English 120 Major Project #2:

Visual Argument

Research report due date: __________.

Draft due date: __________
(This is the date you sign up to present your draft to the class. For critique session guidelines, click here.)

Final version due date: __________

Maximum points possible: 30   (27-30 = A; 23-26 = B; 19-22 = C; 15-18 = D; below 15 = F)

Background on this Assignment

Visual and audio media are everywhere and virtually saturate our environments at school, work, and home. Billboards, bumper stickers, TV, the Web, MP3 players, bulletin boards —even clothing has become a form of mass media, with its often flashy product logos and even political messages that reach anyone whose physcial space we share. Many educators have thus come to understand "literacy" as much more than the ability to comprehend and produce verbal language; it means fluency in visual and electronic language as well.

For this second project you'll make you own verbal-visual argument in a medium of your choosing. You'll research an issue of interest to you, then develop an argument for your position on that issue which stretches your multi-media know-how. This assignment will give you further understanding of argument in its many forms, and help you assert and defend your own views in multiple ways. You'll practice researching, analyzing, and assessing your own viewpoint as well viewpoints in contention with your own. (Remember that it's crucial to understand multiple perspectives on the issue at hand. If you attempt to make an argument built on ignorance, blinkered vision, or ill will, that argument will almost certainly be ineffective—not to mention unethical.)

Instructions

1. Select or formulate any meaningful, current, controversial issue of interest to you. This issue can be local, national, or international, and it may involve substantive, evaluative, or policy argument (your choice).
2. Research your issue thoroughly. This means finding background information (history, current status, prominant spokespeople, important dates, key terms). It also means learning what positions are taken on the issue, and the arguments (claims and evidence) for each of those positions.
3. You should end up with at least five sources, from at least two main points of view on the issue (preferrably more), and you should have a very clear understanding of what claims are typically made and what evidence or grounds are commonly used to back them up on any side of the issue. (You'll hand in a list/outline during the research phase of the project.)
4. Develop your ownposition on that issue and an argument in which you attempt to convince a hostile or opposed viewer that your position is best. In other words, you want convince your audience to see things your way.

Your audience for this project should be very specific and clear.

Possible media:

• an infomercial with Power Point
• a pamphlet for distribution on campus or local coffee shops
• a website dedicated to your issue
• a digital film documentary
• a large-sized (at least 14 x 17 inch) flier or poster for hanging somewhere on campus or in the community;
• a full page advertisement for High Plains Reader
• a banner for a local club or activist group
• a gonzo article of clothing

Because you may be using equipment such as digital cameras and scanners, as well as complex software programs such as Photoshop, Flash, or Dreamweaver, this project can be very time-intensive. Be sure to start early. I'll take into account, in my evaluation of your work, your degree of experience or inexperience and the relative difficulty of your medium.

You will also likely need to explore resources on campus, including the Technology Learning Center (TLC) at ITS, and possibly the Document Publishing Center in Morrill Hall. The TLC would be an especially good place to start. They offer one-on-one instruction and classes. (Check out their classes ASAP.) Also check out the TLC's Sponge site; it's a great resource. I can also offer some support with Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Flash, and Word. (Microsoft Word has some surprising good graphics capabilities.)

Supplementary Notes

You should include a 1 to 2-page, typed and double-spaced narrative of your experience (a Supplementary Notes), which includes the following.

The purpose of this page is to help me evaluate the final product, with an eye to your individual background (or lack of it) in visual design or digital media.

PLEASE HAND IN THESE NOTES INSIDE OF ANY MEDIA WHICH CONTAIN YOUR PROJECTS. I.e., I much prefer to get everything in one concise package.

NOTE! NOTE! NOTE! NOTE! NOTE! NOTE! NOTE! NOTE!

Because your options in this assignment are so broad, and because the tools you'll use are so varied and complex, I need to help each one of you fine-tune your project plans. This means I may require you to make specific, mutually agreed-upon adjustments to the size or development of your project as you go along, to ensure that everyone in class is doing an equal amount of work. If you use a design template, for example, for a Power Point presentation or pamphlet, I may expect more in some other area of the project (since the design was pre-made).

For all choices of topic and medium: be sure to apply Chapter 19, "Visual Design" (along with any other assigned passages of the book on visual language). To do well on this assignment, you'll need to read this material carefully, paying close attention to the elements of a good argument as well as the basic principles of visual design. You'll need to recall/review Chap. 3, "Persuasion and Responsibility" as well.

During the research and drafting process, everyone will hand in a list of claims and evidence for each position on the issue in question. Remember that, to construct an effective argument, you should understand and be very familiar with all positions, not just your own!

Everyone will share a draft of their work with the class and have a group workshop/critique session. You should bring some portion for the class to view on overhead or screen, or samples to pass around.

Digital projects must be useable on a PC, not Mac. If possible, make CDs and other media writeable (as opposed to "read-only").

You must learn how to use any necessary equipment BEFORE your scheduled draft presentation.