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| "Power Station" by hotblack, c. morguefile.com |
About the Assignment
Based on what we read and observe in the first sphere of the course, you’ll have an opportunity to transform a technical argument for a more public audience in the spirit of sci blogs and tech pieces by Lehrer, Wald, Walsh, and other public writers, and you’ll draw its content from your analysis of the technical conversations we observe in white papers, biodiversity campaigns, and public-interest magazines. By “transform,” I do not mean just “remix” or “adapt.” In other words, you won’t be parodying, pretending, or simply putting old text into a new digital “skin.” You will be making an informed interpretation of an issue based on the facts you have gathered, and putting those facts to a new narrative—a new conflict, or story of change—that is exigent for a more public audience.
As part of this assignment, you’ll be putting into practice some theories by Fahnestock, Killingsworth and Palmer, Miller and Shepherd, and Rettberg, who ask us to consider not only the role of the “citizen journalist” and the blog as “social action,” but also the rhetorical life of scientific “facts.” Finally, you'll be considering every aspect of the writing, from logic to style to mechanics to delivery.
This assignment will culminate in a single, well-rendered post on your course blog, with a separate analytic reflection. You may include visual and audio elements if you think they are needed.
- Final Draft - due online (posted to your own blog) by 2:00 p.m. on 9/25/14
Specifics
See the assignment sheet (in Bb) which we will discuss in class.
