Professional Writing Course Schedule

Course Syllabus | Google Docs Tutorial | GEA1GEA2

Summary

Professional writing is an undergraduate course on workplace writing and oral communication. This course serves sophomore and junior-level undergraduate students. It fulfills the University’s general-education requirement for an emphasis on collaboration, a high-impact practice.

Acknowledgements

My thanks to Julie Staggers for helping me develop this course. 

Notes

  1. This document is updated regularly so reset your cache regularly, especially on Mondays and course days. Shoot me an email if you have any questions.

Last Updated: 9/10/22


ENC3250.004
Tuesdays & Thursdays, 12:30-1:45
BSN: 1309

ENC3250.032
Tuesdays & Thursdays,
2:00-3:15 pm
BSN 1403
Professor: Joseph M. Moxley (he/him/his)
Email: mox@usf.edu
Office Hours: by appointment. Please email me to set up a meeting. If possible, let’s meet before or after class.
Contact Details

Dear Students,

Welcome to the course schedule for Professional Writing, ENC 3250, Sections 4 and 32.

Below is the current schedule for this course.

So that I may refer to you with the appropriate pronoun in Canvas, the University’s course LMS (learning management system), would you please set your preferences for your personal pronoun at Canvas > Settings. If you have a first name change request for Canvas, please email IDM-Help@usf.edu from your official USF email account. You do not need to provide personal details for the request. Tell USF the first name you want to show in Canvas. This will also change your name in the directory, but it will not change your email address.

Also, please check my course Announcements @ Canvas. I make weekly and often biweekly assignments via Announcements. Please email me when you have questions. I’ll typically respond back in 24 hours. If you don’t hear from me within 24 hours, pls send me a 2nd email.

To succeed in this course

  1. check Canvas for announcements from me
  2. do not ask for extensions on assignment. You see, I cannot grant that because then I’d have to allow everyone to turn the project in a day later–and that would put us behind and create stress at the end of the semester.
  3. carefully read and reread assignment guidelines and required readings
  4. adopt a growth mindset; invest the time needed to improve your collaboration and communication competencies
    • In the tradition of U.S. higher education, academic credit is a measure of the time commitment required of a typical student in a specific course. According to this framework, the anticipated time commitment for this course is 3 hours of work per week for each credit hour (a minimum of 9 hours per week). In reality, however, this course could take more or less time, depending on your existing competencies as a researcher, collaborator, thinker, and writer.  Learning to write well takes practice and effort. Putting the time in is essential to your development as a writer. 
  5. take the collaborative project seriously
    1. identify a discrete problem that people care about
    2. explore the role of conflict
  6. email me when you have questions.

I hope you enjoy the semester. I hope the course helps you develop your competencies as a writer, speaker, and knowledge work. Best of luck to you.

Joe Moxley, Professor

Navigation Tips:
1. When reviewing the schedule below, you’ll notice quite a few hyperlinks. Don’t assume you should select all of those hyperlinks. You only need to view the hyperlinks if you’re unfamiliar with the term or you want to get a Writing-Studies perspective of the topic.

You can use the search feature to find a word on a page, such as week 8 rather than scrolling all the way down to find Week 8.

Navigation GuideWriter’s Guide

Required Texts

Required Course Tools

  • Canvas (for grading and project management)
  • gDocs (for document collaboration and peer review)
  • Zotero (Use of Zotero is required for the group project. Your team will be tasked with collaborating on a bibliography for the sources. Each member must contribute at least one resource to the final recommendation report.

Projects for ENC 3250
Sections 4 & 32 of
Fall Semester, 2022

8/23/22 – 12/1/22


Project 1, Introduction to Problem Solving

Students engage in textual and empirical methods to develop a problem definition; develop an information visualization for some aspect of the problem space (e.g., a stakeholder map); revise and edit multiple iterations of a problem definition; and then pitch what they’ve learned about the problem in a 60 second video for the instructor.

Your goal this week is to write about a problem, an exigency, a problem space that matters to stakeholders.

  • This problem space needs to be “a specific local problem happening at USF or in the community . . . The problem you choose should be relevant to your experience, related to your discipline, and happening now to people in your community or USF” (General Education Council).

Notice “to people in your community or USF” opens the door for you to investigate problems that affect USF stakeholders or other audiences and markets.

Notice as well that you are not expected to have solutions for problems at this point in your analysis.

Tuesday, 8/22

  1. First, review of course syllabus and schedule
  2. Next, add your name in alphabetical order to the course sandbox.
  • Due: in-class First-Day Attendance. You need to be present in class to avoid being dropped per USF’s first-day attendance policy. Please log on to Canvas and complete the required first-day assignment. Be sure to list your name in alphabetical order on the course gdoc.

    If you add the course late, be sure to complete the instructions for this assignment nonetheless–per the guidelines published at the course sandbox.

    Note: By adding your name to the Course gDoc Sandbox, you are acknowledging that you have read the Course Syllabus, including the Campus Free Expression Act and Medical Excuse Policy.

Wednesday, 8/24

  • Due: Discussion Board Post to the course discussion board via Canvas.

Assignment Guidelines: Discussion Board Post: What is Professional Writing?

Assignment Prompt

Write a discussion board note to your peers that explains and exemplifies what makes professional writing distinct from academic writing. What does professional writing look like in 2022?

Rhetorical Stance

You have two audiences for this post: (1) students in your class; (2) the instructor. When you communicate with your peers, you

You are encouraged to quote, paraphrase, and summarize from these two resources in your discussion board post:

  1. Julie Gerdes’ Workplace Writing
  2. Professional Writing Prose Style

Assessment

Your instructor will be looking to see


Thursday, 8/25

“If I had only one hour to save the world, I would spend fifty-five minutes defining the problem, and only five minutes finding the solution.”

Albert Einstein

Sunday, 8/28

  • Due Problem Definition Memo

Assignment Guidelines: Problem Definition Memo, 1st Iteration

Assignment Prompt

Write a Problem Definition in memo format to Ms. Elizabeth Paul, Dr. Demetri Martin or a third audience approved by instructor.

Step #1, Identify Your Rhetorical Stance.

When you first begin a writing project, you want to engage in analysis of the rhetorical situation. Typically, rhetorical analysis of audience is the first step you’ll want to take when beginning a new writing project. For this assignment, identify the audiences for your report on the problem/problem space:

  1. Imagine you are a Research Assistant writing for Demetri Martin, Director of University Relations.
    • Dr. Martin has been tasked by the Provost to identify one or two problems at the university that are undermining the university’s reputation as an institution that cares about its students or about its town-gown relationships. The Provost has informed Dr. Martin that a donor has earmarked a $25M gift to the university. She has also informed Dr. Martin that the donor is open to invest in just about any problem so long as it has a major, long-term impact on the university and its reputation. The Provost has also indicated that if Demetri blows this assignment, he’ll be replaced.

      In response, Dr. Martin has hired a dozen undergraduates from throughout the university to serve as Research Assistants for one academic semester. These undergraduates come from a variety of Colleges at the University, and they have been selected based on references, GPA, and their application materials.

      You are one of the lucky winners of this position, and you hope to use this experience to sharpen your research and writing skills, and, hopefully, to identify a problem that is meaningful and impactful–and that will boost the university’s plummeting status as a nurturing space for undergraduates.

      Note: Dr. Martin is not interested in hearing about solutions at this problem. In fact, he’s made it clear that your focus should be customer discovery–i.e., interviewing faculty, other students, alumni, and other stakeholders about ways the university could improve its curriculum and support services for undergraduates and better meet the needs of the broader community.

      Note: Choosing this rhetoric stance involves an internal recommendation memo. In this situation, you are writing as an employee of the university,.
  2. Imagine you are an entrepreneur who has been funded $50,000 to explore a problem space.
    • Ms. Elizabeth Paul, a serial entrepreneur and former partner in a local venture capital company, has had a wonderfully successful career as an entrepreneur in SF. Now she has retired to Tampa Bay, and she has given the university $25M to fund entrepreneurial projects.

      You’re an ambitious undergraduate in the Business College, and you want to take a shot at winning $200,000 to jumpstart a new business. The problem, though, is you have no idea what sort of project you can develop that would be compelling enough to warrant funding. So, you’ve enrolled in an undergraduate course in entrepreneurship, and the professor — Matt McCormick — has tasked you with engaging in customer discovery.

      As a first step, Professor McCormick has told you to engage in textual research about a particular problem space and to engage in some informal, preliminary research–including interviews with stakeholders. Dr McCormick has also encouraged you to relax about finding a problem space. In fact, he seems obsessed with pivoting–the idea that you’ll move from problem to problem for a while till one sticks and grabs hold of you, waking you at night.

      Please note: Ms. Paul and Professor McCormick are not terribly interested in small time business that will earn you and a few others a comfortable salary. Rather, they seek ideas that will be commercially viable? Additionally, they seek a value proposition that can be blitzscaled:

      “Blitzscaling isn’t simply a matter of rapid growth. Every company is obsessed with growth. In any industry, you live and die by the numbers—user acquisition, margins, growth rate, and so on. Yet growth alone is not blitzscaling. Rather, blitzscaling is prioritizing speed over efficiency in the face of uncertainty” (Reid Hoffman).

      Addresses
      Ms. Elizabeth Paul, Strategic Consultant, FACC (Florida Adventure Capital Corp)
      #1 Main Street
      Tampa FL.

      Professor McCormick
      1 Business Way
      The People’s School of Entrepreneurship
  3. Work with your instructor to identify another rhetorical situation.
    • Are you working now in a business that is confronting some new challenges? If so, choose one business problem to investigate. And, so that I can follow and give appropriate comments, please write a description of the rhetorical situation for your instructor.

Step #2: Engage in Prewriting, Rhetorical Analysis & Rhetorical Reasoning

Next, engage in a some informal, preliminary research. Ask yourself

  1. What is the problem?
  2. What is the size and scope of the problem?
    1. If you’re writing for Dr. Demetri, he’ll want to know how many students, faculty, or USF community members experience the problem
    2. If you’re writing for Ms. Paul, she’s want to know if the problem is scalable, what it’s TAM (total addressable market) and SAM (serviceable available market) is
  3. Who are the stakeholders? Who are the people in your community or the USF community who experience the problem? You, your family, friends and loved ones? How do these stakeholders experience the problem space in their day-to-day lives? How do different stakeholders experience the problem? Do stakeholders have competing interests or perspectives?
    • Can you identify unique shareholder perspectives?
    • How do they experience the pain of the problem
      • Is the pain a nice to solve or have to solve?
  4. What is the history of the problem?
    • Is it a new problem? an enduring problem? or a derivative problem?
  5. What causes the problem?
  6. What are the effects of the problem?
  7. [ Note: Memos are not forms: questions/answers. They are narratives, stories. ]

Length & Formatting

Two pages maximum, 1.5 minimum. Single space. Use headings, lists, bullets and other rhetorical moves made by professional writers; see Professional Writing Prose Style

Suggested Readings

for help with writing

for help with invention:


Week 2, 8/29 to 9/4

During Week 2, you’re provided the opportunity to further investigate problem spaces “relevant to your experience, related to your discipline, and happening now to people in your community or USF” [emphasis added]. You’ll add visualization(s) to your problem statement.

Tuesday, 8/30

Required Readings

Before class, read,

Recommended Readings

Class Activities:

  1. Introduction to Visual Language

Wednesday, 8/31

  • Submit Data Visualization Exercise

Assignment Guidelines: Invention Exercise for the Problem Definition Memo

Step 1. Rhetorical Stance

Audience

Ms. Elizabeth Paul or Mr. Demetri Martin or a third audience approved by instructor

Purpose

The purpose of this visualization exercise is

  1. for you to engage in creative play: invention. Given this purpose, this assignment will be graded Complete/Incomplete
  2. for you to visually depict the problem space you are investigating.
    • Your visualization may depict the stakeholders. It may illustrate the relationships among stakeholders in the problem space
    • Your visualization may visualize problems or causes or effects related to the problem.
  3. Because the goal of this exercise is to draft a preliminary sketch, it can be hand drawn. However, if your illustration competencies are underdeveloped, you are encouraged to experiment using a drawing program.
  4. Your visualization may be a collage of images. All images need to include APA-required citation information). Ideally these are original images taken of your problem space and stakeholders.
  5. Note: Because you’ll want to use the visualization in upcoming drafts of your problem definition memo, you are wise to ensure it’s readable on a standard page (8.5 x 11 inches).

Step 2. Write a 100 word summary that explains your visualization.

  1. Mention which drawing program you used and whether or not you found it effective
  2. Address your goals in designing the visualization
  3. Use APA for any sources you reference

Step 3. Upload the visualization and summary to Canvas.

  • If possible, provide the link to the visualization online. Canvas tends to shrink uploaded images.
  • You may upload your visualization and summary as one or two documents.

Recommended Drawing Programs

  • Figma.Com

Required Readings

Examples


Thursday, 9/1

  • In class Revision & Editing Exercises
    • Discuss 1st iterations of problem statements, visualizations, and critique.
    1. (I encourage you to Google and view some of Ray Dalio’s videos on working with critique in business)
  • Required Readings

Sunday, 9/4

  • Due: Problem Definition Memo, 2nd Iteration

Assignment Guidelines: Problem Definition Memo, 2nd Iteration

  1. Review the readings and guidelines for the initial draft (see above)
  2. Consider your instructor’s feedback
  3. Seek additional feedback from friends and family who are good critics
  4. Include an information visualization appropriate to the problem space you are investigating
    • a stakeholder map is strongly recommended
  5. Adopt a professional writing style, including headings, bullets, lists, tables, graphs, illustrations
  6. Draft, revise, and edit as necessary
  7. Cite images and secondary sources in APA
    • If you use images in the text of your memo or report, cite them in the caption. Photo by X.
  8. Submit a pdf version of your Problem Definition, 2nd iteration to Canvas.

Week 3, 9/5 to 9/11

Tuesday, 9/6

  • Discuss Assignment Guidelines: Video Pitch

Required Readings

Wed, 9/7, Due: Video Pitch


Assignment Guidelines: Video Pitch

Rhetorical Stance

Audience

Ms. Elizabeth Paul or Mr. Demetri Martin or a third audience approved by instructor

Purpose

The purpose of this visualization exercise is to describe the problem space you have been investigating. Be sure to explain who the stakeholders are, what the problem is they experience, and how they experience it–whether it’s a nice to solve or a need to solve problem.

This is a practice pitch. I ask that you share it with me. You are not required to share this pitch with your classmates.

Length

1 minute. Note: Don’t worry about production quality

Context

For the last two weeks you want to have engaged in some exploration about a problem space. You’ve engaged in some preliminary research to better understand the problem’s history and scope. You’ve done one original data visualization and then a second data visualization that synthesizes related information from at least two sources. You’ve cited your sources in APA. Ideally, you have explored

  1. What is the problem?
  2. What is the size and scope of the problem?
    1. If you’re writing for Dr. Demetri, he’ll want to know how many students, faculty, or USF community members experience the problem
    2. If you’re writing for Ms. Paul, she’s want to know if the problem is scalable, what it’s TAM (total addressable market) and SAM (serviceable available market) is
  3. Who are the stakeholders? Who are the people in your community or the USF community who experience the problem? You, your family, friends and loved ones? How do these stakeholders experience the problem space in their day-to-day lives? How do different stakeholders experience the problem? Do stakeholders have competing interests or perspectives?
    • Can you identify unique shareholder perspectives?
    • How do they experience the pain of the problem
      • Is the pain a nice to solve or have to solve?
  4. What is the history of the problem?
    • Is it a new problem? an enduring problem? or a derivative problem?
  5. What causes the problem?
  6. What are the effects of the problem?

Tools

Use your cell phone to record your pitch. Alternatively, use Zoom or Teams to record yourself. Or, if you’re on a mac use Garageband.

Save the recording and upload it to YouTube and upload the YouTube url to Canvas.

Submission Requirements

  1. Upload to Canvas a link leading to your 60-second video pitch at You Tube. Or, upload the video directly to canvas.
    • Note: You may delete the file immediately after receiving your grade if you wish.

Evaluative Criteria

To earn an A grade on this assignment, be sure to speak clearly so I can understand the problem space. Avoid vague language. Support claims with evidence. Avoid rushing. Prioritize information. Use a deductive organizational schema: tell the audience what the problem is and then exemplify the problem. Be sure to identify whether it’s a nice to fix problem or a must fit problem. If you’re writing to Dr. Martin be sure to quantify the scope of the problem–# of students and USF stakeholders experiencing it. If you’re writing to Ms. Paul, address the market details. Note–you are not expected to provide slides for this assignment. Rather, try to relax. Think about your audience. Think about the problem and what you’ve learned about its causes, effects, and significance. Then tell a focused, descriptive, evidence-based story about the problem. Be sure not to wander into solutions.

You will not be graded on production quality. Rather, I’ll assign A grades to pitches that are presented clearly. Try to look at the camera and avoid unnecessary verbiage, such as “you know” etc.


Thursday, 9/8

  • Introduction to Product 2

Assigned Readings

Project 2: Introduction to Information Design

Activities: “Students explore a specific problem that is “relevant to their experience, related to their discipline, and happening now to people in their community or USF.” They then locate and collect numerical data about the subject (in the form of studies, reports, spreadsheets, or articles), and select data to visualize and provide an overall sense of the subject.”

Topics: Information Design – Visual Language – Information Visualization

The visual design of your documents plays an extraordinary role in modern communications. Note, e.g, this summary by MoveableINK:

1. 90% of the information processed by the brain is visual.
2. It takes only 13 milliseconds for the human brain to process an image.
3. The human brain processes images 60,000 times faster than text.
4. 80% of people remember what they see, compared to ten percent what they hear and 20 percent of what they read.
5. In responses to a recent survey, 95% of B2B buyers said that they wanted shorter and highly visual content.
6. Publishers that feature visual content grow traffic 12 times faster than those who don’t.

Source: 29 Incredible Stats that Prove the Power of Visual Marketing
The beauty of data visualization – David McCandless
NASA's model of the big bang & expansion of universe
NASAs visualization of the big bang and expansion of universe

Sunday, 9/11

  • Due Data Visualization: Create an Original Table, Figure, Graph or Illustration

Assignment Guidelines: Data Visualization Exercise

Assignment Prompt

Topic

  1. Create an original table, figure, graph, or illustration that analyzes data (aka information)from at least two different sources.
    • Be sure readers can reasonably discern the sources for cited information by using APA format. Use in-text citation format in the the caption to your visualization. Provide complete bibliographical information in your summary (see below) text
    • Note: It is not responsive to this assignment to cut and paste someone else’s table, figure, illustration. Students who screenshot others’ tables will not receive a passing grade.
  2. Draft, revise, and edit a succinct explanation of your data visualization. A paragraph or a sentence or two is fine. Brevity remains the coin of the realm. Why did you choose to visualize your data as you did? (e.g., a chart, table, or graph?)
  3. Note: You can explore a new problem space for this assignment if you wish.

Here are some examples, which I’ll review in class.

Audience

Ms. Elizabeth Paul, Dr. Demetri Martin, or another audience approved of by your instructor.

Purpose

Use visual language to draw a preliminary sketch of the problem space that intrigues you.

Recommended Readings


Week 4, 9/12 to 9/18

Welcome to Week 4. This two-week module concerns information design, visual language, design, and citation of images.

Tuesday, 9/13

  • in class discussion of Discussion Board Post on Design of Infographics Published @ The Visual Capitalist

Wednesday, 9/14

  • Due: Discussion Board Post on Design of Infographics Published @ The Visual Capitalist

Assignment Guidelines: Discussion Board on Design of Infographics Published @ The Visual Capitalist

Assignment Prompt

Write a one-to-two-page memo to your peers that analyzes one of the infographics published at The Visual Capitalist. Analyze the design of the infographic. What design moves did the author(s) make in the their infographic that you find noteworthy? What changes, if any, would you recommend to the author?

Rhetorical Stance

Audience

Your instructor and your peers are the audience for this assignment:

  1. Your instructor is looking to see that you have some knowledge of design and design principles. In your response, use the diction what you’ve learned about Principles of Design: Proximit, Alignment RepetitionContrast
  2. Your peers are hoping to learn about infographics, elements of art, and principles of design.

Required Content

  1. In your review of an infographic published at The Visual Capitalist, please use design terms. Try to use at least four terms from the following resources:

Elements of Art – Elements of Design

Principles of Design

Other Acceptable Foci

2. Provide a hyperlink to the infographic published at the The Visual Capitalist that you are reviewing in the first sentence of your memo

3. Use APA format to reference the infographic you discuss

4. Note: you may use callouts if you wish on screenshots if you want to go for a visual response, which is acceptable.

Submission

  1. Upload a pdf of your review to the class discussion board via Canvas

Assessment Criteria

  1. Written Communication
  2. Critical Thinking/Reasoning

Here are some examples which I’ll discuss in class

Thursday, 9/15

  1. In class discussion of design memo/infographic assignment
  2. Examples:
    1. Example 1 of memo & infographic

Sunday, 9/18

  • Due: Infographic & Memo on Design Choices, 1st Iteration

Assignment Guidelines: Infographic & Memo on Design Choices, 1st Iteration

Rhetorical Stance

Audience

The potential audiences for the infographic are

  • Dr. Martin or Ms. Paul
  • visually impaired people who use assistive technologies to read your infographic
  • your classmates
  • your instructor.

Your instructor is curious to learn about how design principles informed your composing and composition. Your instructor will evaluate whether

Infographic Guidelines

Develop an original infographic that tells a story about data. This infographic may be on any topic you wish, yet it’s strategic to stay on theme: try to develop an infographic that can beused later in for your problem definition memo. Your infographic may be informative or persuasive:

  1. An information infographic focuses on concepts to simplify or teach complex ideas
  2. A persuasive (aka editorial infographic) focuses on persuasion and calls for readers to take action

Your infographic must

  • use visual language to help readers understand a complicated concept
  • illustrate data in a way that helps the reader understand what the data means
  • cite at least two sources in an unambiguous way. Use the caption field (if available) to attribute the source. Use APA for captions: provide the author’s last name and date in parentheses. At a minimum, provide the urls for cited sources in a footer

Memo Guidelines

The goal of The Memo on Design Choices is to demonstrate that you have learned some design principles of visual design, which constitutes a core literacy for knowledge workers.

One way for your instructor to ascertain mastery of visual language as it pertains to infographics is to look at your work–i.e, your infographic. A second way is to review your reasoning process for designing the infographic as you did.

Important Note: Your explanation of your design choices needs to do more than simply point out what you did. Instead, your explanation needs to address why you did what you did.

Be sure to clarify how research and theory informed your design choices. For example, if you bring up the topic of color theory and then reference the connotations of a particular color — claiming it evokes a particular connotation — cite your sources.

Use a memo format and a professional writing prose style.

Length

  • 2 to 3 pages

Deliverables

  1. Publish your Memo on Design Choices to a gdoc page using the title LASTNAME_DESIGN-MEMO-1ST-ITERATION
  2. Add a hyperlink to your infographic in the first sentence of your Design Memo
    1. IMPORTANT: Share the gdoc URL that permits others with the URL to edit your Design Memo. As a professional courtesy you should check that the url works for others before submitting it. URLs that don’t work will be penalized from a grading perspective, even after they are fixed.
  3. Provide a link to your Design Memo on the Course Sandbox (see announcements for URL) under your name

Required Readings

At the Course Sandbox @ gDoc, provide a link to your

  1. memo on design choices. Remember as well that you should provide a hyperlink to your infographic in the first sentence of your design memo.

Week 5, 9/19 to 9/25, Peer Review

Tuesday, 9/20

Before class, review the following short articles:

In-class we will review of volunteers’ design memos and infographics

Wednesday, 9/21

  • Due: Peer Review Memo

Assignment Guidelines: Peer Review of Design Memo & Infographic

  1. Go to the course sandbox at gDoc.
  2. Scroll through your peers’ infographics and design memos.
  3. Select two colleagues’ works to review.
    • Please do your best to select an infographic and design memo outline/draft that has not yet been reviewed by other students in the class.
  4. Place your name under the names of the two peers whose works you have reviewed @ the Course gDoc Sandbox and provide hyperlinks to your review
  5. Use the following criteria when critically reading your peers’ design memos and infographics.
    1. Responsiveness to the Assignment
    2. Story
    3. Design
    4. Visuals
    5. Critique.

Instructions:

Students, do not feel as though you need to address all of the questions below in your peer reviews. Rather, it’s sufficient to concentrate on just one or two of these questions for each of the 5 criteria.

1. Responsiveness to the Assignment:

Does the infographic meet all of the assignment guidelines–

  • tell a story about data/information?
  • use multiple data/information visualizations?
  • have one original chart, table, or graph (i.e. one the author created)?
  • cite at least two sources in an unambiguous way.  Use APA format?

2. Story:

  • Does the infographic tell a focused, engaging, compelling story about data/information?
    • Can you tell at a glance what the story is?
    • Do you understand why you are being given the information you are being given?
    • Can you imagine other information that the author could provide that would improve the story? Better statistics? Other images? Are some parts of the story missing?
  • Does the infographic provide the contextual information, copy, and visuals the target audience needs to understand the story?
  • Is there a sense of flow?
    • Would you recommend a different ordering of information? (see organizational schema)
    • Is critical information missing from the story?
  • Does the infographic provide the information, visualizations, and bibliographical information the audience needs to understand the story and assess its credibility?

3. Design:

  • Do you find the design to be visually appealing?
  • In the current draft of the infographic, are there any problems with Emphasis ProximityAlignmentRepetition, or Contrast?
  • From the perspective of color theory, are the colors appropriate and well balanced?
  • Scaling & Proportion: Are the sizes of the images appropriate?

4. Visuals:

  • Are images attributed appropriately? Used ethically? Are images culturally sensitive?
  • Does the author’s use too many words? Is the copy concise, witty?
  • Do the original graphs and tables accurately reflect data accurately?
  • Is any important information missing?

5. Critique

To earn an A on this assignment, you need to provide critical feedback. If your reviews are solely positive, I’ll double check them to see the applause was warranted. Really smart work deserves applause so I’m fine with praise when that’s what’s warranted. In your critique, please outline the one or two most important revisions you recommend to your peer? Why?

Submission Instructions

  • Per instructions above, indicate which design memos you have critiqued by placing your LASTNAME_REVIEW under your peers’ name @ the Course Sandbox
  • Upload to Canvas copies of your two peer reviews in .pdf format

Samples of Peer Review

Below is an example of how you may format your peer reviews. However, be sure to add a fifth criterion: Critique. In your critique, tell the author the one or two major things you’d recommend they’d do in order to improve their design memo or infographic.


Thursday, 9/22

  1. in class discussion about the first set of peer reviews
  2. In-class work on on structured revision exercise.

Before class, please review

  • Revision Strategies – How to Revise

Sunday, 9/25

  • Due: Infographic & Memo on Design Choices, 2nd Iteration

Assignment Guidelines: Infographic & Memo on Design Choices, 2nd Iteration

  1. Follow the same writing prompt given above for Infographic & Memo on Design Choices, 1st Iteration (9/18).
  2. Review your peers’ feedback.
    • Can you see any patterns, any themes, in what your peers said about the current iteration of your infographic and design memo? Can you see a way forward through the critiques? Do you have to return to strategic searching and find better information?
  3. Review your self feedback.
    • Listen to your felt sense. Coach yourself. Follow your best judgment on how to revise the infographic and design memo. Allow yourself time to revise. You alone know what you aim to say. You may want to try a Structured Revision approach to revising your design memo.
  4. Submit the design memo in .pdf to Canvas. Make sure your first sentence hyperlinks to your infographic.

Information Literacy: Travelers in line at an airport reading signs as they enter another country.
As travelers enter a new new space perhaps a new country they read the <a href=httpswritingcommonsorgsectionwriting studiessemiotics sign signifier signified>signs<a> they engage in <a href=httpswritingcommonsorgsectioninformation literacyliteracy>literacy<a>


Project 3: Information Literacy

Students engage in a deeper dive into the problem space that interests them. They conduct textual research and qualitative research (including interviews, surveys, ethnographic observations) to investigate a problem that is relevant to them, their community, or the USF community.

Week 6, 9/26 to 10/2, Information Literacy: APA Conventions for Summarizing, Citing, Paraphrasing, and Quoting Sources

Tuesday, 9/27

  1. Class is cancelled!
    • Please use class time to Explore Zotero and prepare for Wednesday’s assignment

Wednesday, 9/28

  • Due: Zotero Exercise.

NOTE THIS ASSIGNMENT IS CANCELLED DUE TO HURRICANE!

Assignment Guidelines: Zotero Exercise

  1. Explore Zotero.
    1. Create your own account
    2. Check out
      1. Frequently Asked Questions
      2. Using Zotero with Google Docs
      3. Zotero extensions for the different browsers: A Unified Zotero Experience and download whatever extension you need for the web browser you prefer.
  2. Watch a Zotero tutorial. Recommended:
    1. How to use Zotero (A Complete Beginner’s Guide)
    2. Learn how to use Zotero in 30 Minutes
  3. Use Primo, USF’s current catalog software, to engage in strategic searching of the gated web. Your goal is to survey peer-reviewed research on topics related to your problem space. Also, try Google Scholar for texts freely available on the open web. Be open to exploring the counterarguments and topics that impinge on your problem space. Engage in empathetic Information literacy.
  4. Engage in critical literacy practices. Critically evaluate your sources from the perspective of Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL):
    1. Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education:
      1. Authority is Constructed & Contextual
      2. Information Creation as a Process
      3. Information Has Value
      4. Research as Inquiry
      5. Scholarship as a Conversation
      6. Searching as Strategic Exploration
  5. Add 3 sources you currently plan to cite as sources into your My Library at Zotero
    1. Double check author’s names and dates.
    2. Take a screen pic of your My Library. It should show the 3 sources you’ve entered
    3. Note: If you have been doing qualitative research (such as interviews or surveys), you may cite yourself. Just list yourself as the author. Add the date and title. If you are doing this work on behalf of a company, list the company as the publisher.
  6. Write a progress memo to your instructor.
    1. Inform your instructor about the evidence/sources you have chosen. In your written explanation, add an information visualization: provide a screen pic of your My Library at Zotero. That screen pic of your My Library should show the 3 sources you’ve entered.
    2. Address whether you now have the information you need from a textual perspective to describe the problem space. Is there any other bit of information you need that you have been unable to find?
  7. Upload the design memo to Canvas. Ensure design memo links to your infographic in the first sentence.
Example Pic of <em>My Library<em>

Thursday, 9/29

In Class discussion of

  • scholarship as a conversation
  • textual research
  • knowledge, knowledge claims

Sunday, 10/4

  • Due: Citation Exercise: Bibliographic Note with Reference Page

Assignment Guidelines: Bibliographic Note with Reference Page

NOTE THIS ASSIGNMENT IS CANCELLED DUE TO HURRICANE!

Writing Prompt

In one to two pages write about the problem space.

For this assignment you may choose a section from your problem definition memo. You need to choose a part that uses summaries, paraphrases, and quotations from sources. You goal is to demonstrate to your peers that you are familiar with your readers’ expectations regarding APA-style in text citations.

Required Reading

Recommended Reading

Rhetorical Stance

Your focus is on the problem and not the solutions.

Your aim is to succinctly describe the problem using descriptive, concrete, and sensory writing and evidence-based reasoning. What have you learned about the problem space? Who are the stakeholders? How do they experience the problem space? Is this a nice to fix problem or need to fix problem? How urgent, how impactful, is this problem? (Pls refer back to the original assignment prompt for more details.)

Audience

Your audiences include your instructor, subject matter experts, Dr. Demetri, Ms. Paul, members of the public, or some other agreed-upon audience.

Professional and Academic Writing are evidence-based cultures. These discourse communities expect you to provide evidence when you make claims. They dislike vague language, unnecessarily abstract words, wordiness. They prize textual evidence and empirical evidence over anecdote and fiction.

Deliverables

  1. 1 page reference page in APA: 7th Edition
  2. 1 page selected from your problem definition memo that correctly uses APA-style in text citations.

Submission

Upload a .pdf copy of your deliverables to Canvas for grading.


Week 7, 10/3 to 10/9, Introduction to Qualitative Research

After 6 weeks of informal research methods and textual research methods, you have hopefully developed a more nuanced understanding of the problem space you are investigating. Ideally, you have engaged in critical reading and chosen authoritative textual resources to support your depiction of a problem.

  • Here, authority is generally tied to the quality of the publisher, whether or not the work was peer reviewed, and the frequency with which the article has been cited by other authors.

Based on your earlier work in first-year composition courses, you know critical readers are concerned with the accuracy, currency, purpose, and relevance of your sources.

Week 7 is the beginning of a three-week period that affords you the opportunity to do a deeper dive into your problem space by engaging in original research.

Research Methodology - Einstein and other Physicists at the 1927 Solvay Conference
Research Methodology Photo of Einstein and other physicists From the October 1927 Fifth Solvay International Conference of Electrons and Photons by iharsten in licensed under CC0 10

Tuesday, 10/04

  1. Review Assignment Guidelines: Research Protocol
  2. Discuss Research Methodologies and Academic Research Communities

Wednesday, 10/05


Assignment Guidelines: Research Protocol

Assignment Prompt: In one to two pages (single space, one inch margins), write a Research Protocol to the appropriate Ethics Committee.

  • Explain the purpose of your proposed research in a way that demonstrates you are aware of prevailing scholarly conversations about the topic under investigation. Clarify why the proposed research needs to be conducted. Recommendation: Keep your perspective on the big picture, understanding your audience is interested in the safety and rights of your subjects. rely on summary as opposed to quotation or paraphrasing. Use APA format for any citations.
  • Be sure to include your survey or interview questions.

Rhetorical Stance

Audience

  • Ethics Committee (for Ms. Paul), USF IRB (for Dr. Demetri), & Your instructor.
    • Please note that the Ethics Committee is unfamiliar with the problem and related textual research on the problem. Their chief concern is that your research methods are safe and ethical. Their chief responsibility is to ensure no harm comes to the subjects
    • Your instructor is looking to see whether or not you h have a plan for engaging in original research to further investigate the problem space.

Required Parts

  1. Date: When is the interview scheduled
  2. Executive Summary
    1. identify the audience, purpose, and significance of the Research Question/problem space
    2. provide an abbreviated literature review that informs readers about the significance of the topic to various stakeholders
  3. Ethical Concerns
    1. address ethical concerns.
    2. How will the subjects be selected?
    3. Will anonymity be promised and if so how preserved?
    4. How will data be protected from hackers or inappropriate usage
  4. Research Methods
    1. Selection of Subjects. Why interview these people? What is the stakeholder’s relationship to the problem in the problem space?
      1. Who do you plan to interview?
      2. Stakeholder Role? Title?

Required Reading

Optional Reading


Thursday, 10/06

Before Class, please read

  • Review of Alex Cowan’s

Sunday, 10/9

  • Due: Assignment Guidelines: Stakeholder Interview #1

Assignment Guidelines: Stakeholder Interview #1

Your goal in this exercise is to get outside of your perspective, to engage in a form of customer discovery. Engage in an interview with a stakeholder, preferably someone you don’t know who experiences the problem directly. Your interview may take place in person, on the phone, or online.

Please recall that the focus of this investigation is not to find solutions to a problem. Instead, your goal is to develop a deeper understanding of the problem. So you want to listen to your stakeholders talk about their interactions with the problem. What do your stakeholders think? see? feel? do?

  1. Think
    1. What are the stakeholder’s thoughts about the problem? What do they believe are the causes of the problem?
  2. See
    1. What perceptions, assumptions or interpretative lenses inform how the stakeholder perceives the problem?
  3. Feel
    1. Is the problem painful or just irritating? Is it a must solve or a nice-to-solve?
  4. Do
    1. How often does the stakeholder experience the problem?

Recommended Reading

Suggested Reading

Startup cultures are founded on customer discovery, a form of qualitative research.

  1. listen to two or three of Steve Blank’s videos on the value of Customer Discovery:
    1. What is Customer Discovery and Why Do it?
    2. No Business Plan Survives First Contact With Customers. 2 Minutes to See Why
    3. Stop Telling Yourself What You Want to Believe (1.39) SL UCSF
    4. Narrowing the Focus (1:21) SL UCSF
    5. Getting to the “Better Idea” Faster (3:59) SL UCSF
    6. The Phases of Customer Discovery (0:37) CD
    7. Why Get Out of the Building?
    8. Pre-Planning Contacts (4:34) CD
    9. Customer Interview Dry Runs (0:49) CD
    10. Discovery is for Founders (1:30) CD
    11. Pass/Fail Experiments (1:32) CD

Required Content

  1. Interview notes that clarify:
    1. Date
    2. Pic (if they agree)
    3. Who was interviewed? Stakeholder Role? Title?
    4. How long was the interview?
    5. What is the stakeholder’s relationship is to the problem in the problem space? 
    6. How does the stakeholder experience the problem?
      • For this section you may adopt the voice of the person you interviewed in an effort to create a stakeholder persona
    7. What insights did you gain about the problem as a result of the interview? 
    8. What did you learn about interviewing as a result of the interview?

Week 8, 10/10 to 10/16, Stakeholder Interview #2

This week you’ll use empirical research methods to further investigate the problem space that interests you.

Tuesday, 10/11

  • No Class. Use this time to conduct your qualitative interviews.

Wednesday, 10/12

  • Due: Stakeholder Interview #2

Assignment Guidelines: Stakeholder Interview #2

For Wednesday’s assignment, rather than simply summarizing the results of the interview, I ask that you try and use the interview to develop a Customer Persona/Stakeholder Persona.

After engaging in numerous customer discovery interviews, entrepreneurs and knowledge workers may notice patterns in the interviews, shared perceptions, insights, thoughts, and feelings. From numerous interviews, they may develop a sense of the common concerns, desires, and feelings of their intended customers, clients, and users.

In Personas for Design, Development, & Growth, Professor Alex Cowan provides this template for creating a customer persona:

For this second stakeholder interview, I ask that you loosely experiment with Professor Cowan’s template for creating a customer persona.

IOWs, reflect on how the stakeholder interacts with the problem (does), thinks about the problem, sees the problem, and feels about the problem.

Required Readings:

Recommended Readings:

  1. read Alexander Cowan’s Personas for Design, Development, & Growth
    1. Five Things You Can do with Personas
    2. Problem Scenarios: A Personas Best Friend
    3. How do you answer questions with a persona?
    4. Drafting Discovery Questions
    1. Deepening Personas through ‘Day in the Life’
    2. Finding Subjects
    3. Interviewing Subjects

Thursday, 10/13

  • Review of
    • cover letters
    • how to create an automatic table of contents
    • executive summaries

Sunday, 10/16

  • Due: Six Required Parts of the Problem Definition Memo

Assignment Instructions: Seven Required Parts of the Problem Definition Memo

Rhetorical Stance

Assignment Prompt

Please submit the following parts of the Problem Definition Memo:

  1. Cover letter
  2. Cover page (with illustration)
  3. Table of Contents
  4. Executive Summary
  5. Stakeholder Map
  6. Research Methods Section (1 page max)
  7. References–APA Format

Week 9, 10/17 to 10/23, Problem Definition Memo, 3rd Iteration

This week concludes a nine week-long investigation of a problem. Hopefully, you’ve developed a nuanced, substantive description of a problem, a description that synthesizes textual and empirical research.

Tuesday, 10/18

  • Review of Grading Criteria for Problem Definition Memo, Final Iteration
  • In-class reviews of Executive Summaries

Thursday, 10/20

  1. Decide on the best Title for your investigation
  2. Title Case
    • Title Case Converter
  3. List your Title under your name at the course sandbox
    1. Hyperlink to a gdoc version of your project
  4. Example:


  5. Peer Review: Workshop
    For full credit in this workshop, bring to class a printed copy of the most recent version of your problem definition memo

Peer Review Guidelines

When engaged today in peer review, please assess your peers’ work from the perspectives of the following grading criteria:

  1. Rhetorical Stance
    1. Is the text audience sensitive?
    2. Are all required elements present?
  2. Evidence & Information Literacy
    1. Are claims substantiated with evidence?
    2. Does the author employs the information literacy practices and perspectives that the text’s readers will use to interpret the document:
  3. Communication
  4. Problem Solving
    • Has the author clearly defined the problem? Does the author provide concrete details about when the problem began, what caused it, what its effects are, how stakeholders interact with it, and, perhaps, how others have tried to solve the problem in the past? Does the author address the significance, size and scope of the problem? How much pain does the problem cause stakeholders? Is it a nice-to-fix problem or a must-fix problem?

Sunday, 10/23

  • Due: Problem Definition Memo, 3rd Iteration

Assignment Instructions: Problem Definition Memo, 3rd Iteration

Assignment Prompt

Write a memo or report, depending on your rhetorical situation, that describes a specific local problem happening at USF or in your community.

Rhetorical Stance

Primary Audience

Below is an outline of two rhetorical situations. If you wish to pitch a third exigency to your professor, talk to them and seek approval before submitting.

Option 1:

Imagine you are a Research Assistant writing for Demetri Martin, Director of University Relations.
Dr. Martin has been tasked by the Provost to identify one or two problems at the university that are undermining the university’s reputation as an institution that cares about its students or about its town-gown relationships. The Provost has informed Dr. Martin that a donor has earmarked a $25M gift to the university. She has also informed Dr. Martin that the donor is open to invest in just about any problem so long as it has a major impact on the university and its reputation. The Provost has also indicated that if Demetri blows this assignment, he’ll be replaced.

In response, Dr. Martin has hired a dozen undergraduates from throughout the university to serve as Research Assistants for one academic semester. These undergraduates come from a variety of Colleges at the University, and they have been selected based on references, GPA, and their application materials.

You are one of the lucky winners of this position, and you hope to use this experience to sharpen your research and writing skills, and, hopefully, to identify a problem that is meaningful and impactful–and that will boost the university’s plummeting status as a nurturing space for undergraduates.

Note: Dr. Martin is not interested in hearing about solutions at this problem. In fact, he’s made it clear that your focus should be customer discovery–i.e., interviewing faculty, other students, alumni, and other stakeholders about ways the university could improve its curriculum and support services for undergraduates and better meet the needs of the broader community.

Note: Choosing this rhetoric stance involves an internal recommendation memo. In this situation, you are writing as an employee of the university.

Address

Dr. Demetri Martin, Dean of Students, MUMA College of Business, USF

Option 2:

Imagine you are a student entrepreneur in Professor McCormick’s course on entrepreneurship class and that you are pitching for $50,000 to explore a problem space.

Ms. Elizabeth Paul, a serial entrepreneur and former partner in a local venture capital company, has had a wonderfully successful career as an entrepreneur in SF. Now she has retired to Tampa Bay, and she has given the university $25M to fund entrepreneurial projects.

You’re an ambitious undergraduate in the Business College, and you want to take a shot at winning $200,000 to jumpstart a new business. The problem, though, is you have no idea what sort of project you can develop that would be compelling enough to warrant funding. So, you’ve enrolled in an undergraduate course in entrepreneurship, and the professor — Matt McCormick — has tasked you with engaging in customer discovery.

As a first step, Professor McCormick has told you to engage in textual research about a particular problem space and to engage in some informal, preliminary research–including interviews with stakeholders. Dr McCormick has also encouraged you to relax about finding a problem space. In fact, he seems obsessed with pivoting–the idea that you’ll move from problem to problem for a while till one sticks and grabs hold of you, waking you at night.

Please note: Ms. Paul and Professor McCormick are not terribly interested in small time business that will earn you and a few others a comfortable salary. Rather, they seek ideas that can be blitzscaled:

  • “Blitzscaling isn’t simply a matter of rapid growth. Every company is obsessed with growth. In any industry, you live and die by the numbers—user acquisition, margins, growth rate, and so on. Yet growth alone is not blitzscaling. Rather, blitzscaling is prioritizing speed over efficiency in the face of uncertainty” (Hoffman)
Addresses
  1. Ms. Elizabeth Paul, Strategic Consultant, FACC (Florida Adventure Capital Corp, #1 Main Street, Tampa FL.
  2. Matt McKormick, Ph.D., MUMA College of Business, USF

Option 3

Work with your instructor to identify another rhetorical situation.

Are you working now in a business that is confronting some new challenges? If so, choose one business problem to investigate. And, so that your instructor can follow and give appropriate comments, please write a description of the rhetorical situation. Explain the exigency that drives the call to write/communicate.

Secondary Audience

Your secondary audience for this memo is your peers. Ideally, your work, your description of the problem space, will be so compelling that your classmates will want to join you to engage in a deeper dive into the problem space.

Required Elements

  1. Cover Letter/Letter of Transmittal
    One page; not paginated
    Your cover page transmits the article. It doesn’t re-argue the entire report. Rather, this letter informs the reader about the gist of the report, identifying its significance. The goal is to hook Dr. Demeter’s or Ms. Paul’s/Prof McCormick’s interest. That’s a tall task because they are such busy decision makers.
  2. Cover page (with illustration)
    This page should not be paginated
    • Note: Do not put my name or course information on this document. Rather, follow a professional writing style. Create an attractive cover, one that invites the reader to read your document. Ideally the image reflects some version of the story you’re telling.
  3. Table of Contents (TOC)
    This page should not be paginated.
    • Note: Your TOC should include h1, h2, and h3 headings and their associated page numbers.
  4. Executive Summary
    This page should not be paginated
  5. Statement of the Problem
    This is the header on the first page of the Memo/Report on the Statement of the Problem.
    • Note: You do not need to call this header Statement of the Problem; rather, you may use a more compelling, persuasive, or descriptive title if you choose.

      Analyze and exemplify the most important parts of the problem. Explain these parts of the problems using terms and examples the reader needs to understand their significance to his concerns–the welfare of USF students. Get deep into the

      Required Elements
      Your Statement of the Problem must include
    • a stakeholder map
    • a data visualization that plots data from at least two different sources. The data you choose to visualize can be placed anywhere in your text.

      Recommended Elements
    • an infographic
      • Note: place rhetorically: be sure the reader has the context needed to understand the infographic before reviewing. IOWs, at the earliest, place after the Executive Summary or perhaps after your introduction to the problem under the Statement of the Problem.
  6. Research Methods Section
    This page continues pagination from above
    • Ethics Section
      The investigator explains how you protected the rights of those they interviewed. It reports on the people interviewed, the number of interviews. It does not present results.
  7. Research Results (Optional)
    You may weave the results of your textual and empirical research into your story about the problem. Or, especially if you conducted a survey, you may have a separate results section.
  8. References–APA Format
    • The number of references you cite is determined by your rhetorical situation. If you had the sort of problem that needed a lot of qualitative work (interviews, surveys, observations), then it’s fine to have only two or three citations other than your efforts as a researcher. If your problem lends itself to textual research, then you’re likely to need a few more. After all, the # of claims you make determines the amount of evidence you need.

Grading Criteria

I grade holistically. In other words, I provide one grade for the entire assignment. This grade is based on the following criteria:

1. Rhetorical Stance

The problem definition addresses the assignment prompt. It includes all required elements (see above).

The rhetorical stance the author assumes in the problem definition establishes a professional voice and tone. It doesn’t wander into writer-based discourse.

2. Evidence & Information Literacy

The prose style of the problem definition memo employs the Information Literacy Perspectives that readers expect in professional and academic discourse.

The author employs the information literacy practices and perspectives that the text’s readers will use to interpret the document:

  1. Authority is Constructed & Contextual
    • The authors’s use of textual evidence demonstrates they understand conventions of critical literacy. As they introduce evidence, they convey its Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, and Purpose
    • The author provides a research methods section and it includes a review of ethical concerns
  2. Information Creation as a Process
  3. Information Has Value
    • sources are cited and correctly attributed
  4. Research as Inquiry
    • the author’s work demonstrates they are engaged in serious inquiry; they are not simply trying to prove a simplistic point
  5. Scholarship as a Conversation
    • The author contextualizes truth claims, demonstrating an awareness how knowledge of a topic has evolved over time.
  6. Searching as Strategic Exploration
    • The author’s use of evidence reflects a deep dive into the scholarly conversation on a topic. There’s evidence they searched the gated and open web and engaged in qualitative research when necessary
    • There is evidence that students engaged in
      • textual research
      • empirical research, as necessary.
Evidence & Information LiteracyNovice DevelopingProficient
The references are correct APA format. There is evidence the author used Zotero (or a comparable alternative) and PRIMO, USF’s search tool.
is there evidence to support claims?

is analysis of the evidence included?



Student accepts opinion as fact, hearsay as empirical evidence.

Student an attempt to weave sources into the fabric of their use sources and gathers information without interpretation/evaluation; viewpoints of experts are taken as fact without question.

Student fails to

Student expresses a position that is simplistic and obvious and reaches a conclusion that is inconsistently tied to some of the information discussed/presented.

Student demonstrates an attempt to organize the report effectively.
Student gathers credible and relevant information that is mostly appropriate to develop a coherent analysis.

Student’s use of evidence reflects an understanding of methods for assessing truth claims especially rhetorical analysis and critical literacy




 

Student considers opposing viewpoints when formulating a logical conclusion that is tied to appropriate information.

Student struggles with fluency with regards to genre conventions, rhetorical moves, rhetorical analysis, and organizational structure

Student takes information from credible and relevant sources with enough interpretation/evaluation to develop a comprehensive analysis or synthesis. The viewpoints of experts are questioned thoroughly.

Student thoroughly analyzes assumptions and carefully evaluates the relevance of contexts when presenting a position, taking into consideration the complexities of an issue.

Student formulates a logical conclusion that reflects their ability to place evidence and perspectives discussed in rhetorical or priority order.



Source: This rubric is derived from USF General Education Council, #GEA1

3. Communication

Students adopt a professional writing prose style.

CommunicationNovice DevelopingProficient
does the document reflect knowledge of genre conventions for memos, problem definitions, data visualization, infographic?

does the document adhere to basic principles of document design (headings, font choices, footer)?

are the visualizations appropriate, labeled and explained in the text? 

is the writing clear, accessible?

Student demonstrates minimal attention to context, audience, purpose, and to the assigned task.

Student uses appropriate and relevant content to develop simple ideas in the report.

Student attempts to use a consistent organizational schema.

Student has stylistic infelicities, such as an inappropriate tone, voice, persona
Student demonstrates an adequate understanding of context, audience, and purpose and to the assigned task.

Student uses appropriate and relevant content to explore and develop ideas throughout most of the report.

Student demonstrates fairly consistent use of document design, such as organization, content, presentation, and style.

Student uses straightforward language that generally conveys meaning to audience with some errors.
Student demonstrates a thorough understanding of context, audience, and purpose and to the assigned task.

Student uses appropriate, relevant, and compelling content to illustrate mastery of the genre of the report.

Student demonstrates detailed attention to and successful execution of a wide range of the conventions of document design, to include organization, content, presentation and style.

Student uses graceful language that skillfully communicates meaning to audience with very few, if any, errors.
Source: This rubric is derived from USF General Education Council, #GEA1

4. Problem Solving

Claims made about the problem definition are grounded in bedrock: textual research or empirical research as opposed to anecdote and personal experience. Students cites sources (APA ).

Problem SolvingNovice DevelopingProficient
is there a clear problem statement?

is the problem statement informed by pertinent textual research?

is the problem statement informed by pertinent empirical research?
Student demonstrates a limited ability to identify a problem statement or related contextual factors.

Student identifies approaches for solving the problem that do not apply to the specific context.
Student employs deductive reasoning, organizational schema, register, diction, and genre of the problem statement, yet fails to develop the content beyond the prosaic review of known information

description in a robust way. from the perspective of the problem, its history, causes, effects, scopeit the ability to construct a problem statement with evidence of most relevant contextual factors.
Student demonstrates the ability to construct a clear and insightful problem statement with evidence of all relevant contextual factors.


Source: This rubric is derived from USF General Education Council, #GEA1

Submission Instructions

  1. Upload a link to your Problem Definition to the Course Sandbox. Note: Please be sure to link to a gDoc url that permits users to edit. This is necessary so others can view your work after we return from break and create groups

Week 10, 10/24 to 10/30 – Final Draft of Individual Project

Tuesday 10/25

  • Review of Sunday’s drafts
  • in-class activity: Place a link to your Final Draft @ The Course Sanbox. Place the link

Thursday 10/27

  • CLASS IS CANCELLED!

Sunday, 10/30

  • Due: Problem Definition Memo, Final Iteration

Assignment Instructions: Problem Definition Memo, Final Iteration

Writing Prompt

write about a problem, an exigency, a problem space that matters to stakeholders.

  • This problem space needs to be “a specific local problem happening at USF or in the community . . . The problem you choose should be relevant to your experience, related to your discipline, and happening now to people in your community or USF” (General Education Council).

Write a Problem Definition in memo format to Ms. Elizabeth Paul, Dr. Demetri Martin, Professor McCormick or another audience approved by instructor.

  1. Imagine you are a Research Assistant writing for Demetri Martin, Director of University Relations.
    • Dr. Martin has been tasked by the Provost to identify one or two problems at the university that are undermining the university’s reputation as an institution that cares about its students or about its town-gown relationships. The Provost has informed Dr. Martin that a donor has earmarked a $25M gift to the university. She has also informed Dr. Martin that the donor is open to invest in just about any problem so long as it has a major, long-term impact on the university and its reputation. The Provost has also indicated that if Demetri blows this assignment, he’ll be replaced.

      In response, Dr. Martin has hired a dozen undergraduates from throughout the university to serve as Research Assistants for one academic semester. These undergraduates come from a variety of Colleges at the University, and they have been selected based on references, GPA, and their application materials.

      You are one of the lucky winners of this position, and you hope to use this experience to sharpen your research and writing skills, and, hopefully, to identify a problem that is meaningful and impactful–and that will boost the university’s plummeting status as a nurturing space for undergraduates.

      Note: Dr. Martin is not interested in hearing about solutions at this problem. In fact, he’s made it clear that your focus should be customer discovery–i.e., interviewing faculty, other students, alumni, and other stakeholders about ways the university could improve its curriculum and support services for undergraduates and better meet the needs of the broader community.

      Note: Choosing this rhetoric stance involves an internal recommendation memo. In this situation, you are writing as an employee of the university,.
  2. Imagine you are an entrepreneur who has been funded $50,000 to explore a problem space.
    • Ms. Elizabeth Paul, a serial entrepreneur and former partner in a local venture capital company, has had a wonderfully successful career as an entrepreneur in SF. Now she has retired to Tampa Bay, and she has given the university $25M to fund entrepreneurial projects.

      You’re an ambitious undergraduate in the Business College, and you want to take a shot at winning $200,000 to jumpstart a new business. The problem, though, is you have no idea what sort of project you can develop that would be compelling enough to warrant funding. So, you’ve enrolled in an undergraduate course in entrepreneurship, and the professor — Matt McCormick — has tasked you with engaging in customer discovery.

      As a first step, Professor McCormick has told you to engage in textual research about a particular problem space and to engage in some informal, preliminary research–including interviews with stakeholders. Dr McCormick has also encouraged you to relax about finding a problem space. In fact, he seems obsessed with pivoting–the idea that you’ll move from problem to problem for a while till one sticks and grabs hold of you, waking you at night.

      Please note: Ms. Paul and Professor McCormick are not terribly interested in small time business that will earn you and a few others a comfortable salary. Rather, they seek ideas that will be commercially viable? Additionally, they seek a value proposition that can be blitzscaled:

      “Blitzscaling isn’t simply a matter of rapid growth. Every company is obsessed with growth. In any industry, you live and die by the numbers—user acquisition, margins, growth rate, and so on. Yet growth alone is not blitzscaling. Rather, blitzscaling is prioritizing speed over efficiency in the face of uncertainty” (Reid Hoffman).

      Addresses
      Ms. Elizabeth Paul, Strategic Consultant, FACC (Florida Adventure Capital Corp)
      #1 Main Street
      Tampa FL.

      Professor McCormick
      1 Business Way
      The People’s School of Entrepreneurship
  3. Work with your instructor to identify another rhetorical situation.
    • Are you working now in a business that is confronting some new challenges? If so, choose one business problem to investigate. And, so that I can follow and give appropriate comments, please write a description of the rhetorical situation for your instructor.

Required Elements

  1. A data visualization that plots data from at least two different sources
  2. Cover letter
  3. Cover page
    1. w/ Title, Visualization, Author Name, Author Role, Date
  4. Table of Contents
    1. Include h2 and h3 headings
  5. Executive Summary
  6. Statement of the Problem
  7. Stakeholders
    1. Stakeholder Map
    2. Subheadings for each stakeholder
  8. Research Methods
    1. Ethical Considerations
  9. Research Results (Optional)
    • Your results may be integrated into your analysis of the problem–i.e., integrated as described above in the Stakeholders section.
    • You should cite your interviews just as you cite the local newspaper or peer-reviewed literature.
  10. References–APA Format.

Evaluation Criteria

  1. Rhetorical Stance
    The reader’s expectations are met with regards to the assigned task: You have successfully used textual and empirical methods to investigate this problem/problem space. Now, your report to your boss or a potential investor provides a summary of the problem.

    Note: The investigation into the problem space does not include proposing solutions. At this point, your stance is that of the rigorous researcher, an intellectually open, curious person. You’re not looking to prove something.
  2. Evidence & Information Literacy
    1. Be sure that all in text citations are attributed in the references
    2. Be sure to follow APA conventions for in text citations
    3. Be sure to cite your data visualizations and infographic (if you include one)
    4. Be sure to clarify for your audience the accuracy, authority, currency,Purpose, and relevance of the information you introduce into your story
  3. Communication
    You define the problem and the problem space using concrete, sensory language. You provide the details your reader needs to understand the problem, its causes and effects.

    You provide the details your audience needs to know what original research you did in order to learn more about the problem from individual stakeholders’ perspective. You report on your interviews, empirical observations, and surveys.

    You provide the details the reader needs in order to understand how these problems evolved and whom they effect. The problem is well defined. Concrete, sensory language is used to describe the problem space.
    1. What is the size and scope of the problem?
      1. If you’re writing for Dr. Demetri, he’ll want to know how many students, faculty, or USF community members experience the problem
      2. If you’re writing for Ms. Paul, she’s want to know if the problem is scalable, what it’s TAM (total addressable market) and SAM (serviceable available market) is/
    2. Who are the stakeholders?
    3. Who are the people in your community or the USF community who experience the problem? You, your family, friends and loved ones? How do these stakeholders experience the problem space in their day-to-day lives. Do they experience the problem as deeply painful and irritating, something unfair or out of balance? How do stakeholders feel about the problem?
    4. Do stakeholders have competing interests or perspectives?
      1. Can you identify unique shareholder perspectives?
    5. What is the history of the problem? Is it a new problem? an enduring problem? or a derivative problem?
    6. What causes the problem?
    7. What are the effects of the problem?
  4. Problem Solving
    1. Textual research and empirical research inform the definition of the problem and the problem space.
    2. The writer’s use of textual evidence makes sense for the problem
    3. The writer’s use of empirical evidence makes sense for the problem
    4. Claims are grounded in textual research or empirical research as opposed to anecdote and personal experience.

Project 4: Collaborative Recommendation Report

Students engage in textual research and qualitative research to investigate in a problem that is relevant to them, their community, or the USF community. Students produce a memo that reports their findings, giving readers a robust understanding of the problem they have researched.
Photo Credit Moxle

Welcome to Project 4!

Now is the time for you to take all of the competencies you developed during the first half of class and put them to work on a collaborative effort to not only write a problem statement, but to also explore the solution space!

That’s right! We can finally talk about the solution space!


Week 11, 10/31-11/6

Tuesday, 11/1, Top Six Problem Definition Memos

  • Due: 11/1, In-class work on Discussion Board post: Top Six Problem Definition Memos
  • Discussion of Recommendation Report–final parts.

Assignment Guidelines: Top Six Problem Definition Memos

Prompt

Write a discussion forum post at Canvas that ranks the top 6 problem statements. Succinctly explain why you have ranked as you have.

Note: All selected Problem Definitions will receive a Grade Bump of one step. Thus, a B+ would become an A-. Or more.

Rhetorical Stance

Review your peers’ problem statements at the course gDoc. Please go through the entire list before ranking your top 6.

  1. Addressing your classmates as potential partners, explain your reasoning, your rationale, and your review criteria for ranking the top 6 problem definitions as you did. Go beyond vague generalities by backing up observations with specific examples.
  2. Also reader from the perspective the document’s audience–Dr. Martin, Ms. Paul

Sample Review Criteria:

  • the problem statement is nuanced, it illustrates the pain of the stakeholders
  • the context, the ecology, the rhetorical situation of the problem statement is well developed and interesting
  • the problem statement is well researched; it contains textual research and qualitative, empirical research
  • the problem statement adopts a professional writing style.

Sample Template:

  1. Favorite Problem Statement
    Explanation of Ranking
  2. 2nd Favorite Problem Statement
    Explanation of Ranking
    etc.

1 or 2 sentences explaining your ranking, using specific criteria.

Thursday, 11/3, Team Selection Day

REMEMBER TO ATTEND CLASS TODAY! IT’S TEAM SELECTION DAY

  • Teams for the collaborative project will be set in class on 11/3. Please attend class or work with peers remotely to join a team.
  • By end of class, in alphabetical order, provide a link to your team’s workspace at the class gDoc sandbox.

Sunday, 11/6

  • Due: Team Charter
    The Deliverable Specialist should submit the first iteration of your Team Charter to Canvas for grading. Follow the genre conventions for team charters yet tweak as necessary given your rhetorical situation.
    • Remember to list the names of all group members so I can set up the Team Assignments in Canvas.

Assignment Instructions: Team Charter, 1st Iteration

Instructions:

  1. At your first meeting
    • elect someone to take attendance for the group
    • introduce yourselves
    • discuss your expectations (and concerns) about managing this project.
  2. Discuss the Work teams need to conduct and the roles associated with that work.
    1. Discuss the roles and responsibilities of each team member.
      • Be sure to ensure the Deliverable Specialist is a detailed-oriented, dated-oriented person. 
  3. Create a Team Workspace at gDocs or Notion.
    Share a link to your Team’s homepage at the course gdoc sandbox.

    Your homepage should provide the following information:
    1. Name of Team
    2. Listing of team members, title/role
    3. Link to the existing draft of your Recommendation Report
  4. Create a link to your Team Charter
  5. Develop a Communication Policy:
    1. You will have some class time to collaborate. However, you should also meet out of class. I think it’s ideal that your group develop a policy regarding how team members will communicate with one another. To best prepare you for the future, beyond using gDoc to write the document, will your team meet via ZoomSkype, Google HangoutsMicrosoft Teams?
    2. Note: I will give each Team who uses Notion a grade bump of one level. Example: A B+ would be recorded as A-.

Template for Team Charter Assignment

Title of Team:

Listing of Team Members, Roles, & Responsibilities:

Names of team members listed by their role & their contact Information. In small teams, team members will have multiple roles. In that case, lists name once.

  1. Last name, First Name  | email  
  2. Last name, First Name  | email  
  3. Last name, First Name   | email
  4. Last name, First Name | email
  5. Last name, First Name | email  

Roles, Tasks, Responsibilities

Define the roles, tasks, responsibilities or each group member. Possible roles include:

  • Project Manager
  • Deliverable Specialist
  • Designer, Graphic Designer
  • Scholarly Researcher, Textual Research
  • Qualitative Researcher, Stakeholder interviews
  • Empirical Researcher, Surveys
  • Empirical Researcher, Photographer
  • Editor
  • Budget Officer
  • Developer

Collaboration Policies

Beyond writing the Recommendation Report at gDocs or Notion, what collaboration tools will your team use. For instance, will you use Slack, Trello? ZoomSkypeGoogle HangoutsMicrosoft Teams? Why did your team choose particular tools?

Executive Summary

In under 200 words, summarize the problem your team is exploring, addressing its history, causes, effects, stakeholders. Be sure to address the significance of the problem and address problems with any solutions that have been developed to address it. Outline what needs to be done next to complete the first iteration of the Recommendation report.

Bios with head pics

You may use a persona’s image or your own. Then write 2 to 3 sentences that informs the audience about that person’s related expertise and passion. Relate the description of the bio to the role the person is playing in the report

Submission

Submit a link to your Team Charter at Canvas. Be sure to double-check the url to make sure it works for your readers.


Week 12, 11/7 to 11/13 –

This week you want to finalize the first half of your report. First, you team needs to critically review and discuss their current iteration of the problem space. Take a critical look at your current draft. Ask critical questions such as

  • Is the problem statement well developed? Do the authors provide relevant textual and empirical evidence? Are stakeholder perspectives defined?
  • Have the authors employed professional writing conventions?

Tuesday, 11/8

  • In-class work on Team Projects

Thursday, 11/9

  • Due, Memo to Team

Assignment Guidelines: Memo to Team (a Progress Report)

Note: This is an individually authored report.

Assignment Prompt

Write a one to two-page progress memo to your team members. Your note should must include three parts:

Part 1

  • Summarize what you’ve done thus far on the collaborative project. Provide specific details about what you’ve done to complete the tasks you agreed to complete on the team charter.

Part 2

  • Summarize what you believe the team needs to do to complete the to accomplish its goals

Part 3

  • Provide evidence that you are contributing substantially to the team project. Ideally, submit a chunk of work that can be inserted into your team’s Recommendation Report.

Submission Requirements: Upload a .pdf copy of your email to Canvas.

Thursday, 11/10

  • No class. Cancelled for hurricane.

Sunday, 11/13

  • Due: Recommendation Report, 1st Collaborative Iteration

Assignment Guidelines: Recommendation Report, 1st Collaborative Iteration

Instructions

Your report should address the same rhetorical situation addressed your Problem Definition Memo. Each team member should contribute in a meaningful way to the team’s effort to ground the problem space in related scholarly conversations.

Length

Eventually (i.e., 11/29) you plan to submit your Recommendation Report to Dr Martin, Ms. Paul, or Professor McCormick, or some audience agreed upon by your instructor. For now, though, your audience is your team. Everyone is working together to make it the best report possible.

Between 10 and 15 pages. This length includes the contents from the statement of the problem (revised) and data visualization and infographic, depending on the size of the team.

Rhetorical Stance

  • If you are working in the stance of a research assistant for Dr. Demetri Martin, then this proposal should be written directly to Dr. Martin. Your goal in this draft is to share with him the latest iteration of your Recommendation Report

    Dr. Demetri Martin, Dean of Students
    1 University Way
    Big State U
  • If you are working in the stance of the entrepreneur, then your pitch should be to Professor McCormick. You want to update Professor McCormick on the exciting work your team is doing. You have also heard that Professor McCormick plans to share the best projects with Ms. Paul.

    Ms. Elizabeth Paul, Strategic Consultant, FACC (Florida Adventure Capital Corp)
    #1 Main Street
    Tampa FL

    Professor McCormick
    1 Business Way
    The People’s School of Entrepreneurship

Reminder: Adopt a professional writing style. Use concrete, sensory language. Avoid vagueness. At a minimum, employ reader-based prose. Supply any evidence needed to prove that this is indeed a significant problem or that the recommended results make sense. Cite any sources you use in APA.

Required Sections

Note: your specific rhetorical context will determine what headings you use in your Recommendation Report or Startup Documents. That said, the following sections are fairly typical for this genre, and they are required, as appropriate, for this assignment.

Required Elements

  1. A data visualization that plots data from at least two different sources
  2. Cover letter
  3. Cover page
    1. w/ Title, Visualization, Author Name, Author Role, Date
  4. Table of Contents
    1. Include h2 and h3 headings
  5. Executive Summary

Required Elements

Required Visualizations

At a minimum, include

  1. An infographic
    1. Your infographic may be
      • an illustration of stakeholders in a problem space
      • an illustration of recommendations
      • an illustration regarding information of evidence pertinent to your purpose
  2. A data visualization that plots data from at least two different sources
  3. One Gantt Chart. Two options:
    1. chart the team’s workload and individual contributions
    2. chart an implementation plan for the recommendation.

Required Sections

Submission Requirements:

SectionAnswers the questionRequirements – Length – Notes
FRONT MATTER OF THE REPORTno pagination
Cover Letter/
Letter of Transmittal


Who is writing to me? Why? Is this something I can ignore?One page
Title Page (aka Cover page)

Required: Title, Visualization, Author Name, Author Role, Date
Who are the authors?One page
Title
Name of Team
Name of Team Members, Title/Role
Name of Committee or LLC/Company
Table of Contents

Required:
Include h2 and h3 headings
What are the parts of the document?One page
Use gDoc’s or Notion’s tools for generating a Table of Contents
BIO Page
About the Investigators
What are the qualifications of the investigators?One page
Title: About the Investigators

2 sentences
Style: Do not emphasize the first-person. Write the bios in 2nd person. Example: x is a sophomore at USF studying Business. 2. a sentence that relates X’s experience or interests to their role in the report
Executive SummaryWhat is the essence of the document? Address purpose and problem space; significance; stakeholders; knowledge gap; research methods; results/recommendations; implementation planExecutive Summary, 250 words max
Infographic

Required:
1. Citations, as appropriate
What’s your story?–visually.[It’s fine to paste in a screenshot of your infographic. Make sure there’s sufficient contrast around the font so the copy is readable.]
BODY OF THE REPORT
PurposeWhat is the purpose of this documentThe Purpose (h2) should be at the top of page 1 of your recommendation report. Begin pagination here
Scope (optional)What are the shortcomings of this study?
Did anything go wrong?
Statement of the Problem
One to two sentence paragraph
Stakeholders

Required:
1. Stakeholder Map
2. Subheadings/Analysis for each stakeholder
Who is this a problem for?

How big of a problem is it for unique stakeholders? customer personas?


Stakeholders
Who are the people in your community or the university community who experience this problem?

Are there multiple stakeholders in the community? How do stakeholders experience the problem? What are the competing interests of different types of stakeholders?
Research Methods (optional)What textual research or empirical research was done? How? Why?In some social science and nearly all scientific research research methods are presented in a separate sections of an investigative report: Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion. In the humanities, research methods and research findings tend to be synthesized into a story or argument.

Consider your rhetorical stance to evaluate the best ways to support your knowledge claims.
.
If you did empirical research, report on the research methods you have employed or plan to employ. For example, if you interviewed people, describe the interview. What approach did you take to listen to the interviewees’ insights?
Results
(Optional)
You can have a separate results section or your results can be your recommendationsConsider your rhetorical stance to evaluate the best ways to support your knowledge claims.
Recommendations

Required: Refute likely counterarguments/common topoi
What are the most feasible, helpful solutions to the problem?What are your recommendations?

Underscore benefits of recommendation and ask reader to act

Tell the reader what steps, measures, actions they should take in light of the conclusions you have reached thanks to your textual research and empirical research.

Implementation Schedule

Required: Gantt Chart
What is the priority and schedule for implementing the recommendations?Explain how the recommendations might be implemented.
Explore how implementing the proposed recommendations benefits the audience.
BudgetWhat do the proposed solutions cost?

If entrepreneurial, what are the startup costs for additional customer discovery or a prototype?
Budget the salary costs for each role, operating expenses for a year, and other necessary expenditures. Guesstimates are fine. The budget section does not need to be exact.
APA ReferencesHow credible is this information? How can I learn more?You only need to attribute the works you actually cite in Publication Manual of the APA: 7th Edition.

Submission Requirements: Upload your draft as a pdf to Canvas

Grading Criteria

To grade the Recommendation Report, I will use a holistic-grading approach based on USF’s required General Education rubric:

  1. Communication
  2. Critical and Analytical Thinking
  3. Collaborative Problem Solving
  4. Integrative and Applied Learning

USF General Education Rubric

1. Communication

Students will produce a Recommendation Report that illustrates a professional writing prose style.

Key questions for assessment:

  1. Rhetorical
    • Does the report account for what the audience knows and feels about the topic?
  2. Professional Writing Prose Style.
    1. Do the investigators provide a robust description of the problem space, using concrete language, sensory discourse,
    2. Do the investigators adopt an appropriate voice, tone, persona, rhetorical stance, and writing style given the rhetorical situation?
  3. Project Management
  4. Ethics: Did the investigators explain the steps they took to ensure accuracy in representation (see Qualitative Research, IRB, and Research Protocol for info about ethics and research practices)

Novice:

  • Student demonstrates minimal attention to context, audience, purpose, and to the assigned task.
  • Student uses appropriate and relevant content to develop simple ideas in the report.
  • Student attempts to use a consistent system for basic organization, presentation and style using principles of document design.
  • Student uses language that sometimes impedes meaning because of errors in usage.

Developing

  • Student demonstrates an adequate understanding of context, audience, and purpose and to the assigned task.
  • Student uses appropriate and relevant content to explore and develop ideas throughout most of the report.
  • Student demonstrates fairly consistent use of document design, such as organization, content, presentation, and style.
  • Student uses straightforward language that generally conveys meaning to audience with some errors.

Proficient

  • Student demonstrates a thorough understanding of context, audience, and purpose and to the assigned task.
  • Student uses appropriate, relevant, and compelling content to illustrate mastery of the recommendation report genre.
  • Student demonstrates detailed attention to and successful execution of a wide range of the conventions of document design, to include organization, content, presentation and style.
  • Student uses graceful language that skillfully communicates meaning to audience with very few, if any, errors.

2. Critical and Analytical Thinking

Students will comprehensively explore issues, ideas, artifacts, and events before accepting or formulating opinions or conclusions.

Key questions for assessment:

  1. Is there evidence that the investigators engaged in strategic searching? Is there evidence the problem statement and recommendations are informed by pertinent and necessary textual research and empirical research?
  2. Is there appropriate textual and empirical evidence to substantiate recommendations?
    1. Are claims supported with research?
    2. Are counterarguments addressed?
    3. Are the research methods appropriate given the problem space?
  3. Have the investigators adopted professional information literacy perspectives & practices?
    1. Is there evidence of strategic searching?
    2. Do the investigators introduce evidence in ways that demonstrate they understand authority is constructed & contextual? When they introduce information, do they address its currency, relevance, accuracy, authority, and relevance)?
    3. Are sources cited correctly according to APA?
  4. Does the organizational structure and use design and visual language enhance the clarity and persuasiveness of the report?

Novice:

  • Student demonstrates an attempt to use sources and gathers information without interpretation/evaluation; viewpoints of experts are taken as fact without question.
  • Student demonstrates some awareness of assumptions and begins to identify some contexts when presenting a position as the analysis is incorporated.
  • Student expresses a position that is simplistic and obvious and reaches a conclusion that is inconsistently tied to some of the information discussed/presented.
  • Student demonstrates an attempt to organize the report effectively.

Developing:

  • Student gathers credible and relevant information that is mostly appropriate to develop a coherent analysis. The viewpoints of experts are subject to questioning.
  • Student questions assumptions and identifies several relevant contexts (sides of an issue) when presenting a position as the analysis is incorporated for their position. 
  • Student considers opposing viewpoints when formulating a logical conclusion that is tied to appropriate information.
  • Student demonstrates an organizational structure for an effective report, but it lacks full follow through.

Proficient:

  • Student takes information from credible and relevant sources with enough interpretation/evaluation to develop a comprehensive analysis or synthesis. The viewpoints of experts are questioned thoroughly.
  • Student thoroughly analyzes assumptions and carefully evaluates the relevance of contexts when presenting a position, taking into consideration the complexities of an issue.
  • Student formulates a logical conclusion that reflects her/his ability to place evidence and perspectives discussed in priority order.
  • Student demonstrates an organizational structure that is effective in showing the evidence and recommendation to its full potential.

3. Collaborative Problem Solving

Students will develop recommendations and an implementation plan that makes sense given the problem space and the solution space; scope; and budget.

Key questions for assessment:

  1. Problem Definition: Is there a clear definition of the problem?
    1. Is the problem — its history, parts, causes effects, size and scope — well defined?
    2. Has the investigator
      1. clarified how stakeholders experience the problem?
      2. explored the tools and resources stakeholders currently use to respond to the problem?
  2. Have the investigators explained the reasoning behind their recommendations?
    1. Have they provided the evidence — a textual review of the best thinking, the best scholarly conversations, about the problem?
    2. Have they engaged in empirical observation or experimentation in order to better understand the problem space and solution space? For example, have they engaged in customer discovery interviews? usability and user experience research?
  3. Rhetoricity: Do the proposed recommendations make sense given the needs and interests of Dr. Martin Martin, Ms. Paul, Professor McCormick, on some other audience approved of by the instructor?
  4. Are the proposed recommendations feasible given the severity of the problem, the available budget, and the rhetorical situation?

Novice:

  • Student demonstrates a limited ability to identify a problem statement or related contextual factors.
  • Student identifies approaches for solving the problem that do not apply to the specific context.
  • Student provides a superficial solution that is implemented in a manner that does not directly address the problem statement

Developing:

  • Student defines the problem and makes recommendations, yet fails to explore the problem space with the depth it needs to account for different stakeholder perspectives or counterarguments
  • Student identifies multiple approaches to solve a problem, only some of which apply within a specific context.
  • Student provides a solution that is adequate and addresses multiple contextual factors.

Proficient:

  • Student demonstrates the ability to construct a clear and insightful problem statement with evidence of all relevant contextual factors.
  • Student identifies multiple approaches to solve a problem that seem appropriate and feasible for the given rhetorical situation
  • Student provides a solution that is insightful and elegant and implements the solution in a manner that thoroughly addresses multiple contextual factors of the problem.

4. Integrative and Applied Learning

Students will make connections among ideas and experiences to synthesize and transfer learning to new, complex situations within and beyond the classroom.

Key questions for assessment: 

  • was a report turned in?
  • does the appendix team charter describe the approaches to a constructive team climate to include how to identify and manage conflict and motivate team members?
  • does the content (problem) align with professional writing?
  • were you as a reader convinced?

Novice:

  • Student identifies connections between life experiences and academic knowledge and ideas perceived as similar and related to her/his own interests.
  • Student presents examples/facts/theories from one academic field of study when prompted.
  • Student uses skills and knowledge in a basic way in new situations.
  • Student describes self-performance with general descriptors of success and failure.

Developing:

  • Student effectively selects and develops examples of life experiences from a variety of contexts to illuminate concepts/theories/frameworks of field of study.
  • Student independently adapts and applies skills/abilities/theories/methodologies from more than one field of study.
  • Student uses skills and knowledge in one situation in a new situation to contribute to solve and understand problems.
  • Student evaluates changes in her/his learning over time, recognizing different contextual factors.

Proficient:

  • Student meaningfully synthesizes connections among experiences outside of the formal classroom to deepen understanding of fields of study and to broaden her/his own points of view.
  • Student independently creates whole out of multiple parts or draws conclusions by combining examples, facts, or theories from more than one field of study or experience.
  • Student independently adapts and applies skills/ abilities/theories/methodologies to solve difficult problems or explore complex issues in original ways.
  • Student envisions a future self, building on past experiences that have occurred across multiple and diverse contexts.

Week 13, 11/14 to 11/20 –

Tuesday, 11/15

Before class, please review the following resources:

TeamworkTeam Cohesion, Team Empowerment, Team Learning, Self Management/Self Leadership, Adaptability/Open Mindedness
CommunicationActive Listening, Exchanging Information
LeadershipOrganizing Activities & Resources, Performance Monitoring, Reorganizing When Faced with Obstacles, Resolving Conflict, Transformational Leadership
  • In-class review of assignment and discussion of Self & Peer Review Examples

Wednesday, 11/16

  • Due: Self & Peer Evaluation

Assignment Guidelines: Draft of GEA#2 (Self & Peer Evaluation)

Note: This is an individually authored report.

Assignment Prompt

Write a 2-to 4 page memo to your instructor that addresses two topics:

  1. Peer Evaluation
    Evaluate the work of your teammates.
  2. Self Evaluation
    Reflect on what you learned about collaboration as a result of your work on your team’s recommendation report.

Rhetorical Stance

Your audience is your instructor. Your audience needs concrete, specific examples to follow the particulars of experience with the teamwork project. Avoid vagueness, hyperbole, and marketing language.

1. Peer Evaluation

Complete a review of each team member. List reviews in alphabetical order (first and last name). The peer reflection has two parts:

  1. Complete the table below for each teammate.
  2. After the table, write a summary (a few sentences) of each member’s contributions to the Recommendation Report. In your narrative summary, remember to avoid overgeneralizations, vague language. Be as specific and concrete as possible. For instance, report the peer’s attendance record at team meetings or times they turned in work late.
ContributionProfessionalAdequateInadequate
Instructions: Rank each criteria as professional, adequate or inadequate:
1. Members abided by all provisions of the team contract/charter
2. Members attended team meetings
3. Members completed their tasks
4. Members communicated openly with other team members
5. Members resolved conflicts constructively

Narrative
Write one or two sentences for each peer, summarizing their contributions to the course project.

2. Self Evaluation – Self Management/Self Leadership

Writing Prompt

Reflect on your own efforts at collaborating with your peers this semester. What did you learn about teamwork as a result of your experience working with your peers to develop the Recommendation Report?

Some possible themes to explore:

  1. Project Management
    Did you gain any insights this semester regarding how to design and manage teams? Did your team successfully use a Team Charter? Did you use gDocs or Notion to collaborate? What tools did you use to meet? How did these tools hinder/foster team progress?
  2. Team Empowerment
    Did you learn how to listen to and mentor/support your peers in their efforts to complete tasks? Did you make any efforts at team leadership?
  3. Adaptability/Open Mindedness
    Did you learn any strategies or tools to facilitate collaborative processes, such as Notion or gDocs? Did you learn anything new from your peers about how to work effectively in teams?

Grading Criteria

Per General Education requirements, your instructor is reviewing your self-evaluation with three criteria in mind:

  1. Collaborative Processes
  2. Reflection and Learning
  3. Writing

1. Collaborative Processes

Students provide specific examples of collaborative processes. For instance, they may address division of labor, strategies for combining ideas, and ways assistance and encouragement was done between team members. They may discuss, when and how frequently did your group meet? How did the team use tools like Notion, gDocs, or Teams to facilitate document creation and review?

Novice/No EvidenceDevelopingProficient
Insight into the collaborative process is not evident as the writer did not articulate what was learned and what needs to be developed in the future. The reflection leaves a weak impression on the reader about what was learned about collaboration. Insight into the reflection process is not evident as the writer did not clearly articulate what needs to be developed in the future. The reflection leaves an impression on the reader about what the student learned about collaboration and collaborative process. Insight into the reflection process is somewhat evident as the writer articulated what needs to be developed in the future. 

2. Reflection and Learning

Students reflect on what they learned as a result of working on a team project. Students give examples of what they learned by pointing to instances of conflict, conflict resolution, and project coordination. Students provide specific examples of how well they feel the collaborative process worked or didn’t. They provide specific examples that highlight specific collaborative processes, such as

  1. conflict resolution
  2. project management
  3. planning
  4. self regulation and metacognition
  5. mindset
  6. motivation
  7. use of new collaboration tools, such as gDocs or Notion

Novice/No Evidence:
Reflection does not reveal insight into personal learning goals and reveal what was learned

Student does not reflect on their collaboration processes. They fail to provide examples.

Developing:
Reflection reveals some insights into what the author learned about teamwork.

Students talk about a few details regarding what was learned and how it was learned but the overall picture is blurry

Proficient:
Reflection does not reveal insight into personal learning goals and reveal what was learned

The text provides an interesting and substantive discussion of what the student learned about collaboration and co-authorship.

3. Writing

Your writing employs a Standard Written English prose style. You style is appropriate for the occasion, and it is responsive to the needs of your audience. You use Publication Manual of the APA: 7th Edition for citations and references.

Novice/No Evidence:
Contains errors in Standard Written English

Doesn’t use APA style

Developing:
Includes a few errors in Standard Written English. Has problems with the style

Spotty usage of APA style

Proficient
Is relatively error free from the perspective of Standard Written English

Used APA correctly


Thursday, 11/17

  1. In-class, the Deliverable Specialist will provide a link to their team’s Recommendation Report, Substantive Draft at the course gDoc Sandbox
  2. Peer Review Guidelines
  3. In-class team work on Recommendation Report

Sunday, 11/20

Due: Recommendation Report, Substantive Draft


Assignment Guideline: Recommendation Report, Substantive Draft

Writing Prompt:

  • Address the same rhetorical situation as you did for the statement of the problem
  • Follow the guidelines outlined above, in Week 12 for the 1st iteration of the Recommendation Report

Submission Guidelines

  1. Upload the url for your Recommendation Report to gDocs
  2. Provide a link to your team’s Recommendation Report at the Course gDoc Sandbox

Week 14, 11/21 – 11/27

No f2f class this week due to Thanksgiving.

Please note, however, that your next assignment is two peer reviews of two Recommendation Reports. Your reviews are due 11/27.

Please note it’s strategic to complete the two required peer reviews now….before the holiday….so you can relax and have fun.

<a href=httpswwwflickrcomphotos43810158N0745924450652 target= blank rel=noreferrer noopener>Happy Thanksgiving<a> by <a href=httpswwwflickrcomphotos43810158N07 target= blank rel=noreferrer noopener>DaPuglet<a> is licensed under <a href=httpscreativecommonsorglicensesby sa20ref=openverse target= blank rel=noreferrer noopener>CC BY SA 20<a>

  • Due: 11/27/22

Assignment Guidelines: Peer Review Two Recommendation Reports

Write a critique of two Recommendation Reports using the guidelines listed below. When you engage in your critique, play the role of the document’s intended audience. IOWs, you are not responding as a peer but as a funding source.

Required Content & Recommended Steps

Step 1: Engage in rhetorical analysis of the communication situation.

Examine whether the team has written a compelling Recommendation Report? Is the report written in an an audience-sensitive way? Have all the required parts of the recommendation been submitted (see table above)? Does the cover letter introduce the report? Have likely counterarguments/common topoi been addressed? Is the work substantive or anecdotal? Has the team adopted a professional writing prose style?

Bottom line, would you fund this project? If so, why? If not, why?

Write a paragraph (and feel free to include some bullets) to identify substantive changes you recommend at the global level.

Step 2: Inspect the Document at Section Level

  1. Are all required sections submitted?
  2. Would you recommend a different ordering of sections?
  3. Are there any transition problems across sections such as awkward changes in point of view or verb tense?

Write a brief critique of the document @ the section level, addressing,

  1. Rhetorical Problems
  2. Structural Problems
  3. Language Problems
  4. Critical & Analytical Thinking Problems
  5. Problem Solving Problems
  6. Design Problems

Step 3: Inspect the Document at Paragraph Level

  1. Has the team used paragraphs as expected in professional writing?
  2. Are there any problems with transitions or the ordering of paragraphs?

Write a brief critique of the document @ the paragraph level, addressing,

  1. Rhetorical Problems
  2. Structural Problems
  3. Language Problems
  4. Critical & Analytical Thinking Problems
  5. Problem Solving Problems
  6. Design Problems

Step 4: Inspect the Document at Sentence Level (optional)

Briefly identify one or two errors or some usage that you found egregious. Explain where the error occurs and why you believe the authors should reconsider that usage.

Submission Guidelines

By 11/27, each class member is responsible for completing two independent reviews and sharing them with the teams by linking to them at the course sandbox (see form).

You are responsible for uploading to Canvas a copy of the two reviews. I’ll look to see that you provided links of your reviews on the course sandbox. Reviews that weren’t shared on the course sandbox will receive a full grade-level penalty.


Week 15, 11/28 to 12/2, Last Day of Class; Presentation Day

Tuesday, 11/29

  • Due, GEA#1, Recommendation Report
    • Label your file Recommendation Report  #GEA1
  • Due, Self & Team Evaluation
    • Note: This is an individually authored report.
    • Label your file Peer Evaluation & Submit Self Evaluation Memo  #GEA2
  • Due, Team Presentation
    • Label your file  #GEA3

Assignment Guidelines: Oral Presentations

A persuasive presentation is key to making a successful recommendation that would result in action. Student teams should create and present a final presentation that outlines their report, including a description of the problem, description of the solution, and plans for implementation. The presentation format follows the format of the written report with rhetorical choices” (Source: General Education Council).

As you prepare for this presentation, please consider our context as a group of learners in the final meeting of a week-long course. You know your audience is tired and busy, so you want to be respectful and professional: don’t waste their time fumbling for access to the presentation. Be ready with either a thumb drive or know where it’s accessible online. And be sure to work out the order of speakers before you arrive.

Also–I strongly encourage you not to load up each slide with loads of bullets. Your goal isn’t to read off the slides. Instead, your goal is to tell a story.

I anticipate sufficient time on Tuesday for all of the teams to complete their presentations; however, we can complete the presentations on Thursday if we run out of time on Tuesday.

To receive credit for this assignment, you must attend and have a speaking role of at least one minute.

Prior to your presentation, the document-delivery specialist should upload a copy of it to the Course Canvas. The first slide should identify all team members in alphabetical order who are present to speak.

Recommended Readings

Effective Use of PowerPoint in Professional & Technical Presentations