Assignment ENGL 315: Scientific Writing & Communication

Assignment
ENGL 315: Scientific Writing & Communication

Digital Remix
Due: Sunday, April 15, at midnight
Save as: Lastname_DigitalRemix.fileextension (i.e. Newbold_DigitalRemix.mwv). If electronic link,save link on Word Document, then save Word document as Lastname_DigitalRemix.docx.
Turn In: On BlackBoard
Value: 150 points (15% of overall grade)

Description and Rationale: Although much of scientific communication is written and produced for highly specialized audiences in scientific and academic journals, science communication in general is composed for broad and diverse audiences and in all sorts of media. As a science or medical practitioner or researcher, you will often be required throughout your career to contribute in the creation of documents that reach different audiences for different purposes. This assignment requires that you reflect not only on written words, but on the communicative medium in which the words are produced and how the rhetorical choices you make in this medium reach an appropriate audience.

Assignment: For this assignment, you will locate a written article that has been produced for a non-specialized audience (in other words, the subject matter of the article should be written for anybody that is not an expert in that specific field). You will then determine a very specific angle, scope, and audience for whom you wish to (re)communicate this message. With this new communicative purpose in mind, you will re-mediate the article into something besides a simple, written article. What you might create may be a brochure, short video, audible slideshow, webpage, advertisement, podcast, or something else entirely. The key is that you understand your audience and the rhetorical choices you make to communicate to that audience. Ultimately, you will write a short essay, in memo format, that addresses why you feel that the content and medium are appropriate for your audience and scope.

The Re-Mediation: Your re-mediated document needs to be specific to your audience. If you read an article about MRSA on WebMD, for example, you have several options for how you might re-create this information. You may wish to create a brochure that would be used to inform hospital patients. Or, you may wish to create a short training video for nurses on how to prevent the spread of MRSA. Or, you may wish to create a narrated presentation that might be shown at a school to inform parents about what to look for. As you can imagine, each of these audiences and media will require different design and image choices, as well as diverse choices in diction and description. You will need be conscious of the rhetorical triangle (ethos, pathos, and logos) and how you are employing each to make the most effective document for your purposes.

The Short Essay: In MEMO FORMAT (shown in class), you will write a short (400 – 700 word) essay about your design choices. Specifically, I would like for you to use headings to describe the following:

Audience: Tell me you your audience is. You MUST be specific here. Tell me about all the attributes of the audience that may affect the way they interpret the information. This may include, but is not limited to, their age, educational background, work experience, gender, or familial status (do they have kids?).

Scope: Tell me what the purpose of the document is. Are you persuading you audience to do something? Are you advocating for something? Are you informing for the sake of giving information, or do you hope to prevent (or promote) something with this information?

Medium: Describe to me why the medium you chose is best suited for your specific scope and audience. What are the strengths of this medium? What are its limitations?

Rhetoric: Describe the rhetorical choices you made to accommodate your audience and make your scope clear and effective. How did you strengthen your own ethos in the design/content of the document? What medium did you choose, and why is that appropriate for this kind of communication? Would your audience expect it? If so, is this good? Where did you employ elements of pathos in your communication? Why? To what extent was logos necessary? In answering these questions, please talk about both design (visual stuff) and content (written/audible/textual stuff).

**PLEASE NOTE** Regardless of the audience you choose or the medium in which you communicate your information, I expect that your final document is professional. It should be a document that you would be proud to use in a professional presentation, for a job interview, on your e-portfolios, or for a real organization. **