Alternative Genre Project Now that you have written a scholarly persuasive liter

Alternative Genre Project
Now that you have written a scholarly persuasive literature review, it’s time to take that same
argument and place it into another genre. We all know that everyone doesn’t read scholarly
articles (although I think you would be surprised if you knew about many people did.) So how
do we reach these other folks? You’ve found a solution to a local issue; they deserve to hear
about it.
The first thing to consider is the rhetorical situation, which consists of the rhetor, audience, and
constraints. The rhetor is the author, the audience is the intended and sometimes unintended
audience, and the constraints are the limitations you may face. Imagine that you went to
Florida for Spring Break and went out dancing until 2 A.M every night. The letter you wrote
about it to your roommate would be very different than a letter to Grandma or Grandpa. Your
audience has changed, which also changed your limitations. Also, the genre of the letter limits
you. You can’t show Grandma the new dance you learned in a letter, but you could in a video.
So, how will you reach other people with your argument? Who do you need to reach? What is
the best way to do it? Should it be emotional, logical, authoritative, or a combination? What are
the rules of that genre? (Remember genre conventions are often unspoken. We don’t talk
about how to post on social media, but we all know how to do it without looking “uncool.” And,
I realize that the word “uncool” isn’t cool. )
Step One: Choose a “real world” genre. It could be a newspaper article, a blog post, a social
media campaign (multiple, related posts), business proposal, a proposal for city council, a
brochure, a magazine article, etc. It’s up to you.
Step Two, Genre Justification: Write a 1.5 to 2 page essay explaining why the genre you chose
will work best for the audience and what the rules of that genre are. Notice how they credit
sources and add that to this essay. (This one should be in MLA format.)
Step Three, Argument: Write the thing. It should be between 500 and 1000 words. You can
include graphs, pictures, etc to take full advantage of the genre. What does the “real world”
do? Write it like you are going to really publish it. (This should be in whatever genre makes
sense in the real world. If you write a newspaper article, you don’t need to design a newspaper.
You would submit the article and others would work on layout. But, if you were designing a
brochure, you would need to design it yourself because the company printing them