writing assignments home page

Proposal for a Real-World Audience (Formal Report) Final Project with all accompanying materials addressed to the primary audience. Due November 16 (TR) or Nov. 17 (MW)	The "big project" in WRIT 465 is to write a formal report, complete with all the supporting material, on some real, meaningful topic to be answered for some real audience. It will be built by combining elements from seven subassignments that lead up to it. It is expected to be at least seven pages long, exclusive of front matter and back matter.
+Audience	It can’t be for "the general public" or "for all Winthrop students" like a research paper; as a formal report, it needs to be addressed to a primary audience comprised of a specific individual or group of individuals who have the power to act on its recommendations or contents. Thus, a formal report on implementing a plus-grading system can’t be addressed to "everyone at Winthrop," or to Winthrop students, since they can't set university policy, even though they might benefit from the change. But it could be addressed to the Academic Council or to the Board of Trustees, who could enact such a change. Ask yourself 'Who has the power to make this happen?' That's your primary audience. Your secondary audience is the person or people your primary audience would have to go to for approval. For instance, a proposal recommending that Goodview's Videos de-accession some of its videotapes in order to provide capital to add DVDs would be addressed initially to the manager of the local Goodview's, with the regional manager as a secondary audience.
+Topics	A good way to choose a formal report topic is to look for a problem that needs to be solved, a frustration that needs to be relieved, a need that no one has time to look into. You might want to explore the feasibility of taking some action, recommend a course of behavior, survey a situation, or establish a policy or procedures. Whatever topic you choose must contain some kind of research component (formal or informal survey) and must contain at least one piece of graphic information. Exclusive of appendices, the final report body usually consists of at least 7 pages, so look for a topic of that scope. I will provide you with a list of topics that students have written about in past semesters; use these as inspiration. Please pick a topic you can live with for the next eight weeks; there is no time, really, to change topics once this process gets going. Note, please, that the list of topics does exclude some topics that have proven unsuccessful in the past.
+Sub-Assignments	The report package includes seven subassignments, all of which will be used to build the final project. You will get a separate assignment for each task, and there will be opportunities to revise almost everything. FAILURE TO SUBMIT ANY OF THE SUBASSIGNMENTS MEANS YOU FAIL FOR THE ENTIRE PROJECT. The subassignments are: Work plan: A proposal addressed to the instructor describing the problem your formal report will try to solve. Due 9/14 (TR) or 9/15 (MW). Letter of inquiry to an outside source for information on your topic. Due 9/23 (TR) or 9/27 (MW). Memo to the instructor describing how you will conduct your questionnaire, accompanied by draft of questionnaire. Due 9/30 (TR) or 10/4 (MW). Progress report addressed to the instructor. Due 10/19 (TR) or 10/25 (MW). Audience Analysis Grid and assignment. Due 10/28 (TR) or 11/3 (MW). Graphics preview. Due 11/4 (TR) or 11/8 (MW). Mandatory rough draft conference Nov. 4-12. And then, of course, you turn in the final version, professionally presented.
Job Package Due Dec. 2 (TR) or Dec. 6 (MW)	This assignment (worth 10% of your final grade), as the culmination of the work you have done in WRIT 465, asks you to put together what you have learned about audience focus, persuasion, document design, and editing and persuade an employer to take a chance on you. To do this, you will create two documents and reproduce a third: 1. A cover letter applying for a particular job or internship 2. A resume to accompany the letter 3. A copy of the ad for the job or internship (if there is no written ad, then write me a brief paragraph describing the job and employer) These documents should be prepared in the most meticulous fashion possible and presented on the quality of paper you intend to use for your job documents. If you are going to submit your resume electronically, please see me for additional guidelines on creating an electronic or scannable resume. I will be providing you with a number of tip sheets and samples, but I advise you not to copy them slavishly. Rather, adapt them to fit your personality, your style, and the kind(s) of jobs for which you are applying. I also recommend that you focus very carefully on the editing, since a single mistake on a resume or job letter may get you "cut" from an applicant pool. Therefore, beyond the Rubric, the following standards apply: If there is one grammatical or editing mistake on the letter or resume, the highest grade you can receive is a "C". If there are two grammatical or editing mistakes on the letter or resume, the highest grade you can receive is a "D". If there are more than two grammatical or editing mistakes.....well, you get the picture. Your completed job package is due as scheduled on the syllabus. You must turn it in as a hard copy in your envelope. Please note the days where you are required to bring in rough drafts of your letter and resume (5 copies of each on regular paper) so that we can have peer review critiques.