Genres, according to writing studies scholar Kerry Dirk, are “tools to help people to get things done” (252). Genre, more expansively, refers to the socially constructed assumptions and rules that inform and constrain our engagement in a range of repeating rhetorical situations. For the final major assignment of the semester, you will be using genre to help you present what you’ve done this semester to a new audience. In order to do this, you will remediate one of your projects–the EAC or the RSA ir the SLN–into a new genre of your choice. For example, you might produce a video, create a website, design a twitter campaign, compose a photo essay or a song, write an op-ed, extend your EAC into a text-based multi-modal research essay, or work in any other number of genres.
Here are some examples of past student projects:
- A student who had researched sustainable fashion interviewed a local boutique clothing store owner for and composed a magazine-style spread.
- A student who had researched the therapeutic uses of yoga for those who had suffered trauma composed a manual for yoga instructors presenting this in formation and recommending certain poses.
- A student who had researched sustainable diets composed an online recipe book using ingredients that can be foraged locally in SC
- A student researching gender equity in science fields wrote a children’s book about a mother and daughter struggling with parallel issues in their respective work and school environments.
- A student exploring research on mindfulness training in elementary schools creates super-hero posters demonstrating key relaxation techniques that could apply to both boys and girls.
- A student exploring sleep issues among college students created a brochure for student health services at CofC
The possibilities are endless!
The final product of your remediation will be an actual artifact in your new genre as well as a ~750 word reflective and analytical essay essay that examining the rhetorical situation of your remediation. In this essay, you will address the following:
- What is the exigence of your revised text? Be specific here, using facts and figures as relevant (source and link as needed). Remember, the exigence is not the purpose–it is the problems or issues that drive the purpose, or that the artifact responds to.
- Who is the audience (0r who are the audiences) for your revised text, and why is that a particularly relevant audience?
- In what genre is your revised text composed and why did you select this genre based on the new rhetorical situation? What are key features of your genre?
- What constraints–technical, rhetorical, cultural–did you encounter or consider in composing in this new genre?
- Describe the ways in which you transformed or translated the content, subject, or generic conventions related to an earlier project to arrive at your new remediation. Make sure you note the kinds of genre research that went into this process as you evaluated the most common or relevant “moves” and “steps” related to your genre.
- Describe any additional research that went into the project (beyond genre-based research).
- What do you see as the strongest aspects of your project? Where is there room to improve?
This reflective essay will be your final “remix” post accompanying the digital presentation of your artifact on the course blog. The essay will be posted to the blog, and include relevant media–most importantly a deliverable artifact (a digital version of your project either embedded or linked).
Tips for Writing and Research:
- In order to successfully remediate your work into a new genre you will need to use your awareness of the rhetorical situation to select a genre that best meets the rhetorical needs of the situation and audience.
- Once you have selected a new genre, you will need to find other examples of this genre and research its conventions. Please link to some other examples of your genre (if possible) in the essay accompanying your remix.
Assignment Specifications: Below are the criteria I will use to assess each student’s project.
The revised text
- Is written in a genre different than the original text
- Is written in a genre appropriate to the new rhetorical situation
- Reasonably follows the conventions of the new genre
The reflective essay
- Identifies the new audience or audiences for the revised text
- Identifies the new exigence of the revised text
- Identifies relevant constraints
- Identifies the genre of the revised text and why this genre was selected, based on audience and purpose
- Explains the revisions the author made to change the genre and why
The rubric for this assignment will cover 4 areas–2 related to the reflective essay, and two relating to the artifact itself.
(1) Genre Justification: In making a case for the relevance of the genre choice, the reflective essay offers a highly effective and comprehensive overview of the exigencies driving the remix and its topic; the target audience(s) for the remix; and the most relevant rhetorical, technical, and cultural constraints related to the remix.
(2) Strengths, Weaknesses, and Process: The reflective essay offers a highly effective and detailed sense of the project’s strengths and weaknesses, and addresses the kinds of research undertaken to better grasp and perform the selected genre.
(3) Artifact Itself: The artifact is highly effective in conveying or responding to a well-considered sense of exigence, targeting its audience on the level of both genre and rhetorical choices, and addressing constraints as relevant.
(4) Design and Polish: The artifact is a highly effective, polished, and convincing representative of its genre on the level of technical design, composition, and awareness and deployment of generic conventions.