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Unit Three: Counterculture Artifacts and Rhetoric
In this class, we’ve put our critical thinking skills to work in our analysis of counterculture novels, nonfiction, poetry, excerpts of various texts, critical work, film adaptations, and documentary clips. This close engagement has made us consider cultural context: how a very particular time and place, and the events that occur within it, can shape a movement (counterculture) and a genre.
In Unit Three, we’ll expand our inquiry into counterculture by considering other moments/events/artists of that decade. In doing so, we’ll employ yet another lens—cultural rhetoric. We’ll be looking at how the question of audience and medium determine what a piece of writing says/does.
The Unit Three project is a two-part assignment: The Writer’s Memo and the Artifact. More specifically, you will choose a counterculture icon, figure, movement, or object to research, you will do some analysis of this work’s significance/value and formulate a claim about it, and you will create an original response to it with a particular rhetorical situation in mind. For instance, you may choose to respond to a certain book with a book review, the women’s movement with protest art, or a certain film with a theatrical trailer. You could “follow” a band with a series of blog entries about their shows. You could write and record a song in response to a figure or activist. There are many possibilities.
This assignment is also an opportunity to practice critical thinking and composing as a rhetorician. You’ll create your own rhetorical situation, explore questions of how to target an audience, follow the conventions of a genre, choose the medium for your message and, all the while, use your critical reading and research tools to develop your ideas.
For this project you will:
1) Choose a topic having to do with the theme(s) of the course. Based on your specific focus (topic), create a thesis or main message for your project.
2) Choose a specific audience (i.e., 18-25 yr old film-goers, business professionals, a government official, teenagers from SoCal, the OCC community, students taking a particular class, etc.) and a specific genre (i.e., letter, review, presentation, essay, web-page, etc.). Be as specific as possible when targeting your audience; for example, if you decide to write a book or film review, then it will help you to further define your audience if you choose a particular publication where it could be published. No matter what audience you choose, please remember that other members of your audience are your classmates—also, another important member of your audience is your instructor, who will be evaluating (grading) your success in addressing a particular audience.
3) Choose the delivery vehicle, or medium (i.e., written text, visual, audio, electronic, or a combination) which will convey your particular thesis most effectively; in many cases, the genre you choose (from #2 above), will determine the delivery vehicle.
4) Use analysis to develop a thesis/message/argument that will convince your target audience
Before you begin work on your project, you will be asked to submit a proposal providing a detailed description of your purpose, thesis, and the rhetorical situation of your project. Your instructor and/or class and group members will give you feedback on your proposal before you begin writing.
Suggestions for final projects include, but are not limited to:
• Film trailer for a yet-to-be-made film
• Film or Book review for a specific audience/publication
• Remix of a text for a different genre, purpose or audience
• Essay, Article or Report for a specific audience/publication
• Speech for a specific audience
• Presentation for a specific audience (with speaking notes)
• Website for a specific audience
Drafts, peer review and revision are required elements of the assignment. With instructor approval, you may collaborate with one other person on this project (you will both receive the same final grade).
The final writing should be 3-4 pages long and utilize 4 cited sources. Written texts must follow the formatting conventions particular to the audience/genre. If no particular formatting conventions are indicated, use MLA. Visual/oral projects will be presented to the class during the final week.
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