Collaborative Advice and Signing Off the Blog!

Hi, everyone.

Here is some of the advice we have collaboratively generated this week while working on the "real" forms of the Public Awareness Project. As you can see, it is multivocal, so there is a some switching between "you" and "I/we" and an abstract third person:

RHETORICAL REVISION
--Make sure that the format of the open letter is suitable for the specific venue where it will be published or seen.

--Spelling and syntax are incredibly important in public documents, i.e., a single typo can loom very large. Beware of the homonyms (sound-alike words), such as "affect" and "effect".

--How can you avoid logical or affective fallacies in your text? Which ones do you think your reader will be looking out for? How would they read your text “defensively”?

--Clarify my aim/purpose for writing; this might be done by making it clear to the audience what would be gained by their reading it.

--Visual clarity--I need to make my visual aims as clear and focused as if they were stated with words.

--Think of incorporating sources as voices, or “acknowledging influences” (Harris, Rewriting 80). How can you acknowledge the influence of one writer’s whole claim on your own?

--How will you implicitly establish and maintain your credibility with this particular group of readers (your audience)?

LOGISTICS OF THE PROJECT
--Be sure to cite sources of images (give credit and/or include “courtesy of” statements).

--Tables, charts, or grids and other illustrations need to be cited in your document.

--How will you make it authentic and believable (i.e., you’re not just pretending)?

REMINDERS/IMPORTANT ASPECTS
--If I am creating a PowerPoint that I intend to use as part of a class discussion, lecture, or speech, I shoudl probably provide a written-out script or notes or accompanying lesson plan.

--If you are creating a visual or multimedia presentation to stand alone, then make sure it is long and in-depth enough for the reader to understand its full context (i.e., more than just 5 or 6 slides).

--Winterowd says that to fully understand a message, we should be aware of how a structure is being used to deliver it. The structure needs to be able to “speak for itself.”

Thanks for your hard work and enthusiasm this semester. I look forward to seeing your final projects next week. Signing off the blog,

Dr. Graban
12/11/08

Revision Plan

Hi, everyone.

Sometime between now and 5 p.m. Friday, please do two things in a single post:

1) write a revision plan for your Historical-Causal Analysis, a.k.a. "research form," based on how you might rework it after today's peer review. This isn't meant to be busy work--you can be concise but please be specific. In one to two paragraphs you should be able to discuss the most significant changes you will make, where in the paper you will make them, and why. As you post, remember that we need to be filled in on the details of your project and we need to understand your whole discursive aim with the paper.

2) discuss more concretely the real form(s) you would like to create (in terms of audience, aim, genre, venue, etc.). As you think about how to repurpose your historical-causal "discovery" into another form, be willing to commit to this form and be ready to discuss specific aspects of its rhetorical construction. If at all possible, as part of your post, include links or references to similar genres so that we can see what you are aiming for.

Rather than create a new post, you may feel free to "comment" on this one.

Good luck and have fun with this. The more you can show, the further along you are!

-Dr. Graban