English 1113: Principles of Composition I

Writing Assignment 4
Multimodal Composition: Remixing Literate Practices
What is a multimodal composition? A multimodal composition is one that uses multiple
modalities (such as image, sound, music, color, words, and animation) to convey
meaning. In this case, drawing on what youve learned about personal, academic and
public literate practices, you will incorporate multiple modalities to produce a radical
revision of the literacy narrative you wrote for assignment 1. You will need to make
decisions about how to represent a more nuanced version of your literate expertise, the
audiences youd like to reach and the modalities appropriate for your purpose. You will
also write a brief reflection in which you explain your rhetorical choices and describe the
literate practices you drew on to complete the project. You will present your multimodal
composition to your classmates during finals week.

Why am I doing this? One goal of this project is for you to reflect systematically on the
various literate practices in your repertoire and how you might remix or repurpose those
practices as you respond to future rhetorical situations across personal, academic, and
public realms. Given that literacy is inextricable from who you are and what you do, a
second goal of this project is for you to practice situating your literate self in relation to
other aspects of your identity. Finally, it is likely that you will need to present
information in your career, in community contexts, and in future classes in ways that
require you to move beyond alphabetic texts. Producing a multimodal project gives you
the opportunity to develop and practice these skills.

What makes a multimodal composition successful? This assignment asks you to use
multiple modalities to effectively communicate an insight about literate practices across
personal, academic, and public realms. A successful multi-modal composition will:
Clearly convey a specific insight about your own literate practices
Synthesize learning about literate practices across personal, academic, and public
realms in a way that effectively communicates the insight
Demonstrate purposeful rhetorical decisions in the use of text, images, visuals,
sound, color, arrangement, etc.
Address at least two audiences
Account for the anticipated context(s) where users will experience the
composition
Have an organizing principle that guides audiences experience of the piece
Attend to rules and conventions regarding inclusion of or reference to ideas,
words, images, etc. produced by others
What makes a reflection successful? The reflection assignment asks you to articulate the
decisions you made in creating your project and your learning in the process. A
successful reflection will:
Systematically explain rhetorical decisions with direct references to the project
Justify rhetorical choices using terms and concepts from class as evidence and

support
Highlight challenging decisions and explain your thinking and composing process
Situate your experience completing this project in relation to your understanding
of literacy and your own development of transferrable literate practices
What makes a presentation successful? The presentation is designed to be a low-stakes,
celebratory moment in which you share a more nuanced understanding of your literate
expertise with your classmates. A successful presentation will:
Share your multimodal composition with the class in an engaging way
Clearly describe how you made decisions about audience, purpose, context, genre,
medium, etc.
Integrate compelling references to your multimodal project
Adopt an appropriate pace, transition smoothly between points, and make eye
contact with the audience
Choose insights that are interesting, compelling, or otherwise useful for your
classmates (in other words, engage us, make us care about what you have to say)
This assignment is informed by:

Bullock, Richard, & Weinberg, Francine. (Eds.). (2013). The Norton field guide for writing (3rd ed.).
New York: W.W. Norton and Company.
Selfe, Cynthia L. (Ed.). (2007). Multimodal composition: Resources for teachers. Cresskill: Hampton
Press.
Wardle, Elizabeth, & Downs, Doug. (Eds.). (2014). Writing about writing: A college reader (2nd ed.).
Boston: Bedford/St. Martins.