composed before meeting with potential clients.
Group Deliverable 2: Formal Proposal: In this detailed 2 page project proposal, groups will propose and plan out the scope and specifics of their project. Each group proposal will serve two functions: to inform the instructor of the project so that it may be approved, and to serve as a contract between the group and client. A copy will be delivered to the client after approval by the instructor. Remember that this is a persuasive document serving multiple functions for multiple audiences. This proposal must include the following elements:
- Name of organization.
- Contact information of the organization.
- Goals/Mission Statement of the organization.
The proposal should also address project goals and deliverables:
- The deliverables determined by group and client.
- The intended audience for the deliverables.
- The intended process to complete these goals.
- Detailed timetable for completing this process.
- The group division of labor, including tasks and rationale.
- A complete Gnatt chart.
- Research completed so far towards the project.
- Research still necessary to complete the project.
- Resources needed to complete the project (technological, research, etc).
Proposal must be turned in no later than Monday, April 7. Earlier proposals will be accepted and encouraged.
Group Deliverable 3: Weekly Progress Posts: Every week (for a total of five posts), each group will post updates to their Wiki that informs the instructor of their progress on the project. These posts should include tasks completed, meetings conducted with group and client (if necessary), any problems encountered, and goals for the following week. Posts should also evaluate group progress in regards to the timetable established in the proposal. Complete this Weekly reports in PWOnline.
Group Deliverable 4: Rough Draft: A rough draft of the project which meets standards for a draft negotiated between group and client and will be workshopped.
Group Deliverable 5: Final Project: A final project submitted to instructor for evaluation and comment. This will be submitted simultaneously the to instructor and the client beforeTuesday, July 31 at 5:00 P.M.
Individual Deliverable 1: Collaborative Project Assessment Document—the same form you filled out for the white paper.
- Deliverable 1 Collaborative Project Assessment: 5%
- Deliverable 2 Rough Memo: 10%
- Deliverable 3 Proposal : 20%
- Deliverable 4 Draft of Document: 20%
- Deliverable 5 Final Document: 45%
Grading Criteria
The final documents will be graded on how well they meet client needs and professional writing standards. Because of the unique nature of the project, groups will be graded based on a specific set of standards created for their project. These standards will vary greatly between projects, and are partly the result of negiotiations between client, groups, and instructor. Projects cannot be revised after final evaluation.
