Final Project
This is another multi-step assignment which will get you to put your hard work on analyzing communication practices into a piece of communication of your own making. Working in the group that you did your argumentative analysis research with, you will now create a communication project for the organization that you chose. This communication should fill some unmet need in the organization's current materials or completely revise some material that already exists, but does not work effectively according your analysis. This will all be done as group work, so each group will have one proposal, one project, one presentation, and one report.

THE PROPOSAL(10% of final grade)
First: As a group, you will type up a 500-750 word (two to three page) paper due on 3/31 that describes and explains the piece of communication you wish to develop in response to the analyses of the previous assignments of this class. Your proposal will include the following:

• Introduction: Provide some background and history of the organization for which you are proposing the text. Briefly explain their mission or goals and discuss how and why your proposed project is relevant to this group and its objectives. Describe the purpose and audience for this project and justify why you are targeting them.
  
• Problem: Identify the gap or problem your project will address. Be specific about audiences not being targeted or problems with current communications.
  
• Solution: Describe how you plan to address the problem identified above and why this approach is justified.
  
• Objectives: Describe the process--step by step--that your group will undertake to develop this communication. Describe the specific ways in which your communication materials will fill a void or address a community that is currently not targeted (or not targeted well) by your organization. Discuss the message you propose to develop, the media in which you will do it, and why you think these choices are best.
  
• Method: Discuss how you plan to achieve your objectives. Describe which group members will be responsible for what parts of the process and why.
  
• Potential Obstacles: Identify any problems you foresee and discuss how you will overcome these.
  
• Schedule: Specify a detailed time-line for the project, listing deadlines for what will be developed by specific dates.

THE PROJECT (20% of final grade)
Second: Design and develop a piece of communication for the organization that your group researched. You may want to think of this part of the assignment as consultancy work. Imagine that you work for a firm hired to analyze what works and what doesn't about your organization's communication.

Once that is completed, your task becomes one of redesigning or developing new materials to fill some void that you have identified. That might include recruiting volunteers, convincing new people to donate money or resources, or just getting the word out to a specific audience about what your client organization does. Some examples of communications you might develop include a brochure, a small web site, a series of magazine ads or an article about its history and activities, an awareness campaign, a fundraiser or a recruitment event, a short piece of digital multimedia, a video or public service commercial, or support activities for the audience. Whatever you choose should be in response to the analysis you have done of the organization. For example, if you noticed that their current brochure isn't addressing the correct audience, you could remake a small series of brochures so that they better appeal to the particular audiences they are trying to reach about particular subjects. Or, if you think the organization would benefit from a new web site, you can design one (or a part of one). Or, if you think the group needs to have more eye catching posters, you can design a series of them intended for a particular space. Since this portion of the project is worth 20% of your final grade, it should be something substantial.

This project will be a concrete example of how you apply the critical analysis you did on your argumentative analysis presentations and papers to make a rhetorically justified change in the communication of the organization. You will choose the kind of communication you develop and you will have to justify your reasons for choosing such a communication text to the organization whose communication strategies you are recommending changing.

I will be grading you not so much on your creative skills but your creative thoughts. The project does not have to be completely polished and professional, but make it the best that you can given your skills, the time available, and the resources to which you have access. If it's a great idea and I can tell you put a lot of work into making the best that you know how, you will do well.

A draft of your project will be due in class for feedback on 4/14.

I will meet with your project team for a conference to provide feedback and suggestions on 4/19.

THE PRESENTATION (10% of final grade)
Third: You will present your project to the class in a way that not only shows the work you have done but also justifies the choices you have made. You will need to explain why you did what you did, who your audience was, what your purpose was, and what types of rhetorical tactics you used. This is a group presentation, and you should all be part of it. You will present on 4/26 & 4/28.

THE REPORT (5% of final grade)
Fourth: Your group will write up a project report to put in the final portfolio due on 5/5. This is a report that your whole project group generates. Given the scope of the what I ask, your report should be in the range of 3-5 pages.

In this project report, you will describe the history of you project, from its inception to the final version you present to the class. This report also provides you with an opportunity to demonstrate the thinking you have done by describing your strategies for solving various communication problems that arose in the process. As you write this report, you should look back at your project proposal and see how your final project compares to what you originally imagined it to be. You should include a discussion of the changes that became necessary to make and why this occurred.

What you will include in the report:

1. The Project Description- Briefly explain the project you undertook and outline its features.
   
2. Reasons & Intentions- Describe why you chose to develop the text that you did: What concerns led you to decide on the project you did? What were your intentions in developing this project? While what is written here may be similar to the information you provided in your proposal, it's often the case that your reasons change and grow as you work your way through a project: now that you have completed your project, are there any changes in your reasons and intentions?
   
3. Your Audience- Who was the particular audience for this project and what were their specific needs?
   
   • Designing for your audience- Please list and justify your major design decisions in making your project:
     • Why was the medium (brochure? web page? videotape? puppet show? oral presentation?) you chose for your project appropriate for your audience?
       
     • Why did you choose the overall structure you did for the text you made? (For example, if your project is an oral presentation, why did you break the presentation into the parts you did? If you made a brochure or web site, how did you decide how many pages to make, and how did you decide on their order?
       
     • Why did you choose the specific visual components you did? (If you made something on paper or screen, why did you choose the specific typefaces and colors and photographs or illustrations you did? If you composed an oral presentation, why did you choose the specific body language you used? What design decisions went into your visual aids?)
4. Project Challenges- What kind of challenges did you face as you developed this project and how did you deal with them? How did these problems compare to those you anticipated in your initial project proposal?
   
5. Group dynamics- What were some of the strategies your group used to make this project a success? If you had to give advice to next semester's class regarding their groups, what would you say and why?
   
6. Any last thoughts or general conclusions you would like to share concerning the project as a whole? What would you do differently next time? What would you have liked to have known more about as you were working?