ENC 3242, Technical Communication for Majors
Fall 2015 / USF Sarasota-Manatee / Instructor: T. E. Roberts ()
Assignment 4: Three Options • Due 6 p.m. Nov. 30, 2015 (Outline due Nov. 2)
Three Options (listen to the Week 8 lecture for further discussion)
A: Research a controversial, contrarian, or downright paradoxical topic which interests you but which, in your opinion, deserves wider recognition and understanding. Incorporate wit, satire, fun, and surprise as much as possible in your final product.
· Example 1: the disadvantages of technology in the teaching of writing. In other words, you will be arguing against, rather than in support of, modern electronic technology as a tool for teaching students how to write and think.
· Example 2: an analytical comparison of two well-known public celebrities in a field such as movies, television, performance arts, electronic gaming, sports, or politics; focus on the reputation of these two persons; how those reputations came about and are protected, communicated, and promoted; and how these persons appear to use their celebrity as tools for advancing their careers and income.
B: Create a plausible projection of how you believe students born in 2015 will be learning and communicating at the college undergraduate level (age 18-22, 2033-2037). Through your words and images, construct a virtual world in which a student of the future will access, pay for, and take advantage of higher education for career preparation. If you wish, you may create a fictitious character through which to depict this future projection. Your research should consider existing experiences such as Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC), social networking, robotics, mobile platforms (smart phones), advanced video gaming, and yet-unheard-of technology and cultural influences as possible scenarios for the way higher education may evolve.
C. Design your own Assignment 4 submission. Any serious, challenging research and writing task you would like to pursue is acceptable as long as you meet the learning objectives announced in the ENC 3242 course syllabus and the criteria presented in the Assignment 4 instructions. The course objectives are quoted below:
1. Show ability to create clear concise, and complete messages that meet needs of intended users and readers.
2. Meet stated deadline for assigned project.
3. Show ability to create and transmit messages in such diverse media as print, audio, video, in-person presentation, and internet.
4. Show knowledge and sound judgment in using effective communication concepts, theories, tactics, and strategies appropriate for intended project results.
5. Show ability to interpret and edit messages from advanced Subject Matter Experts (SME’s) and transmit said messages effectively to non-expert users.
Research Component
Each option will require you to conduct research into existing knowledge and commentary in various media, including internet, print, reference sources, and interviews with living persons. Read this tutorial from the Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) before starting on your submission: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/658/01/. Keep careful records, web bookmarks, and notes as you conduct your research so that you can easily retrieve information to clarify, support, and document your message. Provide an accurate and properly formatted list of “Sources Consulted” at the end of your submission. All work will be submitted to TurnItIn® through Canvas to ensure that you have documented everything correctly. IF YOU PLAGIARIZE, EXPECT SEVERE PENALTIES.
Format
Your submission must be presented using at least two of the following modes of discourse and/or media:
• Corporate executive speech
• Web-posted site or blog
• PowerPoint slides
• Prose report (use format shown below on page 3)
• YouTube video
• Magazine article in traditional print format (use the printed version of Vanity Fair as a model for design: http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/october2015)
I recommend that you use WordPress for web-posted material, but the choice is yours. You can find helpful tutorials on web design at the WordPress site and through a simple Google search. These videos provide helpful guidance: https://www.siteground.com/tutorials/wordpress/video/
Other information on website design and publishing is available on the ENC 3242 Welcome page. If you are a novice at web communication, either avoid it or budget the time needed to learn it. I recommend choosing the YouTube video format only if you have some experience with this medium. Good-quality video requires more than just running a camcorder and posting the results. To meet the requirements for this assignment, you need to edit the raw footage, provide synchronized audio/video that fits the subject, and deliver a final product that might lead a professional video producer to ask you about your freelance services as a videographer. Read these tips: http://www.youtube.com/t/creators_corner
Outline Due Nov. 2, 2014
Regardless of your topic, send me, by Nov. 2, 2015 at 6 p.m. (or earlier if possible) an outline of around 150 words describing how you plan to research, organize, and format your Assignment 4 project. (I will not accept any final Assignment 4 submission for which I have not approved an outline.) Sample submissions and outlines are available here: http://www.todroberts.com/USF/3242_Sample_Submissions.htm
Submission Directions
Submit your work by 6:00 p.m. on Nov. 30, 2015 via Canvas. If you have a web-posted link for your assignment, include it at the top of your submission. Name your files this way: Lastname_3242_4.xxx (the file extension will reflect the type of document you are sending -- for example, .docx for MS Word or .pptx for MS PowerPoint). Include the audio codes for the Week 10, 11, 12, and 14 lectures within the body of your transmitting email message (Week 13 = Thanksgiving holiday, no lecture). If you want a brief emailed comment on your work, name your Word document this way: Lastname_3242_4_comment.docx. (Time does not permit a detailed markup on this submission because it occurs too late in the semester for this option.)
Grading Criteria
Your grade on this assignment, which represents 30 percent of your semester grade, will be based on the following:
· The originality, difficulty, boldness, wit, and ambitiousness of your topic, the approach you take to it, and the results you achieve in the final product. I define “wit” as “intellectual power of all types, as expressed through creative and unexpected combinations of words and other symbols.” Not all wit causes laughter, but all wit does result from an original, intelligent, insightful grasp of contradictions and paradoxes.
· Clarity, conciseness, and professionalism of your research, writing, and overall message in the completed submission.
How long should your submission be?
The only valid way to measure the “length” of your submission is to record how long it takes a typical reader or viewer to receive and understand your key message(s). Stipulating word count is meaningless for a project of this kind. Measure the impact and quality of what you prepare on the basis of whether it achieves the goal you have set for yourself.
The more challenging your goal, the harder it will be to meet, and the more value it will have in the eyes of the audience. Failure to meet a worthwhile goal is not grounds for disdain; meeting a goal that is not, for you or the audience, worthwhile, does deserve disdain. I leave the interpretation of “worthwhile” up to you.
If you have a question about these instructions, send me an email. I will try to respond promptly.
ENC 3242: STANDARD FORMAT FOR PROSE DOCUMENT
IMPORTANT: unless indicated otherwise, text is colored and highlighted here for emphasis in the formatting instructions. DO NOT USE COLORED TYPE OR HIGHLIGHTING IN YOUR OWN WORK UNLESS TOLD TO DO SO.
SPECIFICATIONS. 12-point Arial or Times New Roman, double-spaced type, aligned left with ragged right margin (do not use right/left justified style); insert blank line (ENTER key) between paragraphs); main title of submission and Sources Consulted = 14-point bold centered; insert name and related information in upper right corner, aligned right, 10-point, single-spaced. The right-alignment command can be found in the toolbar at the top of your Word document. It is the one circled in blue below:
Firstname Lastname
ENC 3242 / T. Roberts, Instructor
Assignment [number] / Day Month Year
LINES ABOVE ARE SINGLE-SPACED, 10-POINT, ALIGNED RIGHT, AND
APPEAR ONLY ON FIRST PAGE (not in a header or footer)
Title <= 14 point bold centered, u/lc, no underscore, no italics
Title should be enticing, funny, captivating -- whatever you need to catch your reader’s attention!
Margins = 1” all around (left and right sides and top and bottom)
Do not indent for new paragraph -- just add blank line (use ENTER key) between paragraphs.
MAIN HEADING
Main headings are 12-point, boldface, all caps, flush left. Text begins flush left underneath the heading (no blank line between heading and text).
Subheading. A subheading should be upper/lower case, bold, 12-point, with period at end. Text after subheading begins immediately on same line.
Headings/subheadings, bullet points, call-outs (boxed quotes in large type), and other typographic tools are important because they help your reader scan quickly for key points in your message and to understand how the sections of your writing relate to one another. A professional communicator must understand the basics of typography, graphics, document design, correct use of citations and references, and online publishing. If you work for a small company or for yourself as an independent contractor, you will need to know all of these facets of how to create and communicate an effective message. Even if you hire a specialist in graphic design, you must understand how to judge the quality of that person’s work.
Go to VIEW menu and choose HEADER and FOOTER. Follow directions shown below.
Footer appears automatically on each page and consists of the following information, in 10-point type, aligned right: First initial
period space Lastname space hyphen space ENC [xxxx] space hyphen space Assignment [number] space hyphen space Day Month Year space hyphen space Page <#>
This is how it looks when you’ve done it right (of course, the page number symbol becomes the actual page number when completed,
and it is not enclosed in brackets):
A. Lastname - ENC 3242 - Assignment 4 - xx Month 20xx - Page <#>
ENC 3242, Fall 2015 - Assignment 4 Directions - Posted 9 October 2015 - 1 of 3