ASSIGNMENT – Options for Text-Based Genres Project

DEFINITION OF TEXT-BASED GENRES

“Text-based” genres are those new media genres that use written text as the primary means of communicating a message to an audience. Text-based genres might include embedded images or videos or hyperlinks, but audiences typically experience these genres by reading them, not by “playing” them (as in the case of a multimedia message).

LENGTH FOR TEXT-BASED GENRES

While it’s difficult to provide exact details on length, given the nature of different formats within text-based genres, a good target is to produce a project that would require a reader to invest about 10-15 minutes in reading the full project (or slightly longer if you work with a group).

TEXT-BASED GENRES – OPTIONS FOR FORMATS

Below are a few formats that are available within the category of Text-Based Genres. For help resources, browse the categories and tags on the sidebar of digitalwriting101.net

Samples: To see samples of previous student projects in each format, browse the Student Samples categories on the sidebar.

Final Submissions: To submit the final versions for most of these formats, you’ll either provide a link to the final version on the web site you used to create it or you will upload and attach it to your post.

WEB SITE OR WIKI

Now more than ever, you can find a variety of free online tools that let you build your own wikis or web sites. Probably the most popular and easiest free web-site builder is Weebly.com, but you can find many others through a Google search. You might build a small wiki or web site to provide information, analysis, or critique on a particular topic.

Additional Samples: See the Gender in Pop Culture wiki from Fall 2010 as well as the G&S Study Guides students worked on for the past several semesters. (You may add to a study guide, if you’d like.)

Also see this web site by a student in my LGBT class: Intro to Queer Slash Fiction.

STAND-ALONE PRESENTATION

These might be composed in the zooming presentation maker, Prezi.com, or in any other presentation software, such as Microsoft PowerPoint or Apple Keynote. Presentations created on your computer will need to be uploaded to a presentation sharing site, such as Slideshare.net

By “stand-alone” I mean that the presentation should be entirely self-contained, so that your audience can click through the presentation at their own speed and receive your entire message. They do not need you to be present in person to “deliver” the presentation, although you might include an audio voiceover to guide them through it.

COMIC

The reason why comics are now an option for this type of assignment is that comic strip making has become easier than ever before, using comic strip apps available on the web, for your computer, or for your mobile device. You don’t need to know how to draw in order to compose a comic strip, as the apps typically provide the visuals for you. Your job is to arrange the visuals in a compelling way and to write the text that accompanies the visuals in order to convey the desired message.

A comic for this project should be fairly substantial, more like a short comic book than a single panel like you see in newspapers. Some of the sample comics below were made in response to much shorter assignments and therefore don’t serve as examples of the scope you should aim for if you choose this format.

Resources: Previous students have enjoyed using ComicLife and Pixton to create comics, and you can find links to those tools and more on: Apps for composing comics and cartoons Also try searching Google for free comics apps.

AUDIO ESSAY

An audio essay is an essay that is written in order to be read aloud, like something you would hear on the radio or in audiobook format. The most common topic for audio essays in my class is a personal narrative about how the author came to understand his or her gender and/or sexual orientation, but other topics are possible.

Resources: Look on the sidebar for resources on working with audio.