Purpose: To compose an

argumentative narrative
about setting goals for
the course.
Format: MLA, double
spaced, 12 pt. Times New
Roman Font, 1 inch
margins.
Digital format: Any
software, such as
Audacity or Voice Memo,
iMovie, etc. that can be
shared and posted to
Canvas.
Sources: 1-2
Length: 2-3 pages (about
600 words) or the digital
equivalent (about 4
minutes of audio or
video).
Draft Due: 8/29
Final Due: 9/2

Project #1 Literacy Narrative

Project 1: Literacy Narrative asks you to
compose a history of your experiences as a writer in order to make
an argument about your goals for the course/semester.
This argumentative narrative serves as a diagnostic writing
assignment for the class, but more importantly it will help you set
goals that you can work throughout the course to achieve and that
you can later reflect upon in your final project for the course.
In addition to personal stories, please use the course Achievement
Requirements and/or course schedule as source material and as a
guide for setting goals.
*Though not required, please consider submitting your literacy
narrative to the Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives so you can
contribute to the national collection of narratives.
You can use a selection of these prompts to help you compose your
literacy narrative and to craft your argument:
What is one story of when you learned to write?
Where does this story take place?
How does the specific place connect to how you learned to
write and/or how you feel about writing?
Who was in this place and who helped you learn to write?
How does this person/people connect to how you learned
write and/or how you feel about writing?
Do you value writing and if so, what kind of writing?
Why do or dont you value writing? What is a story that
surrounds this feeling?
What are one or two stories about writing in school?
Why do you write? How does/will writing serve you and
what story lead you to this understanding?
How do you evaluate or asses yourself as a writer? In other
words, what are your strengths and what would you like to
improve? What stories do you have that illustrate these selfassessments about you as a writer?
Based on these stories, where do you want to go?
Meaning, because of your experiences as a writer, what
goals do you want to accomplish this semester in this
course?

Purpose: To identify a
local problem, develop
solutions, and argue for
the best solution.
Format: MLA, double
spaced, 12 pt. Times New
Roman Font, 1 inch
margins
Digital format: Any
software, such as
Audacity or Voice Memo,
iMovie, etc. that can be
shared and posted to
Canvas
Sources: 2-4
Length: 4-5 typed pages
(about 1200 words) or the
digital equivalent (about
8 minutes of audio or
video).
Draft Due: 9/18
Final Due: 9/25

Project #2 Proposing a Solution

For this project, you will identify a problem in your
community, explain why this is a problem, and then develop three
possible solutions for this problem. Effective projects will indicate
which of the three proposed solutions would best address the
problem. Furthermore, effective projects will include credible
source materials to support arguments.
To narrow your topic, choose a problem that regularly appears in
your hometown newspaper and that has generated many debates
and much material about possible solutions. Alternatively, if you
want to learn about your new home, Bowling Green, look through
the archives of the local papers, the Sentinel Tribune at www.senttrib.com and BG Independent News at
http://bgindependentmedia.org to identify a local problem.
Elements of the Project:
1. Identifying the problem.
In the beginning of your essay, you will identify the problem under
consideration. This will require describing, defining and/or limiting
the problem. Focus on a local, specific problem rather than a large
problem. In this part of the essay, it may also be necessary to argue
why this problem is worthy of the attention of a diverse audience,
or an audience that is not immediately impacted by the problem.
2. Discussing possible solutions.
Once the problem has been identified, you will turn to a discussion
of possible solutions to the problem. You should discuss at least
three different solutions, and each should be plausible (believable)
and feasible (workable). Your discussion of possible solutions will
include examining the pros and cons of each
3. Arguing that one solution is better than the others.
By the end of the essay, it should be clear that one solution is better
than all the others. As with the previous two solutions, you must
provide supporting reasons for the best solution while also
presenting and responding to counter-arguments.

Purpose: To compose an
argument using sources;
apply rhetorical strategies
Format: MLA, double
spaced, 12 pt. Times New
Roman Font, 1 inch
margins.
Digital format: Any
software, such as
Audacity or Voice Memo,
iMovie, etc. that can be
shared and posted to
Canvas.
Sources: 3-4
Length: 5-6 pages (about
1500 words) or the digital
equivalent (about 10
minutes of audio or
video).
Draft Due: 10/7

Essay #3 Arguing a Position

For this project, you will compose an
argument based on a topic that stems from
Safiya U. Nobles article Missed Connections:
What Search Engines Say About Women
and/or from Samantha Blackmons But Im Just White or How
Other Pedagogies Can Benefit All Students.
Effective project drafts will include a thesis statement, and claims
will be supported with evidence from the article and additional
sources. Thus as part of this unit you will continue to use credible
Internet and library resources, will apply MLA citation methods, and
will think rhetorically about how to best present your argument.
Possible Topics (though you will need to narrow the topic):

Identity representation online or in other forms of media

Access to information (especially online)
How information is organized and presented online (bias)
Consumer rights
Corporate responsibilities and/or rights
Marginalized people in the tech industry
Democratizing power of the internet (such as blogging)

Final Due: 10/14

So, in order to explore an idea you are interested in and to narrow
your topic, you will want to develop questions like these:
How do I identify?
What part(s) of my identity do I see represented
online?
Where do I see this representation online?
How is this identity frequently represented and how
do I feel about it?
How do people who dont share this aspect of my
identity discuss this online representation?
How do others who share this aspect of my identity
discuss this online representation?

Purpose: Analyze
components in a visual
text and form an
argument based on its
rhetorical content.
Format: MLA, double
spaced, 12 pt. Times New
Roman Font, 1 inch
margins.
Digital format: Any
software, such as
Audacity or Voice Memo,
iMovie, etc. that can be
shared and posted to
Canvas.
Sources: 1
Length: 4-5 typed pages
(about 1200 words) or the
digital equivalent (about
8 minutes of audio or
video).
Outline Due: 10/21
Final Due: 11/7

Project #4 Analyzing a Visual

Argument
Project 4: Analyzing a Visual Argument asks you to
think critically about an image in order to describe it and determine
its rhetorical argument. Effective analyses will focus on the
argument you feel the image makes to its audience, which involves
deciphering the rhetorical choices made by the image creator. Your
analyses will also involve deciding which visual details from the
image to use as criteria/support for their argument.
For this assignment, you will take a closer look at an
advertisementits composition, color, text, etc.and analyze the
way it works (or doesnt work). You must find an example of a printbased advertisement that is selling a product and write an analysisbased argument on its visual text. This advertisement must be
contemporary (published in your lifetime).
You must include an image of your ad in the body of the essay and
then include the source information for this ad on a works cited
page.
Please consider the following questions and choose three visual
criteria to evaluate your image and complete your analysis:
-Who is the target audience?
- How does the text or the slogan relate to the picture?
-How are color schemes, font choices, model selections, and other
visual criteria contributing to the argument the creator(s)?
-What historical and cultural context is needed to understand the
message?
Please remember that your thesis must be an argument, meaning it
is controversial and debatable. Be sure to address a readers
concerns, doubts or questions in your counter argument(s).

Purpose: To revise and

reflect on your writing
Format: MLA, double
spaced, 12 pt. Times New
Roman Font, 1 inch
margins.
Digital format: Any
software, such as
Audacity or Voice Memo,
iMovie, etc. that can be
shared and posted to
Canvas.
Sources: At least three
Length: Revisions will be
about 6-7 pages (about
1500 words) or the digital
equivalent (about 10
minutes of audio or
video). Reflections will
amount to at least two
pages (about 600 words)
or the digital equivalent
(about 4 minutes of audio
or video).
Draft Due: 11/21
Final Due: 11/30

Project #5 Critical
Revision of a Project
Project 5: Critical Revision of a
Project asks you to revisit one of
the projects you submitted earlier
in the semester, choosing from
projects 2-4. You will complete a
critical revision of that project and
write an accompanying reflection
on your work.
To encourage and practice recursive writing, you are welcome to
revise projects for a second (or third, etc.) time for this assignment.
Project 5 will amount to 6-7 pages (about 1500 words) or the digital
equivalent (about 10 minutes of audio or video). Projects may be
longer than six pages depending on the length of the revisionin
any case, effective reflections will amount to at least two pages
(about 600 words) or the digital equivalent (about 4 minutes of
audio or video). It is also possible that this will be a hybrid project,
where the revision is digital and the reflection is alphabetic or vice
versa.
Revision: A critical revision for this project will entail (this criteria
will be developed by students in the course).)
Reflection: For the reflection, you will (1.) Revisit your goals from
Project 1, using the achievement requirements, your projects, and
feedback from your peers, the Writing Center, and your instructor
as source evidence to argue how/what you learned through the
semester. So, name your writing/course goals from Project 1 and
use the above mentioned source materials, as well as your own
reflections, to analyze how you meet these goals.
You will also (2.) Write 1-2 paragraphs addressing the revisions you
made in Project 5and justify why you made these changes. In other
words, you will be arguing why you chose to make these particular
changes in order to strengthen your writing or composing.