WRT 307: Professional Writing

Fall 2012, Mondays and Wednesdays, 12:45-2:05 p.m., Bowne Hall 110 Patrick W. Berry, pwberry@syr.edu, office: HBC 235 office phone: 315-443-1912 office hours: Mondays, 9:00-11:00 a.m. and by appointment http://patrickberry.com/wrt307fall12

Instructions Proposal
Points: 20 As noted in the assignment prompt, your ultimate task will be to prepare instructions on how to create a PowerPoint presentation in the style of Lawrence Lessig. His presentation, as you know, is available on Blackboard. You can create these instructions using a wide range of media (from a web page to a video to a well-designed, visually-enhanced document). Youll need to figure out what media works best to make your points. Youll also need to figure out how to merge your knowledge of Lessigs presentation with clear instructions on using PowerPoint. Your instructions must have a defined beginning, middle, and end, and a clear desired outcome. It should be a process that can be completed in a reasonable length of time (a few hours at most). In other words, it should be replicable. Your audience will be other college students, and your job will be to develop instructions that are not only accurate but might actually be useful to other college students. The challenge will be to create instructions that are flexible enough to be useful. Think about how you might create a non-linear document of some sort, for example, a web page, or how you might build in flexibility through navigational features of some sort (through instructions, for example) in a print document. Your page count (if a print document) will depend on your design. Lets say a minimum of 3 pages and a maximum of 5 pages. Your proposal should be 300-600 words. Post to Blackboard. Things to include: 1) 2) 3) 4) Describe the media that you will use. Explain how you will create a guide that has a clear beginning, middle, and end. Discuss any navigational features you might employ. Explain why you believe that these instructions would be useful to other college students.

Your grade for your proposal will be based on your timely submission and the extent to which you answer the items above.