Final Project

Final Project -- COMM 100W

Overview

All semester we have worked within strange obstructions. We've pulled apart facts, sentences, paragraphs, words, and put them back together. My hope is that the odd writing exercises we've done will make you a more confident writer. I hope you tackle any genre of writing, from the cover letter to the marketing report, with increased technical skill and creativity.

Along with these other skills, you will also need to know how to create narratives out of seemingly unrelated or disparate pieces of information. That is the skill we'll be practicing in the final project. The purpose of your project will be to guide your reader from a "starting" point, through unfamiliar terrain, to a destination. In a standard narrative, the "starting" point is the beginning of a story and the destination the end. The end might be the reveal, or the punch line, or when the cat is finally rescued and everyone lives happily ever after.

The important thing to remember about narrative is that:

1. it's not just for fictional stories; 2. you don't have to follow the conventional path - so long as you never lose your reader in the

forest; 3. a narrative never provides the whole story because it can't, so you must be strategic about the

details you include and the "sights" you show your reader. A good narrative appears to reveal the world or life to us, but in fact is only one small detail of something far bigger than we could ever hope to convey.

Instructions

I’ll explain this project by going into 1) your topic, 2) features, 3) creative technique, and 4) revisions. Your final essay will be ​1,500 words​. It will include some or all of your previous projects. If you choose to make creative use of footnotes, those will be included in your word count. Your reference page is not included in the word count.

Topics - Choose one. It will be your storyline.

● How you became you. ● How you came to know an important person in your life. ● How you once overcame difficult circumstances. ● How you once completed a huge task or goal. ● How you came to SJSU (to study what you study). ● How something in your life didn't turn out the way you expected at all. ● The significance or value of one thing in your life (could be an object, person, pet, or something

symbolic).

Features - These are elements of your final project. Write your narrative in a distinct voice. Your project should include all​ four​ of them.

1. A description of ​where we are ​when we start the essay. ○ The opening will look different for different storylines. You can start in the past, or in the

present or future. You can start with background details, or with questions or reflection. Wherever you start, the important thing is to provide us sufficient description so we can picture where we are.

2. A guided tour through ​four​ "sights." Sights are "in-between places" that we visit along the way from the starting point to the destination. The route between the sights should make sense to your reader. That is to say, your reader should know how we got from Point A to Points B and C and D. Sights must include any ​four​ of the following, with at least ​one​ from the fact paper or “the meaning of…”.

○ Your final fact paper (can be broken into pieces). You can also select one or two facts from that paper and take them in a different direction.

○ Your final "the meaning of..." paper (can be broken into pieces). ○ Your Lexicon piece (can be broken into pieces). ○ Freewrite in class or any Reading Response (can be broken into pieces) ○ A "background story" or a lengthy aside that elaborates on a detail in your narrative.

You're welcome to use techniques of footnotes you practiced in the Citationland project. ○ Discussion of an artifact. This could be any item that appears in your narrative and is

somehow relevant to your story, such as a movie, song, game, food, book, room or place, article of clothing, or any other object. The trick will be to make it clear how it is relevant to the story you're telling.

○ A historical "footnote" that elaborates on an event in the story that is bigger than your own personal experience. For instance, if you are writing about immigrating to the U.S., you could elaborate on events happening in your home country, or changes in legislation happening here in the States.

○ A scientific "footnote" that explains how something in your story works. For instance, if you are writing about a special car, you would elaborate on a feature of the car and how it works. Or, if you are writing about a disease or a condition, you would provide information about it. Again, the trick is to make it relevant to your narrative.

3. At least one of all the following kinds of statements strategically placed throughout your project:

○ A statement that makes specific value claims. For example: “SJSU’s EOP advances an equity-minded approach to education.” Or, “The Mineta Institute dedicates its resources to promoting sustainable forms of transportation.” (Value claims in italics.)

○ A statement that makes an interpretive claim. For example: “Her letter suggests that she equates ‘political’ with ‘corrupt’.”

○ A statement of fact with granular details. For example: “When the doctor entered, the digital clock over the door read 2:17 AM.”

○ A statement of fact with aggregated data. For example: “In a 2016 study conducted by the Brook Institute, 9 out of 10 college students reported experiencing ‘phantom’ cell phone vibrations.”

○ A statement of fact with autobiographical details. For example: “Art Quake was my first ever trip to an art museum.”

○ A statement written in the first person. For example: “I conducted a total of five interviews over four weeks.”

○ A statement written in the passive voice. For example: “The Governor’s speech was delayed an additional month while further policy details were finalized.”

Since your project must consist of more than just one of each kind of statement, you must decide which kinds of statements you will use the most and why. For instance, you may wish to compose a performance that consists mainly of ethnographic facts. Or, you may wish to focus on general phenomenon best captured with aggregate data. Your choices should be guided by what you want your readers to see and why.

As you incorporate each type of sentence into your final essay, indicate which type of sentence it is by changing the font color to something bright like ​orange​ ​or ​purple​ and adding a [bracketed statement at the end of the sentence that identifies it by type].

4. A ​destination​ that we arrive at. This is what we call the conclusion in a conventional essay. In this case, the destination can take different forms depending on your topic and where you start your narrative. If you start in the present, you may end in the past, or vice versa. If you are telling us about a personal transformation, you might start with a "before" picture and end with an "after" picture (or vice versa). If you are telling us about the meaning of something, you might start with an absence or lack and end with discussion of what you've gained (or vice versa). The important thing is that we can see where we started and how we got to our destination because you make a connection between your opening and your closing.

Creative techniques - These are writing strategies that you use to move your narrative forward and connect all the pieces without losing your reader. You might think of these as self-imposed obstructions. Choose​ two ​of the following.

● Eliminate a keyword from your narrative that's absence will be notable. You might have to get creative about how you avoid using that word and draw attention to its absence.

● Use of writing conventions that we associate with a different genre of writing. For instance, if you are writing about a job you have, you might write one section of your narrative as though it were part of a cover letter or a resume. Or, if you're writing about a romance, you might write one section as though it were part of a dating profile.

● Eliminate all instances of the passive voice in one section of the essay. ● Impose a specific word limit on 10 of your sentences in one section of your essay. ● Introduce slang or intentionally and repeatedly break a standard rule of grammar, such as

starting a sentence with "and" or "but," using incomplete sentences, or capitalizing a word we don't normally capitalize. (If you chose this option, you will need to explain the rule that you break.)

● Use repetition to highlight a key phrase or idea.

● Use a key metaphor to help explain something to your reader. Metaphor helps us to make something strange or unfamiliar, familiar and understandable.

Revisions - Since this project is your culminating project for the semester, revision is an important part of it. You want to be able to show your primary reader (me) that you have gone back into your draft and made significant changes. At a minimum, you want to show that you've mastered Lanham's "paramedic method." This means that you are able to eliminate "is" forms, cut out deadwood and excessive prepositions, and make passive phrases active without losing any of the meaning of the original sentence.

● Identify ten sentences in your rough draft and revise them using the "paramedic method." In the explanatory document, copy and past the original sentences, the revised sentences, and calculate the "lard factor." Insert the revised sentence into your final draft and ​bold it​.

Appendices

In a separate document, list and explain to me the following:

● Appendix I - My chosen topic ● Appendix II - The four “sights” ● Appendix III - The two creative techniques ● Appendix IV - The kinds of statements I use the most and explain why those kinds of statements

are important to my project. ● Appendix V - Revisions Using the Paramedic Method