Statement of Purpose Due April 8

Introduction
By now, you should have an overall sense of your topic, the question that you want to address, and an idea of what the
answer to your research question might be. These plans are not definite and your details will most certainly change as we
progress through the class. Based on this well-researched overview, your task is to now create a collaborative Statement
of Purpose.

Assignment
For this assignment, your job is to narrow in on a specific thread of your topic from the contrasting perspectives you
presented in the Dissoi Logoi. You’ll be required to provide a clearer sense of purpose: what specific answer can you
make about your research question? Based on that answer, you’ll consider what aspects of the issue you think are likely
to make a difference and impact real change.

This assignment asks you to formulate a clear sense of the direction your group wants to take in your big project,
including your sense of your project’s purpose, audience, stance, context, exigence, medium, and genre. Identify the
following:

 Research Question and Argument: clearly articulate the question that you’ve decided upon and draft a statement
that supplies the answer you’ve chosen. (An argument is what + why.)

 Purpose: what do you want to accomplish? What do you want to see changed? What should people be aware of?
What action do you want people to take? What habits or changes should people begin to develop?
o Remember that your intervention should be do-able! Your topics are large societal concerns and,
unfortunately, we’re not able to eradicate homelessness, or gender and racial inequality.

 Audience: Who is your target audience? Who is invested in this issue? Identify the stakeholders and those people
who make decisions: what are their needs, values, and attitudes? What kinds of evidence and what sources do
they find most credible? (It may be helpful to make a chart with these various individuals because you’ll choose
one very specific audience to whom you’ll deliver MWA 3.)

 Stance: What is your position relative to the audience, subject, and context? Who are you to your audience and
who are they to you? Peers? Subordinates? Strangers? Do they have any reason to trust or listen to you? Are you a
stakeholder or an outsider? Do the stakeholders already have opinions on the issue? If so, what are their opinions
and what are the arguments for those opinions? In what ways are you positioned within the politics, culture, and
social structures around this issue? How will you need to account for, use, or transcend that position?

 Context: What is going on politically, socially, culturally, and linguistically? This may require further research.
How have the arguments/opinions changed? Are they still changing? Why or why not?

 Exigence: What is compelling you to intervene now? What makes this issue so pressing to you? And how can you
situate your composition to this moment? Does your audience also see this issue as urgent? How can you
convince them of the urgency? And how do you need to alter or adjust your message to suit this moment and its
circumstances?

 Medium: What is the best medium for you to reach your audience and persuade them using the time and resources
available to you now? Consider the affordances of that medium. What modes (e.g., audio, visual, written,
kinesthetic) does it allow or use? How or where would your audience be exposed to it? How often or for how long
would they see it? Why is that best for this audience and context?

 Genre: What is the expected or most effective type of content to use for this situation? Do you need your audience
at leisure or ready to think critically? Why? Should your project look primarily informative, entertaining,
challenging, or something else? Why? Should the tone be formal or informal? Why? How does your chosen genre
suit these purposes?
  Potential Appeals: brainstorm some arguments that are likely to be persuasive for your audience, and then
brainstorm arguments that won’t work. Consider what kind of support is best suited to the rhetorical situation.

Format and Details

Your statement of purpose should answer all of these points in a format that your group finds best suited to your needs.
This means that you can compose an essay, you can use the assignment sheet as a template for bullet points, you can
create a Q&A, you can create a podcast. The format is up to you. You’ll be presenting your statements in class on April 6
to receive feedback from your peers.
 Audience & Context for this assignment: Class
 Purpose: To determine and workshop a plan for your advocacy project, based on its rhetorical situation.

Regardless of the format, the statement of purpose should be 4-6 minutes long.

You should also include a Works Cited (MLA format) slide, finding two additional sources (academic or reputable
newspaper/personal interview sources).