Your Grade for This Class
There will only be one assignment for the class, but it will be a challenging one. You will be asked to select a controversial proposition to serve as the focus of your coursework for the semester. This proposition can be related to (1) a social moral, or political issue, (2) an object/product, (3) a practice, (4) a movement, (5) a person, or (6) organization. The only condition you have in selecting your proposition is that it has to be controversial (i.e., something the merits of which are hotly debated and about which a significant number of Americans probably wouldn't approve). "Smoking is harmful to human heath", therefore, would not be a good topic, since most people now accept this proposition as true. "Cigarettes should be banned throughout the United States" or "Cigarette smokers may be denied employment by private companies" would be much more acceptable. Please note that you do not have to personally be convinced of the truth of the proposition that you have chosen to defend; just be willing to defend it as though you were convinced.
If you wanted to focus on promoting a controversial product--where are my business majors???--it would have to be something that most people would find harmful, repugnant, or totally useless. A campaign promoting the moral value of Jersey Shore or Southpark would therefore qualify, as would a campain promoting the valuable role that cigarettes play in our society.You would then create a campaign to promote this product. The same would be true if you wanted to focus on a practice, person, or organization, or movement.
All of your work for this class will revolve around developing a persuasive campaign in support of the proposition you have selected to defend. This work will be posted onto a blogging site exactly like this one (In fact, you will be using this very program to create it!) and should ultimately serve as a public platform for persuading others about the merits of the topic that you have chosen. You don't have to know anything about any of the programs that we will be using in this course. I have allotted sufficient time in each of our class to help you learn how to use these programs. I am also available outside of class to assist students who require extra help.
The specific assignments that you will be assessed upon this semester include the following:
Course Readings (0%)
I expect you to come to class each week having carefully reading the assigned reading assignments for that week. There will be no formal exam for this class, but I will be questioning every student in the class carefully about the reading assignments, and expect everyone in the class to contribute to our class discussions. Each of your reading assignments has questions for reflection connected to it. I expect you to have some notes for each of these questions in the event that you are called on. If I begin to suspect that students are not doing the reading assignments, I reserve the right to mandate that these questions be formally written out and handed into me each week.
"Links" Page (10%)
Your website should include a list of annotated links to sites connected to your topic. Annotated links include a description and evaluation of the site being linked to. For example:
PETA - The largest animal rights' advocacy group in the world, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) provides a comprehensive approach for educating people about animal cruelty in all its forms (e.g., on factory farms, in the clothing trade, in laboratories, and in the entertainment industry). The site inclides articles, short films, and suggestions for political action.
See course schedule for due date. Three points (out of 20) will be deducted for each day these are late.
"Position" Page (20%)
As part of the website you will be creating, you will be writing a 3-4 page position paper defending the topic that you have selected. This paper should be written in MLA or APA style and should include references to legitimate works written on your topics. You should show evidence of having used at least 2 books and 3 scholarly articles. You are also free to include legitmate websites, newpaper, and magazine articles as additional sources. Three points (out of 20) will be deducted for each day this position paper is late. See course schedule for due date.
"Ads" Page (10%)
As part of your campaign, you will also be asked to create two campaign advertisements using Photoshop. The aim of this assignment is to persuade visually and connect emotionally with an audience using minimum text. You don´t need any prior experience using Photoshop, since I will be instructing you on how to use the program during our lab sessions.
See course schedule for due date. Three points (out of 20) will be deducted for each day these are late.
"Media" Page (20%)
One of the most challenging assignments in this class will be to use video footage that you will shoot (flip video cameras will be made available in the media center for your use) to create a visually interesting and persuasive five minute "documercial" on your topic. A documercial is much shorter than a documentary, but longer than a traditional commercial, and its aim is to persuade an audience of the merits of your position.
I will be instructing you on how to shoot your documercial and how to edit it using Windows Movie Maker, so you don´t need to worry about that.
See course schedule for due date. Three points (out of 20) will be deducted for each day your video is late.
Persuasive Speech (10%)
During our last few classes of the semester, each student in the class will be expected to unveil their site and make a case to the rest of the class regarding the merits of the position they have chosen to defend. Your grade for this speech will be based upon how well you go about using the tools of rhetoric to persuade the class. Students who simply read a written speech will automatically have five points deducted (out of 20), so be sure to use notes and practice your presentation before you have to deliver it. Students who are not prepared to deliver their speech on their assigned date will automatically have 20 points deducted for this assignment.
Blog (20%)
The home page of your website will be a blog that must include a minimum of ten (10) posts written during the course of the semester. These posts don´t have to be long (one or two paragraphs per post should be fine) but they should be well written, have a specific point that they are making, and should show evidence of incorporating one of more of the tools of persasive communications that we have been discussing in class. In addition to doing this blog posts, I also expect you to have comments from other people demonstrating that you have made an effort to draw people to your site. Commentors can be fellow classmates, family, friends, or strangers.
Example of Simple Blog Post
Example of Blog Posts with Photo and Hyperlinks
Example of Blog Post with Video
See course schedule for due date. Your grade for your blogwill be based upon how many blog posts you have completed, and the variety, thoroughness and persuasiveness of these posts.
Overall Assessment of Site (10%)
By the last day of class, your site should be completed and any problems noted by the instructor should be corrected. You will be graded specifically for how visually interesting, well-organized, and persuasive your site is as a whole. Before you complete your site, imagine that you were someone coming to it for the first time. Would you be drawn into the site by what you see? Would you be persuaded by what you read and view on the site?
