Project Description

Objective: Using the recommendations and information in the white papers you and your team completed for unit 2, you will imagine yourselves as a team of employees for an organization committed to addressing a current issue. The possibilities for deliverables are broad and should come from your work as you problem-set and develop the best way to address your problem. Ultimately, you should come up with a proposal and a presentation pitching your proposal, but these could include (but are not limited to):

• A public relations response
• An awareness campaign or initiative
• Plans and promotions for an educational or advocacy event
• A crowdfunding pitch and campaign

Many of you will have decided this in Unit 2, but you may have changed your mind over the course of that unit, which is fine – speak to Rachel if you’d like to shift your goals.

Imagine also that you’re not the only team working on this problem. So, while your proposal for action addressing your chosen issue needs to be well-written, rhetorically savvy, and well-researched, your pitch will also need to be developed so your team’s proposal will be chosen over the imaginary folks working across the hall. That means your presentation should give an overview of your proposal and present any sample materials you’ve created. For example, a group proposing that their organization host a lecture series focusing on mental health should talk about why mental health is a concern, why a lecture series is the best way to address this concern, and then show a potential list of speakers, a budget for the event (space, catering, honoraria, staff, publicity, and so on), a couple of mock-up ads for the series, etc.

Deliverables

• Progress memo (10 pts) – Groups will submit a progress memo as outlined on the unit calendar below on Blackboard; memo should focus on project status, barriers, and questions. Individuals can email Rachel updates at any time.
• Final portfolio (50 pts) – this will include the proposal and the presentation. Since we are fully online rather than in person, rather than pitching your action proposal live, your team will create a slide deck (PowerPoint or Google Slides are fine) with either descriptive notes to accompany each slide or a separate script document to illustrate what the group would say when presenting the deck. Many of the terms of this portfolio will be dictated by the scope of work proposal and negotiated with Rachel, so they will vary from team to team. A general estimate for appropriate length is 8-10 pages for the plan/proposal and 15-20 minutes for the presentation.
• Reflective memo & group evaluation (10 pts) – Along with standard reflective memos that accompany projects in this course, individual team members should complete an
r. atherton – spring 2019 – engl 420Y 1 evaluation of group participation that will help determine appropriate grades for all team members.
Successful projects will make use of the following recommendations:
• Teams should take process work seriously and endeavor to complete all the various documents submitted throughout project timeline
• Proposal and presentation should be well-researched, well-organized, and focused
• Rhetorical situation should be evident (as well as team’s awareness of same)
• Attention to principles of design, visual hierarchy, and style in documents should be careful and appropriate
• Team members should display professional ethos in completion of all elements of the unit as well as in communication with one another
• All team members should contribute equally; while there is much leeway for groups to negotiate what this means, no one group member should do more or less than their fair share.