Project #1 —
Short Report on a Professional Writing Organization or Journalproject last updated: 09.22.06 (recent changes in red)
Context
The WRA 202 class has been commissioned by a publisher to produce an informational resource book describing professional organizations and journals of relevance to professional writers. The working title of the book is Organizations and Journals for Professional Writers. The book will consist of a total of approximately 17-20 short chapters, each chapter describing one particular organization or journal. The book will be divided into two main sections: you guessed it, Organizations and Journals. The key question guiding this publication is:
Q: What organizations and journals are important for professional writers to know about?
Each of you will be submitting a single-authored chapter for inclusion in the book. The audience for the book is new and/or young professional writing specialists: majors in professional writing and new professionals in the field of professional writing (broadly defined). The editor for the collection is Jim Porter.
CONTENT SPECS. The chapters themselves should be mostly descriptive and informational: that is, they should provide basic information about ONE particular professional writing organization or journal. However, the editor would also like writers to provide some overall evaluative commentary and a recommendation at the conclusion of each entry: For whom would this organization or journal be beneficial — and why? The focus for journals will be somewhat different than for organizations. Some journals require a paid subscription, some journals are free if you join an organization, other journals are free online electronic journals ... So your recommendation and focus for journals will vary depending on the particular journal: Your focus might be, Is the journal worth subscribing to — or it might be, Is the journal worth reading?
DESIGN SPECS. There is not yet a specific design template or set of document specifications for the chapters. The editor would like each contributor (you) to create a design for their particular contribution — a design that would work for *all* the entries in the volume. The editor will review the submissions and then pick the design to be used for the entire collection. Thus, your submission has to be designed as a published page, designed as it would look in the book itself. The technical constraints on the design are these:
• The pages of the printed book will be 8 1/2 x 11" pages.
• A chapter should be no more than two pages in length.
• Use a two-column layout.
• Use single spacing within paragraphs, double spacing between paragraphs.
• Each chapter should include a visual. It might be the logo for the organization, the journal cover, or some other type of visual or chart. You may use tables or charts to represent quantitative information (e.g., membership trends or options).
• Each chapter should have a title and an author byline at the top and include some headings to divide types of information.
SUBMISSION SPECS. Submit your chapter as a PDF file. (Hint: Compose the document within a word-processing program — MS Word is recommended — and then convert the final version to PDF for submission.)
Major Deliverables and Due Dates
M SEPT 11 — Short proposal identifying proposed chapter topic and requesting preliminary approval for chapter (send to editor, Jim Porter, as individual email)
M SEPT 18 — Complete and polished draft of chapter for editorial review (submit as PDF file to ANGEL turn-in folder)
M OCT 2 — Revised, final version of chapter + project reflection/analysis (submit as PDF file to ANGEL turn-in folder)
Evaluation Criteria for Project
In addition to the general criteria for all assignments related to PRODUCT, PROCESS, and PURPOSE (see WRA 202 course syllabus), the following criteria are especially important for this project:
PURPOSE
- Information usefulness and value —> Is the information provided beneficial, useful, helpful to its intended audience? (The top three choices, as voted by the class, will be recognized as Nominations for Best Information Quality.)PRODUCT
- Quality of page design —> Is the page design professional looking, sharp and clean, innovative, cool — possibly a contender to be the selected page design for the entire volume? (The top three page designs, as voted by the class, will be recognized as Nominations for Best Page Design.)PROCESS
- Quality of research —> Does the entry show careful research and deep familiarity with the organization or journal? Has the researcher done a good job of researching the organization/journal and understanding its purpose and membership/readership?
Exercises
IN-CLASS EXERCISE: PRELIMINARY RESEARCH
* Explore the list of professional writing organizations and journals provided below in the Resources section.
* Locate one or two organizations or journals that you find interesting or relevant enough to possibly explore. What looks like a good candidate for this project? (You don't have to commit 100% yet! This is just exploration.)
* Do some Internet searching of your own to identify some organizations/journals that might be worth including in this project, even if they aren't on the list below.
* Report your findings to the class.
Resources
Organizations and Journals in Professional Writing
Prompts for Rhetorical Invention
ANALYSIS OF RHETORICAL CONTEXT: AUDIENCE AND PURPOSE
- Why would professional writing students and young professionals benefit from knowing about this organization or journal? What can it do for them, why might they want to become members/readers? What should they know about this organization or journal?Analyzing rhetorical situation
http://www.bristol.mass.edu/Department_Pages/Quest_Writing_Lab/writing/rhetoric.htmCONTENT DEVELOPMENT
- What information about this organization/journal would be most important for professional writing majors to have?
- Would you recommend that PW majors join this organization (or certain ones) or subscribe to this journal? Why or why not?RESEARCH STRATEGIES/METHODS
- Locate an organization or journal that *you* might want to join or explore as a professional writer -- and that an audience of PW majors might find useful or interesting to know about and potentially join/subscribe.Prompts for Project Planning/Management
DESIGN PLAN (mock-up, layout, wireframe; site design vs. page design)DELIVERY PLAN: COORDINATION, CONSULTATION, COLLABORATION
- Who needs to be consulted on this project, and at what stages?
- Who needs to be involved in the project as a co-writer, co-author, or co-designer?