Campus Issues
Purpose:
In this unit, we are working on awareness of audience. Your drafts for this essay should demonstrate your ability to adapt your communication to meet the needs, concerns, and limitations of an academic audience.
Getting Ideas:
At Illinois State University you probably have run into some difficulties, whether in attending Preview, Passages, Connections, FOI classes, registration, buying books, moving in, getting used to your roommate, using your computers, or a
myriad of other situations. You may have found yourself thinking, "There has GOT to be a better way to handle this!" Well, here is your chance to be heard.
The Essay
I'd like you to take one of these situations and write an essay about it. What form this essay will take is up to you, but it should be a form that is appropriate for whatever audience you choose. Let's say, for example, you want to
write about the high tuition costs. Who could your audience be? You could write to parents (who may be paying their son or daughter's college bill). You could write to the people who determine tuition costs. You could write to the
legislature to see what they can do about it. You could write to other students to see what kind of support you have. Whoever you want your audience to be, make sure you tailor your communication to meet its needs, and also think about the
constraints of the publication where your audience would read it (remember the magazine discussion?)
Research:
Now, you will probably need to do some sort of "research" for this essay, but not necessarily in the library. You can talk to other friends of yours to see if they have had the same problems and what they or their universities have
tried to do about it. You can talk to ISU officials in the right department who might answer your questions. You can also look at media articles on issues appropriate for your essay. The possibilities for research are limitless!
Parting Words:
In your analysis for this essay, I want you to talk about who your audience is, why you are writing to them, and how you consciously chose the way you wrote in order to meet their expectations and needs. You should also talk about your writing
and revision process and anything else that is on your mind.
Portfolio Revision:
In order to meet the "global revision" criterion of the portfolio grading standards, you may choose to write the portfolio version as a letter to an appropriate department chairperson or staff member. A "letter of
complaint" would constitute a global revision because you would be changing the audience and form of your writing.