Guidelines: Civic Engagement Experience Project

For the final step in our major project series, I’m looking for you to take action and actually become engaged in your civic issue beyond the boundaries of our classroom. How you do this is up to you, but it will most likely mean reaching out in some way to organizations or individuals already doing advocacy work on your issue. The form of the written/composed version of this project is also up to you. The goal of this project is for you to gain experience in advocacy work while also utilizing some of the genre knowledge you gained throughout the semester.

Assignment Requirements

Regardless of what shape your project takes, here are a few basic elements I’d like you to incorporate:

• This piece should focus on the same issue you’ve worked on in your Community Issue Brief and Op-Ed.
• You will need to show evidence of some kind of outreach to a local, state, national, or global organization working on your issue, or to an individual advocate working on your issue. (Advocacy is not done in a silo and civic engagement is a community activity, as we have seen again and again this semester.)
• You should incorporate research from both news sources and scholarly journals.
• Your project should have a clear goal (what are you trying to accomplish?) and a narrow focus (what area or angle of your topic/issue are you addressing, specifically?).
• You should be addressing a pointed audience, rather than saying you are writing/speaking to “the public.”
• Be prepared to present your project to the class during the last week of classes.

Due Dates and Schedule

Tuesday, April 11th: Individual Conferences – Have your idea ready to discuss with me online or in person.

Thursday, April 13th: 1st Check In – In-class time to work on your project, but come prepared with an update on who you’ve reached out to so far.

Tuesday, April 18th: 2nd Check In – In-class time to work on your project, but come prepared to show a written product in progress.

Thursday, April 20th: 1st Draft Due – Have a full draft ready to discuss with peer review partner and Dr. Andersen

Tuesday, April 25th: 2nd Draft and Presentations

Thursday, April 27th: Final Revisions

Assignment Suggestions

Here are a few things you may want to keep in mind, tips for improving your project or main idea, helpful hints, nudges, etc. (I’ll add to these if I think of more!):

• Some possible forms for this project might be, but are definitely not limited to:
  • A journalistic write up of interviews with leaders in community groups/politicians for an organization’s blog or website
  • A series of policy briefs for a specific group of stakeholders for an advocacy group or non-profit
  • A social media and/or marketing package for a specific organization/non-profit who needs assistance in this area
  • Identifying and writing a grant for a small local non-profit
  • Designing (or revising) a website or educational materials for a community organization who lacks the time to take of that task
  • Creating a journalistic video to synthesize information about your issue for a specific group of stakeholders
  • Developing a pitch for a local community event or program for a state- or national-level advocacy group
• If you are attacking a local issue, you may want to consider attending your town’s next council meeting to get a feel for the best rhetorical approach and for any contextual information that’s important to know
• Start doing your outreach immediately to give time for setting up meetings, phone calls, email exchanges, etc.
• Remember what many of our guest speakers said: speaking in-person with someone is often more effective than email or social media exchanges when working on advocacy issues.
• When citing sources, think about a style that is most appropriate for the genre, your audience, and your purpose.
• Don’t be afraid of incorporating opinion or personal stories into the project, but avoid making this all about you. Showcasing your passion for the topic is excellent! Ranting… is bad. Remember that you are trying to achieve a goal and take action.
• Keep in mind any characteristics or rules of the genre in which you’re composing.