Essay #3: Composition in Two Genres

For this assignment, you will move from researching and analyzing your topic, as you did in the Research Essay, to creating a composition that uses two different genres to communicate to a targeted audience about that same topic. You will use your previous research to inform your creative strategy and help you make the rhetorical choices necessary to create an effective composition. These two genres are up to you to decide upon, based on your analysis of the rhetorical situation and the way in which you respond to it.

In this assignment, you will strategically target a specific audience(s), then develop key messages to communicate to that audience–based on knowledge of your topic gained from developing the research essay–and finally create two genres designed to communicates those messages to your audience(s). You will also write a rationale to communicate the connections between genres and your strategies for choosing them, and you will write a reflection that will consider the effect of these choices on your audience.

This assignment requires you to engage your critical thinking, rhetorical awareness, and reflection capabilities in order to most effectively communicate with your specified audience. Your strategy will determine the choices you make in communicating to your audience, how you present the research, and what you create to convey your message. The composition will include:

• Two genres of communication created for your audience(s)
• A rationale for your composition (1-2 pages) that orients your reader to the purpose of your work and its significance to your audience
• A reflection (1-2 pages) that outlines the process from audience strategy to final composition, exploring the rhetorical choices—genre, stance, and rhetorical situation—you made in creating this project

Potential Genres

You may use any genres you feel are appropriate to your audience. The strategy you develop will guide you in choosing the genres you want to create. Communicating effectively to your audience by choosing genres best suited to conveying your message will determine the potential effect of your composition. The genres that you choose must be approved by your instructors.

Just as you did for the research essay, for this composition project you will engage in a series of short writing assignments designed to help you focus your thinking about audience, message, and outcome before you begin the composition.

Short Assignment #1: Potential Genres Proposal
For this assignment, you will explore various genres that might be appropriate to your project, and write a proposal outlining the ones you’re thinking about using in your composition. This proposal is designed to help you explore several possible genres and then narrow in on a strategy for the two specific genres you will ultimately use in your project. You should also consider your audience strategy as you write this.

Short Assignment #2: Audience Strategy
This strategy will be developed based on your research essay and your genres proposal. The audience strategy is the blueprint or foundation of your composition, so it is critical to develop a strategy with the end effect in mind. Planning in advance about how you will communicate your ideas to an audience will ensure its success; poor planning will result in a less-than-effective final project.

Short Assignment #3: Reflection on Your Composition
In this reflection, you will analyze the process of moving from your research essay to your composition project, as well as think through questions that involve the key terms. Think about what rhetorical choices you have made, and consider the following questions: 1) Audience–what barriers in communicating to your audience(s) did you encounter? How did you overcome these barriers? 2) Process–how was the composing process different from your research essay? 3) Genre–why did you choose the two genres that you did? How did the genre affect the audience choice? 4) Reflection–what rhetorical practices did you find yourself using? Were they effective in the way you presented them?

Have you…

• completed all of the short assignments, responding to the questions in each assignment in sufficient detail?
• created two genres of your composition?