Polish Draft Due: 6/12 M

Your second assignment is a group-writing project. The assignment is to write a 10-page (minimum) document that proposes that an evaluation of the failure or success of the writing given in one of three scenarios from WFW (Chapters 8, 9, and 10) lead to the particular outcome. The form of the proposal is detailed in Chapter 5 of WFW (you may also wish to look at Chapter 15 from TC). This assignment will include:

• A cover page (with the title, the names of the group members, date, etc.);
• The proposal itself;
• A "credits" page in which each group member's contribution to the project will be listed (e.g. "pages 1-4 by Fred H." or "Section 1" (Introduction) by Fred H.") Please note that the cover and credits pages will not count towards the 10-page minimum;
• An evaluation (in the form of a survey which I will hand out on 6/12) of each member's contribution.

This document, in its final form, will explain why and where communication failed or succeeded in the relevant chapter. You must use specific examples from the primary documents (memos, reports, etc.) included in each chapter to support your claims. Remember that the textbook contains plenty of excellent background information from which you may wish to draw. Also, note that you need to give more than one example for each problem if you wish to be persuasive.

For example, if you were discussing Purpose Paragraph, you should quote parts of the purpose paragraphs from the memos you are using to illustrate Purpose Paragraph. If there is no purpose paragraph in the memo, you would explain that there is no purpose paragraph in the memo and, therefore, the writer’s purpose is not clear. f there are parts of a purpose paragraph erroneously scattered throughout the memo rather than written as the first coherent paragraph, you would explain that and then quote from the memo to show the readers what those scattered parts are and where they occur. Remember, your readers have not read the memos so you must give enough detail for your writing to make sense to your readers.

Essentially, your group document will need to persuade a general reader that your interpretation of the strengths and weaknesses of the professional writing involved in this case study is a valid one.

For 6/5 M: Make groups. Decide who will be the group leader. Discuss what skills you have in your group. You will need one person who is comfortable (or willing to struggle) with Word or whatever word processing program you wish to use (this is important if you wish to incorporate graphics or visually based text formatting). Exchange email/phone numbers. Collaboratively write a letter, following the format in WFW, to me that details what you have discovered.

For 6/6 T: You will already have read the relevant chapter in WFW. Bring to class some brief notes for yourself regarding 1) successful and unsuccessful aspects of the primary documents in the relevant chapter; and 2) possible ways to organize and arrange your group’s document in its final form. When we get into groups, discuss possibilities regarding the arrangement and organization of your document (you’ll have about an hour in class for this). After you have decided how you are going to present this material, divide the labor and decide who is going to handle each aspect of the writing. Remember, during this session you’ll have to discuss the logistics of things, like meeting face-to-face or otherwise communicating outside of class; the sequencing of material; how to collect all of this information so there’s no duplication of efforts; what order all this work should come in; and so forth.

For 6/7 W: This is primarily a writing workshop day for your groups. I will open the class with a brief discussion of the chapters for the day, but the majority of the time is scheduled for your group project. You can use the time for some combination of writing and planning.

For 6/8 Th: Today you will present your major findings to the class. Remember that most of your classmates will not have read the texts you will be discussing, so make this discussion suitable for a general audience. The other group that has read the chapter should give feedback if there is something missed in the group’s discussion of their findings. Groups that have not read the chapter should listen for concepts or words that are unclear or unexplained. The purpose of this is to allow each group to get external feedback before the final drafting of the proposal.