English 1213: Principles of Composition II

Assignment Sequence as of 7/28/15

English 1213: Principles of Composition II

Writing Assignment 1: Locating a Problem

Project Description For this assignment you will choose a local, national, or world-wide problem
and describe an existing text designed to address that problem. To do this, you will need to
identify and describe the problem as well as locate and explain how a specific text is addressing
the problem. In addition, your description will include an analysis of the assumptions that the
design of the text makes about the problem. Finally, your description should demonstrate what is
at stake in understanding the problem and its relation to the text meant to address it.
Example:
Problem: the OU softball program is consistently a top program in the nation but fan
support and attendance are woefully low.
Specific Text Addressing Problem: Pocket-sized season schedules provide
information on when and where games are played in order to support attendance.
Assumptions about the Problem: Pocket schedules attempt to improve attendance by
giving spectators necessary information in a convenient and portable form. The
pocket schedules thus assume that low attendance results from a lack of easily
accessed, hard copy scheduling information.
Sample Projects Tornado warnings arent reaching the local Spanish speaking community; the
Sam Noble Natural History Museum isnt as accessible to the blind as it could be; its difficult to
communicate the responsibilities of diabetes maintenance to young children; voter turnout
among eligible OU students is low for most elections; because Normans water tastes different,
college students are afraid of its quality.
Learning Goals The purpose of this assignment is to help you recognize the role and importance
of communication practices in the world around you. Recognizing communication as a tool for
addressing problems will help you use the skills you learn in this class to address pressing issues
in the world. Understanding the implications of existing communication efforts and how to spot
the connections between communication and the circumstances of the world around you will also
prepare you for active and informed citizenship in a deliberative democracy.

Requirements A successful problem description will:
Forward a claim about how a particular text attempts to address an existing problem as
well as what the form, content, and circulation of the text assume about the problem.
Describe the existing text sufficiently for the reader to understand your claim.
Use examples, experiences, analysis of texts, objects, and contexts as evidence to explain
how the existing communication attempts to address the problem.
Explain why this problem matters and why it should be addressed.
Incorporate readings from this unit to help explain your claims and evidence.
Be clear, organized, and edited.

Unit 1 Additional Materials for Instructor Use

These materials are intended to help instructors and students understand the essay assignment for
this unit (e.g. using the described processes to explain the assignment in class; selecting parts of
these materials as handouts for students to help them navigate the essay assignment; using the
materials as a map to guide lesson planning and scaffolding of student learning; drawing on
these materials to build a rubric for scoring essays, etc.).
Unit Objectives
Students will be able to:
Assess the relevance of a specific text to existing material problems
Define texts, in part, as tools to address specific problems/topics/issues
Discuss how textual design reflects assumptions about activities texts are intended to
support and problems they are used to solve
Articulate the connection between course work and their everyday lives beyond the class

Instructions for Students:
Invention and Research: Instructions for Students
1. Begin by locating an issue that involves unresolved challenges or opportunities. If an
issue does not immediately come to mind, you might start by talking to leaders of an
organization you are a part of or wish to join, reading the OU Daily or Norman
Transcript to identify campus or community issues, finding magazine articles on your
future career, and talking to family members and friends. Consider issues you deal with
on a regular basis or that impact your life in some specific way. The goal is to investigate
a problem in the real world through research so selecting a concrete issue that you find
compelling and that you can realistically research is important.
2. Once you have identified a problem, try to think of concrete, specific instances of the
problemwhere it occurs, who is involved, and how it takes place in everyday activities.
Who is involved or who is impacted? What solutions have been attempted? Who has the
power or capacity to help solve the problem or address the issue? Consider who is
involved in this problem and who might want to see it addressed. Whose responsibility is
it to address the problem? Think carefully about who might have attempted to use
communication to address this problem already. Using a map or diagram might help you
better visualize the issue or problem.
3. Once you have a strong sense of the problem, locate a text that is designed to address that
problem in some way. You might begin by thinking carefully about some of the possible
causes of the problem and then seek out communication that attempts to address those
causes (For example, low softball attendance could result from people not realizing when
the games are played or it might result from people not caring about softball or thinking
that it is an uninteresting sport. A pocket schedule attempts to address at least one of
those possible causes and so is an instance of communication that attempts to address the
problem). The goal here is not to find the only cause of the problem or try to solve the
problem. For now, focus on defining the problem and finding an existing attempt to
address it through communication.
4. Analyze the text carefully for what its form and content relate about what problem(s) it is
trying to address. Think about what material the text is made of and how it circulates to

understand what the text is designed to actually do. (For example, the pocket schedule is
made of paper, is small, and gives information about game times and locations. The
material, form, and content of the pocket schedule text means that it can be easily carried
by a single person but since its made of paper it is not easy to share with others. Thus it
seems meant to be used primarily by a single person to remember the locations and times
for games. The design of the text seems to assume that low attendance is a result of
individual spectators not having easy access to game time and location information). The
goal here is not to try to deduce what the creator of the text intended, but to articulate
what activities the design of the text most directly supports and what that design reveals
about the assumed nature of the problem.
Note to Instructors: Alternatively, some students may find it easier to begin the invention process
by finding a text first and then locating the problem that text addresses (e.g. a sign guiding
cyclists to ride down the east side of the south oval sidewalk or a syllabus giving students
important information for a class). Students may fortuitously locate a text that works well, but
the process can be facilitated by having students select a number of texts and then narrow their
choices by examining the problems each text addresses. The invention process beginning with a
text would start with the text and then ask students to articulate precisely what problem the text
seems to address (e.g. the sign addresses the problem of organizing traffic on the south oval to
improve safety or the syllabus communicates policies students need to know from the first day of
the course). It is important for this and the following assignments that students directly connect
the text to a specific, real-world problem. One benefit of starting with a text is that the
assumptions the text makes about the problem become the starting point for identifying the
problem and thus sets up the research that complicates those assumptions for Unit 2.
Planning and Drafting: Instructions for Students
Your problem description will need to have a main point or thesis statement that makes a
claim about how the text youve chosen addresses the problem and what the text assumes
about the cause of the problem.
Your description should describe the broader problem the text addresses. You will need
to describe how the particular text currently addresses the problem in terms of the texts
form, content, material, media, and circulation. The description should also include a
careful explanation of what assumptions about the problem the text addresses.
Because your problem description will require organizing a rich array of specific details
and need to explain the communication failure in a logically coherent way, you may
consider using specific formal features like section headings or carefully included
transitional phrases that support connections between points of your description. While
this project involves description, you will need to do more than just tell a story about the
problem. Choose an organizational structure that reflects your systematic approach to
analyzing a text and the problem it addresses.
Your description must also provide concrete evidence and specific examples and/or
details to support the claim that the communication fails to achieve its intended effect.
Since the goal of this project is to document that you have gone through a systematic
process of careful thinking about an issue, the language and tone of your problem
description need to reflect that thinking through the use of precise language, logical
structure, and the use of formal features to ensure clarity of expression.

English 1213: Principles of Composition II

Writing Assignment 2: Analyzing the Context
Project Overview

In the last assignment, you identified a text intended to address a real world problem and the
assumptions about the problem embodied in the design of the text. For this assignment, you will
analyze the rhetorical context of the problem in order to better understand how the design of the
text limits its effectiveness in addressing the problem. Your goal in this assignment is to
understand the problem more completely with the goal of increasing the effectiveness of the
existing communication. To do this, you will need to examine carefully those involved in
creating the existing text (their goals, interests, skills, and intentions, etc.), the medium, content,
and circulation of the existing communication (what its made of, how it delivers its message,
who its intended audience seems to be, etc.), and the audience for the communication (their
interests, goals, preferred methods of communicating, etc.) In order to collect the data necessary
to ensure a rich understanding of the reasons for and impact of ineffective communication as
possible, you will need to conduct field research in the form of observation and interviews.
Learning Outcomes
The purpose of this assignment is to help you develop the skills and strategies for building a
claim based on carefully researched inquiry from multiple perspectives. Such an approach
demands a thorough understanding of the context before making a claim. Your research should
be focused on learning from those affected by problem the text addresses as experts about the
goals for communication, the resources for communication that they possess, and other factors
that may influence the creation and reception of communication. This kind of research also helps
you recognize how communication efforts reflect the reasonable concerns of those involved.
Requirements
This assignment asks you to explain the limits of the effectiveness of the existing communication
by thoroughly investigating the context of that communication. A successful context analysis
will:
Forward a claim about what limits the effectiveness of your chosen text in the particular
context of the problem.
Introduce your discussion of the context by providing necessary background information
and communicating the stakes for understanding the context.
Make clear the connections and relationship of contextual elements (i.e. explain in detail
how the parts of the context limit the effectiveness of the communication).
Use examples, details, quotes from interviews and material from observations and other
research data as evidence to support your claim.
Explain the relationship between limited effectiveness of existing communication and the
larger problem.
Incorporate readings from this unit to help explain your claims and evidence.
Cite all sources correctly and consistently according to the citation style you have chosen.
Be clear, organized, and edited

Unit 2 Additional Materials for Instructor Use

These materials are intended to help instructors and students understand the essay assignment for
this unit (e.g. using the described processes to explain the assignment in class; selecting parts of
these materials as handouts for students to help them navigate the essay assignment; using the
materials as a map to guide lesson planning and scaffolding of student learning; drawing on
these materials to build a rubric for scoring essays, etc.).

Unit Objectives
Students will be able to:
Define the context of a communicative act
Locate and apply expertiseboth academic and non-academicto understand a specific
communicative context
Describe the complex interaction of contextual factors in creating communication and
influencing its effectiveness
Conduct field research in the form of observations and interviews
Chart in detail the conceptual and physical assets for communication in a particular
context
Speculate about potential solutions to failures of communication
Instructions for Students:
Research and Background
1. Gathering information can not only help you learn more about something but can often
reveal what else you need to learn. Begin this project by building on the research you
conducted for the first assignment. Find out more about the basic components of the
communicative context: the creator(s) of the communication, the communication itself or
the text, and the intended audience(s) for the communication. Use the observation and
interview techniques weve gone over in class to get more information about these
elements of the context. Throughout the process keep asking yourself who could help you
understand what is going on and what information do you need next?
2. Find out who created the communication and why. What was the communicator(s) trying
to accomplish? Why did they create the communication in its existing form? You will, of
course, need to speak with someone who can give you this information. Some contexts,
like those of online communication, may require other means of contacting
communicators or of learning about their goals and intentions. Remember that this person
or these persons are experts on their own goals and probably know as much or more
about the more general problem than you do. Recognize that the current communication
efforts exist for valid reasons and then attempt to understand those reasons. Listen
carefully and be sure to use the interview and data collection skills weve gone over in
class to learn as much as possible. Often more than one person is involved in creating
communication so keep that in mind as you gather data.
3. Focus also on the instance of communication itself. Where does it go? Who does it reach?
Consider how the medium (what the communication is made of and how it communicates
its message) impacts where it circulates and to whom. (For example, the pocket schedule
is easy to pass out to people, but once they have it, they cannot broadcast it to all their
friends). What does the text try to accomplish and what does it not attempt? What

activities does the text make possible? (For example, the pocket schedule makes it
possible for people to plan to attend a softball game). What activity does the text not
support? (The softball schedule does very little to help someone convince others to attend
a softball game). Does the activity speak to the interests of those it is meant to reach?
4. Consider the intended audience: What is their relation to the problem? What are their
interests, goals, and values as they relate to the problem? How do these interests and
goals shape how they encounter the communication? (For example, potential fans of
softball may be interested in being entertained or joining in collective activities the
pocket schedule might not speak to these interests. A schedule for individual offers no
guarantee others will be attending). You will need to consult intended or existing
audience members to learn the answers to these questions.
5. Allow your research to guide future investigation and direct your data collection as you
progress. As you learn more, think about discrepancies in the data to help you see where
you need more information. To do this, you might ask yourself: Does how and to whom
the communication circulates differ from the intentions of its creators? What do I need to
know to understand this situation better? Combining observation with interview allows
you to develop a fuller picture of actual practice. While members of the context are
experts about their motivations and goals and can offer insight into the problem, careful
observation can help you see things they are not seeing.
6. Ask searching questions regarding the communication context as you collect data to
ensure your continued research is productive. What has prevented stakeholders from
seeing the problems with existing communication? Are there hidden conditions that keep
the communication from being changed (For example, there may be no budget for
changing the pocket schedules)? Does the intended audience have the capacity to respond
to the communication in a way that will address the problem or does it make sense to
define the audience in a new way? Discrepancies in data and questions arising from them
are important points to think about as you try to understand why the communication is
ineffective.
Planning and Drafting
Your context description will need to present the research material you have collected
and will need also to draw out connections among the material to make a claim about
why the existing communication is ineffective or fails to fully address the broader
problem.
The essay will need to include an introduction that explains the problem and its relation
to communication sufficiently to allow the reader to understand how you define the
context and your description of its relevant details.
You will need to provide evidence in the form of researched material gathered from your
observations, interviews, and other sources.
Your context analysis should not be a report of your research process or of all the data
you have collected. Instead, it should forward a claim about the extent to which the
reality of the problem does not align with the assumptions of the existing text designed to
address it and should arrange data and evidence in ways that support this claim.

English 1213: Principles of Composition II

Writing Assignment 3: Improving Communication

Project Overview For this assignment you will propose a new design of communication to
address the problem youve studied more effectively. Proposals attempt to persuade an audience
to enact a recommendation, so your proposal must present a feasible solution to the
communication problem given the available resources and contextual constraints. Your proposal
should persuasively explain a set of criteria for successful communication derived from previous
and continuing research regarding the communicative context and then describe how the text(s)
you propose successfully meets that criteria. You will need to explain in detail what resources
your proposed communication will require, how those resources will be used, and who will use
them to create the text you are proposing. The proposal must include at least one infographic that
works with textual elements to make a persuasive case for your proposed communication.
Learning Outcomes The purpose of this assignment is to help you learn to recognize relevant
information from various contexts and perspectives and then adapt and synthesize that
information for application to a new situation. Developing an awareness of how and why you
perform the adaptations will prepare you to repeat this process in future communication contexts
you encounter. By finding useful connections among seemingly unconnected resources, you will
expand your repertoire for successful communication and problem solving. Adapting a related
response to a particular situation gives you practice in using inquiry-based research skills to see
the potential value of a range of responses and thereby equips you better to address the
complexity of real-world problems. In addition, this assignment will help you recognize how
your previous research enables you to implement effective communication as a critically
considered and systematically developed response to a particular context.
Requirements This assignment asks you to propose a piece of communication that will address
the failure youve been studying. A successful communication proposal will:
Make an explicit proposal that a particular text be used to improve communication within
a given context.
Offer necessary background information by describing the problem and context the
proposed communication addresses
Provide a thorough description of the proposed communication.
Provide details, evidence, and support for your proposed communicationincluding the
criteria youve developedfor why this text will improve communication in this context.
Include at least one infographic that supports the persuasive purpose of the proposal
Carefully arrange content to persuade the reader of the effectiveness of your proposed
communication.
Be clear, organized, and edited

Unit 3 Additional Materials for Instructor Use

These materials are intended to help instructors and students understand the essay assignment for
this unit (e.g. using the described processes to explain the assignment in class; selecting parts of
these materials as handouts for students to help them navigate the essay assignment; using the
materials as a map to guide lesson planning and scaffolding of student learning; drawing on
these materials to build a rubric for scoring essays, etc.).

Unit Objectives
Students will be able to:
Generate criteria for what effective communication must look like and accomplish based
on your research of the given context
Synthesize different ideas into a workable solution that meets your criteria given the
existing assets of the communication stakeholders
Apply theories and secondary research when addressing a real world problem.
Make a persuasive case for the implementation of your proposed solution

Instructions for Students:
Invention and Revision
1. Conduct secondary research to learn more about how communication takes place more
generally or about how situations like the one youve studied might best be addressed.
This may include theories of how to persuade audiences to action through writing or how
to disseminate information effectively in contemporary contexts. You might find useful
information in writing studies journals, by communicating with professional writers who
have dealt with similar situations, or by examining related areas of research that might
shed light on your particular context.
2. Combining this new information with your own primary research, develop a list of
criteria that communication will have to meet to be effective in the specific context
youve studied. Synthesize the expertise youve developed with that of other experts to
gain a better understanding of communication in context. Think carefully also about what
makes one form of communication particularly useful for the needs of the context. Who
is the audience of the text? Why is one form of communication particularly appropriate
for that audience? What literacies are necessary for creating and/or understanding the
text? Make your criteria explicit. Example:
Researched data:
Primary Research OU students want to be entertained, to be part of a collective
experience, and to share that experience with others. Students often use digital
devices to communicate.
Secondary Research An article on rhetorical theory explains effective
communication employs communication tools available to the audience.
Criteria: Effective communication for improving student attendance must:
1. Convey that softball is an entertaining experience.
2. Emphasize a sense of softball attendance as a collective experience.
3. Take advantage of shareable digital communication that students already use.

3. As you develop criteria, continue to seek out examples of successful communication and
other secondary research that can help you imagine ways to accomplish the criteria
youve listed. Your goal is to find relevant ideas or approaches that you can use to
imagine how to accomplish more successful communication in your context. (For
example, research on improving attendance at softball games through effective
communication may not exist, but improving traffic at a local business or raising the
profile of a specific organization among a target audience might be discussed in Public
Relations journals or may be demonstrated by specific ad campaigns. You might return to
your research from step 1 for new insights in light of your developed criteria to create a
guerilla marketing campaign that uses persuasion effectively to improve attendance).
4. As you conduct secondary research and look back over your primary research data, be
sure to revise your criteria in light of new concepts, information, or ideas you encounter.
The practice of research is to increase your knowledge and change your ways of looking
at an issue so that you can make informed decisions. Allow new information and
knowledge to help you revise and improve your sense of the problem and of what
communication will most effectively address it.
5. Based on the criteria youve created and the strategies youve researched, design an
effective communication that fits that criteria. You should think broadly about what
communication means and how ideas/information/concepts can be communicated (For
example, letters to the editor or YouTube videos are ways of communicating but so are
the use of performance art, protests, or flash mobs).
6. Be sure to consider the feasibility of your proposed communication. You may ask who is
going to implement this communication and how? What is the budget, the timeline, and
the resources needed and who will provide these? (For example, a flash mob may help
publicize and suggest the excitement of softball games, but team members and/or their
families might not be able to coordinate schedules or have sufficient time to prepare such
a text). The goals is to create a form of communication that those involved can actually
use to address the problem. Remember that doing the work of designing communication
can also reveal new criteria you had not previously considered. Be sure to note any
developments in this direction.
7. Because justifying your decisions will be an important part of your proposal, you should
keep track of the reasons behind your choices as you imagine the form of communication
you want to propose.
Planning and Drafting
Your proposal will center on the text you propose and your reasons for proposing it. Your
reasons should be drawn from your research and the criteria you have developed for
successful communication in this context. Since the criteria you create will be drawn
from research (both primary and secondary), you should present this criteria as evidence
to support your proposal.
The proposal will need to explain briefly the existing problem and the failure of
communication within that context to provide background information for the proposal.
You will likely need to draw on previous work you did in the first two assignments.
You will need to give a clear description of the text you propose and how it is appropriate
to the needs, literacies, and available resources of the context. Provide specific details

about the text explaining what it will look like, what language it will use or specific
visual or audio components it will employ.
Explain how the elements of the text work together and how they function within the text
and within the context to improve communication among stakeholders. Employ at least
one infographic to help the reader understand an important point about your proposal,
whether it be to visualize the design of the new communication, a specific manner in
which you expect it to circulate, a map of the context, etc.
You may consider adapting the form and structure of proposals from the business or
academic world. These often include a brief description of the problem the proposal
addresses and its importance, a technical section detailing how the proposed text will
actually be constructed, a financial section which you might appropriate to discuss
necessary resources, and a timeline that explains how long the proposal will take to
complete and when specific parts of the proposal will be completed.
This is a formal proposal presented from an academic perspective and your choice of
language should reflect the expectations of an academic audience. You will have chance
to share drafts of your proposal and revise based on feedback from me and your peers.

English 1213: Principles of Composition II

Writing Assignment 4: Presenting Interactive Prototypes

Project Overview
In this assignment, you will create an interactive prototype that demonstrates a small-scale
version of your communication solution. As a prototype, your project should replicate your
proposed communication in a material form that allows you to demonstrate its feasibility and
functionality. While your prototype need not exhibit every detail of the finalized product, it
should be complete enough to demonstrate how it accomplishes its intended purpose. In addition,
you will need to create a poster detailing a plan of distribution and circulation (How will the
object reach and communicate to your intended audience?) as well as an explanation of how your
text functions to improve communication in the context for which it was created.
Learning Outcomes
This assignment gives you the opportunity to apply the knowledge, criteria, and proposed
changes you have developed over the semester in producing communication intended to address
the needs of a specific context. This assignment will also help you see writing as a process of
design to encourage user interaction with texts and contexts. The practice of actually
constructing your prototype will also help you consider how material elements like circulation
and delivery affect communication success. Justifying the design choices behind your prototype
to others will help you more fully recognize the process of composing successful communication
for a specific context allowing you to adapt the skills youve developed this semester to other
contexts and communication issues more easily and effectively.
Prototype Requirements
This assignment asks you to create a prototype of your proposed communication improvement.
A successful prototype will:
Facilitate circulation to and encourage interaction with the intended audience(s).
Effectively communicate necessary information in a form that is accessible by the
intended audience and supports the goals of various stakeholders.
Be complete enough to demonstrate how the design will work in practice.
Draw from existing material and literacy resources and reflect the needs of the context as
expressed in your own criteria for successful communication.
Consist of materials appropriate for the design and its actual use.
Poster Requirements
The poster portion of this assignment asks you to explain how your prototype will improve
communication in your selected context. A successful poster will:
Provide background information on the communication failure that initiated your
research
Explain the context of the problem and its features (stakeholders, resources, constraints,
etc.).
Describe your prototype design and explain your design choices in terms of how it
specifically addresses the context of communication (how it addresses the needs of
stakeholders, addresses the audience(s), makes use of existing material and literacy
resources, etc.).

Explain the sustainability of your design in regard to maintenance of the text, its
continued development by stakeholders, and its potential for adaptation to changing
contextual conditions.
Employ different modes of communication effectively and appropriately to convey
information about your design (including infographics).
Include a section that provides a bibliography of works consulted in the creation of the
prototype. These should include any researched material that informed your design
process.

Unit 4 Additional Materials for Instructor Use

These materials are intended to help instructors and students understand the essay assignment for
this unit (e.g. using the described processes to explain the assignment in class; selecting parts of
these materials as handouts for students to help them navigate the essay assignment; using the
materials as a map to guide lesson planning and scaffolding of student learning; drawing on
these materials to build a rubric for scoring essays, etc.).

Unit Objectives
Students will be able to:
Produce the prototype designed in the previous assignment
Produce a poster that communicates to a general audience how the prototype design
effectively addresses the existing problem
Reflect on the rhetorical concepts, research, and concerns of feasibility they used to
design an effective form of communication
Use the production process to inform the continued development of the prototype design

Instructions for Students:
Constructing the Prototype
1. This project builds on your previous work, especially the proposal in assignment 3.
However, actually designing a text can reveal unforeseen challenges and opportunities.
Remain open to potential improvements on your proposal as you compose your text.
2. Craft your prototype from appropriate materials that support its design, circulation, and
reception. As you compose your prototype remember that it must operate in context
independently of any additional explanation and circulate to the appropriate audience(s).
What medium or media will allow your text to do this? How will stakeholders interact
with your text? How will it reach its audience?

Poster Presentation
Poster presentations are used by a number of academic disciplines as a way to facilitate
academic discussion of research. Your poster should explain your prototypeitself a
result of your research findingsto your classmates allowing them to frame an informed
opinion of your design. The class will then vote on which posters should be part of the
annual showcase of student research. So your poster should rely sufficiently on concepts
we have encountered in class to persuade your peers of the usefulness of your design, but
should also be accessible enough for a more general audience to understand your project.
To create your poster look back over your previous research and written essays. Reflect
on how you came to choose this design, text, or object to address your context. How does
the new text attend to the problem you originally identified? How does it reflect the
needs, resources, and constraints of the intended context? How does it fit the criteria you
developed through primary and secondary research?
Choose a presentational layout and materials for your poster that will best help the poster
audience understand how your prototype will function in context. Use various
communicative modes in your poster to effectively describe the problem your prototype
addresses, the prototype itself, and your plan of delivery as well as your justifications for
designing your prototype in this way.