One of the major assignments from Introduction to Rhetorical Studies is the following.

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Scrapbook Project:

The purpose of this assignment is to have you do a sustained analysis of a “theme” across time—doing rhetorical thinking about an issue or idea. I’ll want you to use this assignment to try out some of the approaches we’ve developed during the semester. First, you’ll need to select a “theme” to trace throughout the semester. This is the tricky part because you’ll want a topic sure to generate some articles in print or online newspapers, etc., but you don’t want it sooo big that you won’t be able to keep up with coverage.

For example, global warming is a huge topic, but if you watched for news coverage just about America or just about Africa, or just about water issues—that might work. The upcoming elections might be good fodder for watching, but as the debate heated up, you might find narrowing it to the debate and news regarding one candidate might be interesting and more doable. You could pick a local topic like the gas industry debate. Or maybe an event happens, like, heaven forbid, a coal mine disaster in this area that you could follow. Maybe it might be a sports team and some issue around that, or your home town and a trial. Please pick something that catches your interest!

The library has newspapers, even the New York Times. You might find topic in our local school paper, but my experience shows that continued coverage of a theme isn’t really normal for that paper. Online papers are great resources. And you don’t have to just follow one newspaper source though I would strongly suggest that following one source of news is much, much easier and in turn, easier to analyze in the end.

But once you’ve got an idea, something you are really interested in, then start collecting clippings (or printings from the internet) about your theme. You might want a sketchbook or notebook to tape them into. If you print online articles, then a binder might be best. You’ll gather these over the course of the whole semester. Be selective. Quality is better than quantity.

The final paper will examine the theme based on the clippings you have found. They will be the “evidence” you bring to bear for your analysis and thinking. How is the theme discussed in the paper(s)? What perspectives are offered? How do they differ or seem similar? In what kinds of places did the theme appear? Was that significant (front page or back page, etc.). Are there other issues surrounding this theme that crop up? Has the issue’s stasis (the point of contention) changed over the course of the semester? Has people’s feelings about it changed? What kind of visual images accompany the clippings and why? What effect does that have on the reading? Think about delivery here—how do the visuals delivery messages differently than the texts? Does Kairos play a part? These are just ideas…..but use what you have learned to do your analysis and cite your clippings.

Thumbnail details:

• 4 or so pages rhetorical analysis of a “theme”
• MLA style header and a very brief Works Cited with newspaper(s) listed in proper format
• When you cite a clipping, put the issue and date and page in parentheses (I’ll show you how)
• Due toward the end of the semester (see syllabus)
• When done—give me a writer’s memo on top, then a final copy, a draft (we’ll workshop these in class) with marks on it for revision and editing, and your clippings book.

Do not put this off. Work a little on it once during the week and once on the weekend. If you do this, the paper will come easily! But if you put it off and don’t work on it, oh my! Ack! Argh! Pain and suffering! Gloom and despair!

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Reading the essay by Stancliff has made me rethink this assignment. I realize that I have sort of let the students flounder in helping them pick out a topic. Stancliff suggests writing the topics down on a piece of paper and then having each student one on one adds comments. I’m wondering if another version of this might be to have students bring in three topics/clippings/etc. On a sheet of paper, they might summarize the three different topics in a sentence. Then working in groups of three, they share these ideas with their groupmates, offering feedbackon the topics—which one seems most interesting? What kinds of evidence will you find? Does this topic or one of the other have a better chance of taking wings? Then we’d go ‘round the room, sharing which topic seemed to be the most fertile, offering comments and feedback.

So, here’s the reworked version of this assignment:

Scrapbook Project:

The purpose of this assignment is to have you do a sustained analysis of a “theme” across time—doing rhetorical thinking about an issue or idea. I’ll want you to use this assignment to try out some of the approaches we’ve developed during the semester.

Step One:

You’ll need to select a “theme” to trace throughout the semester. This is the tricky part because you’ll want a topic sure to generate some articles in print or online newspapers, etc., but you don’t want it sooo big that you won’t be able to keep up with coverage.

For example, global warming is a huge topic, but if you watched for news coverage just about America or just about Africa, or just about water issues—that might work. The upcoming elections might be good fodder for watching, but as the debate heated up, you might find narrowing it to the debate and news regarding one candidate might be interesting and more doable. You could pick a local topic like the gas industry debate. Or maybe an event happens, like, heaven forbid, a coal mine disaster in this area that you could follow. Maybe it might be a sports team and some issue around that, or your home town and a trial. Please pick something that catches your interest!

On [Date] bring in three topics/clippings/etc. Pick these for a real sense of interest in finding out about them. Upload these to your website and write a summary paragraph at the beginning that shows why you are interested in each topic. Then working in groups of three, share these ideas with their group mates, offering feedback on the topics—which one seems most interesting? What kinds of evidence will you find? Does this topic or one of the other have a better chance of taking wings? Then we’d go ‘round the room, sharing topics which seemed to be the most fertile, offering comments and feedback. You should leave the class with a clear idea of which “theme” you will be following, and a beginning for your scrapbook!

 Step Two:

Begin collecting artifacts! You might find topic in our local school paper, but my experience shows that continued coverage of a theme isn’t really normal for that paper. An Atlanta paper would give you something close to home, and a paper such as The New York Times could give you perspective on a national issue. Online papers are great resources. And you don’t have to just follow one newspaper source though I would strongly suggest that following one source of news is much, much easier and in turn, easier to analyze in the end.

But once you’ve got an idea, something you are really interested in, then start collecting clippings (or printings from the internet), or upload them to a place on your websibe about your theme. You might want a sketchbook or notebook to tape them into. If you print online articles, then a binder might be best. You’ll gather these over the course of the whole semester. Be selective. Quality is better than quantity. Need to Adapt to Digital

Step Three:

The final paper will examine the theme based on the clippings you have found. They will be the “evidence” you bring to bear for your analysis and thinking. How is the theme discussed in the paper(s)? What perspectives are offered? How do they differ or seem similar? In what kinds of places did the theme appear? Was that significant (front page or back page, etc.). Are there other issues surrounding this theme that crop up? Has the issue’s stasis (the point of contention) changed over the course of the semester? Has people’s feelings about it changed? What kind of visual images accompany the clippings and why? What effect does that have on the reading? Think about delivery here—how do the visuals delivery messages differently than the texts? Does Kairos play a part? These are just ideas…..but use what you have learned to do your analysis and cite your clippings.

Thumbnail details:

• 4 or so pages rhetorical analysis of a “theme”
• MLA style header and a very brief Works Cited with newspaper(s) listed in proper format
• When you cite a clipping, put the issue and date and page in parentheses (I’ll show you how)
• Due toward the end of the semester (see syllabus)
• When done—give me a writer’s memo on top, then a final copy, a draft (we’ll workshop these in class) with marks on it for revision and editing, and your clippings book.

Do not put this off. Work a little on it once during the week and once on the weekend. If you do this, the paper will come easily! But if you put it off and don’t work on it, oh my!

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I still need to add rubrics and outcomes here and a peer review step.

 

 

 

Richard Weaver said that “every utterance is a major assumption of responsibility.” I’m aware of that as I begin this website.