arguing a local issue: the final assignment

For your final major assignment in Composition 106, I am asking you to take all that you have learned about your local community and use that knowledge to enter into the arena of public debate. Make an argument about an issue of importance to your own local community. This can be an issue currently facing Metro Detroit in general or something unique to your own neighborhood or suburb. You may pick up on a theme you discovered in the process of researching or writing a previous paper. You may expand an idea you have been writing about on your blog. You may pick up on a theme from one or more of the articles we read from Cities, Cultures, Conversations, provided you localize that theme by exploring what is happening at the local level. Or you may go in a new direction. One suggestion would be to expand on the argument you began making in your visual rhetoric assignment.

Regardless, demonstrate knowledge with the issue as well as the community in which the issue currently has importance. In other words, become well-versed in ALL SIDES of the debate and understand the debate’s current social context. How did this issue become important to the community? What is the current status of the debate? Why is the issue being debated? Who are the important players? What’s at stake for these players?

Choose any public issue or current event that you find interesting, as long as the issue is a local one and a current one. You might look at local reaction to (or local implications of) a large-scale issue like the job cuts recently announced by the Big Three. You might write about a particular labor dispute going on right now. Or the lawsuits surrounding Troy's decision not to give Hooter's a liquor license in their community. Or ways that Michigan universities are dealing with last-year's ban on affirmative action in the state. You might examine an issue currently being debated by your town’s school board or city council. It has be local—and it has to be current.

There are numerous possibilities. If you’re unsure of what to write about, browse local media, such as The Detroit Free Press (www.freep.com), The Detroit News (www.detnews.com), The Metro Times (www.metrotimes.com), and other Detroit links from our course syllabus. In particular, pay attention to the local news and the opinion sections, where you will find many, many ideas for argumentative writing.

Do your research so that you understand all dimensions of the debate. You should conduct online research as well as real-world interviews. I am requiring that you consult at least eight sources for this paper, including at least one interview. Use reliable, published sources. News articles, magazine articles, or professional websites are appropriate. Webpages published by individuals (as opposed to professional organizations) and wikipedia entries are not appopriate.

You may address any audience you choose. You may write to members of your local school board or parents in your school district. You may write to Governor Jennifer Granholm. You may write to Detroit-area anti-war activists. You choose the audience--as long as you target the needs of that audience in your final paper.

Your final report should be at least 5-6 pages long and should make a coherent argument that considers multiple points of view, that acknowledges the complexity of the issue (avoiding simplistic, black-and-white views), and puts forth a focused thesis, backed up with evidence and thorough explanation of why you think what you think. In other words, be accountable for your ideas. Format your paper in MLA Style.

Due Dates:

* “First Blog Draft.” Write a few paragraphs explaining to your classmates what issue you plan to write about. Include enough basic information so that all of your readers (myself, students enrolled in our sections of Comp. 106) understand the issue. Include links to some news stories discussing the issue. Educate us. Due (posted to your blog): Tuesday, March 27.

* “Second Blog Draft.” Write a paragraph or so stating your tentative thesis. What is your opinion about the issue? Include a list of sources you plan to use in your paper. Due (posted to your blog): Tuesday, April 3.

* Browse each other’s blogs and talk to each other. Respond to at least three different classmates, asking them questions, challenging their points-of-view, giving them suggestions about what they haven’t taken into consideration. Feedback due: Saturday, April 8.

* Talk to community members about the issue. Ongoing.

* First complete draft due: Tuesday, April 10 (bring three copies to class).

*Second draft due: Tuesday, April 17 (bring three copies to class).

*Final draft due: Thursday, April 19

Sample Photo Essays

Some "professional photo essays"

Caring for the Wounded in Iraq, from the New England Journal of Medicine

Stop and Smell the Sakura, from an online journal called The Foriegner Japan

Farewell to Bosnia, from a site called Picture Projects

See also Time Magazine's Photo Essays Page which has numerous examples of interesting photo essays.

Some sample "student photo essays"
->These are what my students have done in recent semesters...

Open Space

Out and About in Ferndale

Industrial Wasteland

The Legacy Initiative

Abandoned Homes

Photo Essay

You have been working all semester to document your communities using a variety of genres and intellectual approaches. First you used descriptive and analytical writing proficiencies to analyze a significant artifact in your neighborhood. Then you profiled a prominent community member whose values reflect and/or impact the place you call home. Finally you studied a particular genre—the restaurant review—and put the conventions of that genre into effect as you evaluated a restaurant in your community.

The next assignment asks you to continue using critical thinking to write your community. This time, you should create a Photo Essay that combines photographs and texts to create a piece of visual rhetoric. Your photo essay must center on some aspect of your own local community here in Metro Detroit and make a coherent, critical, and original point (have a thesis). Use at least 15-20 photographic images and at least one-hundred words, combined with one another in any way you deem effective. Present your photo essay as a blog entry.

Most photo essays follow one of two formats: the narrative essay or the thematic essay. A narrative essay tells a story through images and text and may proceed chronologically or not. An example of a narrative photo essay would be the “story” of a veteran’s parade in your town. A thematic essay meditates on a particular idea, theme, or concept, using images and text to develop that theme. An example of a thematic photo essay would be a story about civic engagement that makes an argument about the value of volunteerism.

Your priority should be creating a creative, original, critical argument. Remember that your photo essay must be an example of “rhetoric,” which means it must have a point, an agenda, an underlying message that you hope to convey to your audience members (your classmates and professor). You will present your photo essay to the class, showing us the images and talking through what your argument is. Don’t just read your text off the screen. Be ready to talk to the rest of us about your thesis and your visual images. Make it engaging. Have fun!

In addition, you must hand in a reflective essay of approximately 2 pages that analyzes your photo essay, explains your intentions as a rhetorician, and describes the process you went through creating the photo essay. The reflective essay should be self-critical, explaining your strengths and weaknesses, what you learned, and how well you think your photo essay does at creating a piece of visual rhetoric.

Deadlines:
Tuesday, March 20—Have a rough draft of your photo essay posted on your blog for
your classmates to look at and critique
Thursday, March 22-No class today. Take advantage of the day "off" to work on revising your photo essay.
Thursday, March 29—Have a final draft posted to your blog before class begins today and have the two-page self-analysis ready to hand in. We'll begin presentations today and continue hearing presentations in subsequent classes.