Digital  Communications  Packet    Description  &  Grading  Rubric  WRTG  3040:  Writing  on/in  Business  and  Society,  D.  Singer  

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Description  &  Purpose    By  the  start  of  class  on  Friday,  November  21,  2014,  please  submit,  through  the  Discussion  Forum  in  D2L,  a  concerted  set  of  digital  compositions  designed  to  work  TOGETHER  in  order  a)  to  get  a  targeted  audience  in  the  post-­‐opportunity-­‐bargain  employment  economy  to  think  and  feel  something  specific  about  you  (that,  for  example,  you  are  probably  a  competent,  reliable,  good-­‐to-­‐work-­‐with  person  who  would  be  a  good  fit  for  his/her  field/profession/organization)  and  b)  to  get  that  audience  to  do  something  specific  in  response  (like  bring  you  in  for  an  interview).    

• You’ll  begin  by  setting  up  the  ARGUMENT  that  you’re  going  to  try  to  make  persuasive  to  that  AUDIENCE  using  a  range  of  texts  you’ll  post  online.    

 • Then,  you’ll  do  a  bit  of  RESEARCH  and  ANALYSIS  to  understand  the  

rhetorical  situation  and  genres  involved  (which  will  include  Websites,  Emails,  Social  Media  Profiles,  and  YouTube  Professional/Business-­‐Videos).    

 • Then,  you’ll  work  up  a  DRAFT  of  these  documents  designed  specifically  to  

work  together  in  making  your  argument  to  your  audience,  WORKSHOP  them  with  your  colleagues  and  REVISE,  and  then  SUBMIT  them  with  a  careful  analysis  of  the  ways  digital  texts  you  produced  actually  demonstrate  your  growth  and  developing  transfer-­‐ability.  

 Our  purpose  is  two-­‐fold:  first,  to  test  your  ability  to  use  what  you’re  learning  about  genre,  rhetoric,  and  transfer  to  help  you  succeed  in  the  DIGITALLY  ENHANCED  post-­‐opportunity-­‐bargain  employment  economy,  and,  second,  to  help  you  develop  both  a  set  of  products  you  can  immediately  use  to  succeed  in  that  economy  and  a  process  you  can  use  anytime  you  want  to  use  digital  technologies  to  effectively  persuade  and  communicate  with  targeted  audiences.    Ultimately,  what  you  will  LEARN  in  this  unit  is:    1)  How  to  TRANSFER  business  writing  skills  and  knowledge  from  page-­based  composing  (as  in  the  Job  Application  Packet)  to  digital  composing)  as  a  method  by  which  to:    

• FURTHER  develop  and  practice  Rhetorically-­‐Informed  Critical  Thinking  Skills  and  Strategies  

• FURTHER  develop  and  utilize  a  Practical  Knowledge  of  The  Rhetorical  Situation  in  Context  

• FURTHER  develop  a  Practical  Knowledge  of  Sophisticated  and  Varied  Writing  Processes    

 2)  How  to  USE  all  that  learning  to  develop  and  execute  a  MULTI-­document,  MULTI-­modal,  MULTI-­genre  plan  for  persuading  a  target  audience  in  the  business  community  through  a  collection  of  web-­‐based  texts  you’ve  developed  to  work  in  together  to  make  that  audience  think  and  feel  something  specific  about  you  as  a  professional  in  the  post-­‐opportunity-­‐bargain  employment  economy.    ************************************************************************************    

Grading    

(We  will  assess  your  work  using  the  following  rubric)    

Excellent  (90+%)    1)  By  Reading/Analyzing  the  Digital  Communications  Packet  texts  you’ve  provided,  I  can  see  that  you  appear  to  have  successfully  developed  and  executed  a  complex  and  cohesive  multi-­modal,  multi-­genre,  multi-­text  plan  to  persuade  a  targeted  audience  in  the  post-­‐opportunity-­‐bargain  employment  economy  to  do  and  think  something  specific  after  looking  you  up  online.      2)  AND,  by  Reading/Analyzing  your  Digital  Communications  Packet  texts  &  Analysis  of  how  that  material  actually  demonstrates  your  Growth  and  developing  Transfer-­‐Abilities,  I  can  see  that  your  materials  appear  to  consciously  demonstrate  observable  growth  in  ALL  THREE  of  the  following  areas—you  have  accomplished  nearly  all  of  the  items  in  those  categories  (details  for  each  category  are  listed  on  the  following  pages):    

• Rhetorically-­‐Informed  Critical  Thinking  Skills  and  Strategies      

• Practical  Knowledge  of  the  Rhetorical  Situation(s)  and  the  Genre(s)      

• Practical  Knowledge  of  Sophisticated  and  Varied  Writing  Processes        

Effective  and  Satisfactory  (75+%)    1)  By  Reading/Analyzing  the  Digital  Communications  Packet  texts  you’ve  provided,  I  can  see  that  you  appear  to  have  at  least  somewhat  successfully  developed  and  executed  a  complex  and  cohesive,  multi-­modal,  multi-­genre,  multi-­text  plan  to  persuade  a  targeted  audience  in  the  post-­‐opportunity-­‐bargain  employment  economy  to  do  and  think  something  specific  after  looking  you  up  online,  though  further  revision  is  recommended.    2)  AND,  by  Reading/Analyzing  your  Digital  Communications  Packet  texts  &  Analysis  of  your  Growth  and  developing  Transfer-­‐Abilities,  I  can  see  that  your  materials  appear  to  consciously  demonstrate  observable  growth  in  AT  LEAST  TWO  of  the  areas  listed  above  (even  if  you  only  accomplish  two  of  the  items  in  each  category).  

   

Not  Quite  There,  Yet  (50+%)    1)  By  Reading/Analyzing  the  Digital  Communications  Packet  texts  you’ve  provided,  I  can  see  that  you  appear  to  have  not  yet  successfully  developed  and  executed  a  complex  and  cohesive,  multi-­modal,  multi-­genre,  multi-­text  plan  to  persuade  a  targeted  audience  in  the  post-­‐opportunity-­‐bargain  employment  economy  to  do  and  think  something  specific  after  looking  you  up  online,  though  further  revision  would  definitely  be  required.    2)  AND/OR,  by  Reading/Analyzing  your  Digital  Communications  Packet  texts  &  Analysis  of  your  Growth  and  developing  Transfer-­‐Abilities,  I  can  see  that  your  materials  appear  to  consciously  demonstrate  observable  growth  in  NO  MORE  THAN  ONE  of  the  areas  listed  above  (or  that  you  do  not  yet  appear  to  have  accomplished  several  of  the  items  across  the  three  categories).  

 Details    

 (What  We  Are  SPECIFICALLY  Looking  For  In  Each  Area)  

 ************************************************************************************  GREEN  and  ***  designates  an  item  I  MUST  SEE  in  your  Analysis  of  Demonstrated  Growth  and  Transfer-­Ability  in  order  to  be  able  to  observe  it  and  give  you  credit.  ************************************************************************************    1)  Rhetorically-­Informed  Critical  Thinking  Skills  and  Strategies    

• You  appear  to  have  effectively  established  a  coherent  professional  ethos  for  yourself  online  that  is  clearly  and  obviously  relevant  to  your  field/profession/a  particular  type  of  job  you  want  to  have  (thereby  demonstrating  your  ability  to  analyze  issues,  problems,  or  opportunities  relevant  to  your  field  or  profession)  

 • ***You  appear  to  have  selected  appropriate  sources  through  which  to  a)  research  

the  technologies  of  digital  communications  and  b)  to  gather  appropriate  material  to  post  on  your  social  media  profiles  and  elsewhere  (thereby  demonstrating  your  ability  to  evaluate  information  sources  for  relevance,  validity,  and  credibility)  

 • You  appear  to  have  made  ONE  reasonably  focused  and  persuasive  argument  

using  your  website,  email,  social  media  profiles,  and  video  that  is  COHESIVE  (all  these  documents  work  together  to  make  your  ONE  overall  argument  clear  and  persuasive)—and  that,  within  these  documents,  you  effectively  employ  an  organizational  pattern  that  makes  the  argument  appear  consistent  and  logical  by  foregrounding  action-­‐claims,  following  action-­‐claims  with  clear  and  effective  examples/context,  and  then  making  it  clear  how  the  examples/context  provided  actually  show  the  action-­‐claims  to  be  true  (thereby  demonstrating  your  ability  to  frame  issues,  to  utilize  evidence  and  sound  reasoning,  and  to  employ  rhetorical  strategies  to  produce  a  coherent  and  persuasive  argument).  

 

 2)  Practical  Knowledge  of  Rhetorical  Situation(s)  and  Genre(s)      

• You  appear  to  have  effectively  utilized  non-­verbal/visual/auditory  rhetoric  (as  “document  design,”  for  example)  in  all  your  materials  to  a)  cue  your  intended  audience  to  see  the  documents  in  the  target  genre  and  b)  direct  the  attention  of  your  audience  to  the  information  he/she  would  find  most  important  and  c)  make  you  target  audience  actually  think  and  feel  a  certain  way  about  you  (thereby  demonstrating  your  ability  to  analyze  the  professional  and,  as  appropriate,  societal  context  of  issues,  problems,  or  opportunities;  to  understand  writing  and  other  forms  of  communications  as  collaborative  dialogues  between  authors  and  others;  and  to  understand  how  constraints  such  as  time,  resources,  professional  protocols,  conflicting  obligations,  or  political  pressures  influence  any  rhetorical  situation).  

 • ***You  appear  to  have  effectively  analyzed  the  rhetorical  situation  you’re  in  as  a  

person  composing  digital  materials  to  be  found  online  by  targeted  audiences  in  the  post-­‐opportunity-­‐bargain  employment  economy  who  my  be  looking  you  up  to  decide  whether  or  not  to  interview  you—and  you  have  used  that  analysis  to  figure  out  what  to  include  in  and  exclude  from  all  your  digital  materials  (like  specific  words  and  phrases,  images,  sound,  etc.)  based  on  what  your  target  audience  likely  values  and  is  likely  looking  for  in  an  applicant  for  a  specific  type  of  job  or  internship  opportunity  at  a  specific  type  of  company  (thereby  demonstrating  your  ability  to  analyze  the  values,  perspectives,  and  expectations  of  specific  audiences,  and  to  use  field-­‐specific  language  appropriate  for  other  professionals  that,  where  appropriate,  remains  intelligible  to  a  non-­‐expert  audience).  

 • You  appear  to  have  effectively  analyzed  the  genres  and  modes  involved  in  

producing  a  basic  professional  presence  for  yourself  online  (Personal-­‐Professional  Websites,  Emails,  FB/LinkdIn  Profiles,  and  Professional  Intro  Videos)  and  you  have  successfully  USED  that  analysis  to  produce  documents  that  effectively  manage  the  conventions  of  those  genres  and  modes  so  that  these  documents  are  clearly  designed  to  WORK  TOGETHER  to  get  a  targeted  audience  to  think  something  specific  about  you  and  to  do  something  specific  after  looking  you  up  online  (thereby  demonstrating  your  ability  to  base  rhetorical  strategies  on  an  advanced  understanding  of  audience  and  a  highly  focused  purpose,  and  to  shape  rhetorical  strategies  from  an  advanced  understanding  of  elements  of  genre,  persuasion,  voice,  and  style).    

   3)  Practical  Knowledge  of  Sophisticated  and  Varied  Writing  Processes    

• ***You  appear  to  have  successfully  drafted  your  Digital  Communications  materials  based  on  some  initial  reading/research  about  the  genres  and  rhetorical  situations  at  hand,  to  have  successfully  workshopped  your  materials  and  those  of  your  colleagues,  and  to  have  successfully  revised  and  edited  your  materials  using  the  information  gathered  from  your  workshop  experience  and  any  additional  resources  you  selected  to  read/view  (thereby  demonstrating  your  ability  to  understand  writing  as  an  ongoing,  recursive  process  that  requires  multiple  drafts,  as  well  as  various  strategies  for  developing,  revising,  and  editing  texts,  and  to  develop  skill  in  critiquing  works  in  progress,  whether  your  own  work  or  that  of  your  colleagues).  

 

• You  appear  to  have  successfully  produced  finalized  materials  that  are  clear,  generally  free  of  linguistic  and  typographical  errors  that  would  harm  your  professional  ethos,  and  concise—understanding  the  difference  between  writing  that  is  “concise”  and  writing  that  is  simply  “short”  (thereby  demonstrating  your  ability  to  convey  meaning  through  concise,  precise,  highly  readable  language  and  understand  options  for  shaping  meaning  through  syntax  and  diction,  and  to  use  standard  grammar  and  mechanics  and  develop  the  habit  of  proofreading).  

 • You  appear  to  have  successfully  managed  the  electronic  submission  of  files  to  

your  target  audience  by  submitting  your  website  and  video  as  working  LINKS,  your  email(s)  and  screenshots  of  your  FB/LinkdIn  profiles,  and  Analysis  in  PDF-­format  in  order  to  a)  preserve  your  document  design  and  b)  enable  your  target  audience  to  open  and  view  the  document  easily,  almost  regardless  of  the  type  of  computer  and/or  software  that  audience  owns,  and  that  you  have  saved  the  file(s)  with  a  rhetorically  appropriate  and  effective  file  name  that  clearly  anticipates  your  target  audience’s  experience  of  likely  having  many  files  to  deal  with,  several  of  which  will  be  simply  and  inappropriately  saved  as  “analysis”  or  “profiles”  or  the  like  (thereby  demonstrating  your  ability  to  effectively  use  information  technologies  in  communication).