Writing Projects

Literacy Narrative

This project begins with students composing a brief narrative, which may draw on a personal experience, a meaningful memory, or an anecdote they might share with friends or family. While the narrative serves as the foundation of a broader, multimodal project exploring the effects of genre, audience, and medium on rhetorical choices, instructors should encourage students to select a story they feel comfortable sharing and analyzing in both written and adapted forms. In the next phase, students will reimagine their narrative in a different medium or genre—such as a podcast, video, or comic—requiring them to consider how rhetorical strategies shift across modes of communication.

Literacy Narrative emphasizes rhetorical awareness, reflection, and multimodal composition. For more, see:

• Writing Goals and Processes
• Genre and Style Awareness

See details

Students are expected to select a medium and genre that align effectively with the story they wish to convey. Instructors should be prepared to engage in conversations about these choices, guiding students to make rhetorically sound decisions. Students are encouraged to draw upon their existing knowledge of digital platforms and social media tools, leveraging their familiarity to enhance the effectiveness of their multimodal composition. While instructors are not required to have expertise in the selected medium or genre, students must be able to clearly articulate the rationale behind their choices. Upon completing the adaptation, students will compose a reflective essay analyzing the revisions they made during the translation process, the rhetorical strategies employed to enhance audience engagement, and how these decisions were tailored to suit the intended audience. Within the First-Year Composition (FYC) curriculum at Northern Illinois University (NIU), the reflection component constitutes 50% of the final grade for each major writing project.

Requirements

• Completion Draft

This draft shows students’ initial understanding of the core assignment requirements and may be revised and refined following instructor feedback to improve clarity, depth, and rhetorical effectiveness.

• Remediated Narrative

Drafts of the revised narrative are not required to rely solely on written language. Students are encouraged to incorporate a range of multimodal elements—such as images, audio, video, symbols, or other forms of media—to convey their story. Each project must include at least one mode beyond alphabetic text, demonstrating thoughtful integration of alternative forms of communication to enhance rhetorical impact.

• Reflection Piece

The reflection essay should be a minimum of 800 words and may be composed in a multimodal format, incorporating elements such as video, images, symbols, or audio to support or extend the written reflection. In the Literacy Narrative reflection, students are expected to examine the rhetorical decisions they made during the remediation of their narrative—specifically, how they adapted the content, structure, and mode to better engage their intended audience. As this is the first of four major reflective assignments in the course, instructors are encouraged to provide guiding questions to help students critically focus their reflections on the changes enacted during the adaptation process and the reasoning behind those choices, particularly in relation to audience awareness and rhetorical effectiveness.

Rubric

• Literacy Narrative

Grading Criteria	Exceptional	Met	Not Met
Adaptation of Narrative	You have adapted your narrative to a new genre and have included new things or removed pieces of narrative to fit that genre.	You have adapted your narrative to a new genre.	The narrative is not adapted, or the adaptation includes only text.
Meeting Genre Goals	Your narrative fits well within the conventions of the genre as laid out in your reflection. The genre is recognizable.	Your narrative resembles the conventions of the genre as laid out in your reflection.	The narrative does not resemble the conventions of the genre as laid out in the reflection.
Use of Media	More than one non-written text mode is used in your narrative. Modes enhance the narrative.	At least one non-written text mode is used in your narrative. It helps to explain the narrative.	The narrative is written text alone or modes are included in ways that do not support the narrative.
Adapting to Your Audience	Your narrative is suitable and appealing for your chosen audience. Content has been adapted specifically to appeal to that audience.	Your narrative is suitable for your chosen audience.	The narrative does not suit the audience explained in the reflection.
Responding to Feedback	You have revised your narrative substantially and/or thoughtfully based on both your peers’ and your instructor’s feedback.	You have revised your narrative based on both your peers’ and your instructor’s feedback.	No revisions to the narrative have been made or only minor changes have been made that do not adequately respond to feedback.
Meeting Requirements	You have met or exceeded all the requirements for the narrative.	You have met all the requirements for the narrative.	One or more of the requirements for the narrative has not been met.

For a copy of the Literacy Narrative rubric, click here to download.

• Reflection Piece

Grading Criteria	Exceptional	Met	Not Met
Reflecting on Your Genre Choices	You have clearly identified choices in your reflection that you made in your narrative that fit the genre you have chosen.	You have mentioned choices in your reflection related to genre conventions.	Genre conventions are not mentioned in the reflection.
Reflecting on Your Design Choices	You have clearly identified choices in your reflection that you made in your narrative that explain why you designed your project as you did.	You have mentioned choices in your reflection related to design choices.	Design conventions are not mentioned in the reflection.
Reflecting on Appealing to Your Audience	You have identified specific things in your reflection that you have done in your narrative to appeal to your audience or help them understand better.	You have mentioned things in your reflection that you have done in your remediation project to help your audience.	Audience appeal or adaptation is not mentioned in the reflection.
Reflecting on Your Rhetorical Purpose	You clearly explain your goal in making the narrative and explain how you met that goal.	You explain your goal in making your narrative.	The goal of the narrative is not mentioned in the reflection.
Responding to Feedback	You have revised your reflection substantially and/or thoughtfully based on both your peers’ and your instructor’s feedback.	You have revised your reflection based on both your peers’ and your instructor’s feedback.	No revisions to the reflection have been made or only minor changes have been made that do not adequately respond to feedback.
Meeting Requirements	You have met or exceeded all the requirements for the reflection.	You have met all the requirements for the reflection.	One or more of the requirements for the reflection has not been met.

For a copy of the Literacy Narrative Reflection rubric, click here to download

Value Analysis

This project invites students to investigate the language practices and posting conventions of a specific digital or community-based space. The selected space should be currently active, user-regulated, and sufficiently focused in scope to allow for in-depth analysis within the allotted timeframe. To ensure consistency in discourse practices, students should avoid overly broad platforms such as Instagram, and instead select more contained environments, such as a local Facebook group or online forum with a cohesive participant base. The project may be completed collaboratively, and instructors are encouraged to support small-group work to facilitate shared inquiry and analysis.

Value Analysis focuses on discourse communities, writing with a purpose, for an audience, and making claims. For more, see:

• Writing Goals and Processes
• Contextual Connections and Transfer
• Genre and Style Awareness

See details

In this assignment, students will conduct a close observation of a chosen space, with particular attention to its language use and genre conventions. Drawing on their observations, students will then analyze the rhetorical content and interactional patterns within the space to construct an evidence-based argument about what constitutes a “successful” or valued post, comment, image, or other form of engagement. Importantly, students are not expected to generalize across all types of interactions within the space; rather, they should formulate focused, defensible claims that are grounded in specific, observable patterns. Strong arguments will identify meaningful trends without attempting to account for every instance, thereby demonstrating analytical precision and rhetorical awareness.

Requirements

• Appropriate Space

Instructors are encouraged to provide a curated list of appropriately scoped potential digital or community spaces for analysis such as specific subreddits, Facebook groups, or dedicated message boards. While students are welcome to select from this list, they may also propose alternative spaces for consideration. In such cases, students should consult with their instructor to ensure that the chosen space meets the assignment’s criteria for focus, accessibility, and rhetorical coherence.

• Completion Draft

This draft serves as evidence of students’ foundational understanding of the assignment criteria, including the selection of an appropriate space for analysis, the articulation of a focused claim regarding community values or norms, and the strategic selection and curation of supporting evidence. Following instructor feedback, students will have the opportunity to revise and refine their work to strengthen their rhetorical analysis and argumentation.

• Reflection Piece

This piece should articulate students' reasoning behind their selection of the central value or norm emphasized in their project and explain how their evidence supports this claim. Additionally, students should provide a rationale for the inclusion of any multimodal elements such as images, audio, video, or hyperlinks while demonstrating how these choices contribute to the rhetorical effectiveness and coherence of their argument.

Rubric

• Analysis

Grading Criteria	Exceptional	Met	Not Met
Claim	You have a focused claim about what your community values in content, and the claim is unique to your space and not obvious.	You have a focused claim about what your community values in content.	No single claim is made or several unrelated claims are made.
Analysis	Your analysis focuses on demonstrating your claim is true though reasonable examples and other data.	Your analysis focuses on your claim and uses reasonable examples.	The analysis does not focus on the claim or does not provide adequate examples.
Supporting Evidence	You have selected several examples of your claim in action and clearly explained how those examples support your claim.	You have selected a minimum of three examples of your claim in action from your observations.	No examples of the claim are given, or examples do not match the claim.
Evidence Integration	You have integrated evidence into your document effectively. Quotes, images, links, and so on are used at appropriate times so that readers can follow easily.	You have integrated evidence into your document appropriately. It is possible to understand quotes, images, links, and so on.	Evidence is included at inappropriate times, and/or it is difficult for readers to understand the significance of the evidence.
Responding to Feedback	You have revised your analysis substantially and/or thoughtfully based on both your peers’ and your instructor’s feedback.	You have revised your analysis based on both your peers’ and your instructor’s feedback.	No revisions to the analysis have been made or only minor changes have been made that do not adequately respond to feedback.
Meeting Requirements	You have met or exceeded all of the requirements for the analysis.	You have met all of the requirements for the analysis.	One or more of the requirements for the analysis has not been met.

For a copy of the Value Analysis rubric, click to download.

• Reflection

Grading Criteria	Exceptional	Met	Unmet
Reflecting on Your Claim	You have clearly explained why you have chosen your central claim and given reasons for why this was your best option.	You explain why you have chosen the central claim you make.	How the claim was chosen is not included or unclear.
Reflecting on Your Supporting Evidence	You have clearly explained why you have chosen the evidence to support your claim and given reasons for why this evidence is better than other parts of your observations.	You explain why you have chosen the evidence to support your claim.	How the evidence was chosen is not included or unclear.
Reflecting on Evidence Integration	You have clearly explained why you have placed evidence in certain places and how you’ve explained that evidence to your readers.	You explain how evidence could be understood by your readers.	How evidence was placed and/or explained is unclear.
Reflecting on Your Rhetorical Purpose	You have clearly explained the goal of Wthe writing project and how you have met that goal.	You explain the goal of the writing project.	The project goal is not mentioned or unclear.
Responding to Feedback	You have revised your reflection substantially and/or thoughtfully based on both your peers’ and your instructor’s feedback.	You have revised your reflection based on both your peers’ and your instructor’s feedback.	style="text-align:center;"| No revisions to the reflection have been made or only minor changes have been made that do not adequately respond to feedback.
Meeting Requirements	You have met or exceeded all of the requirements for the reflection.	You have met all of the requirements for the reflection.	One or more of the requirements for the reflection has not been met.

For a copy of the Value Analysis Reflection rubric, click to download.

Making Change

This assignment is an open-form persuasive project in which students are required to construct a compelling argument intended to persuade a specific audience. To do so effectively, students must engage with and integrate multiple perspectives, demonstrating their ability to accurately summarize, synthesize, and incorporate source material in support of their own rhetorical stance.

Making Change values not only persuasive writing and providing supporting pieces of evidence, but is also about collaboration and working with peers. For more, see:

• Contextual Connections & Transfer
• Genre & Style Awareness
• Writing Collaboration

See details

Students are given flexibility in selecting the genre, medium, and target audience for their persuasive project; however, these rhetorical choices must be made deliberately and in alignment with their persuasive objectives. Successful projects will demonstrate a clear understanding of rhetorical strategies, including audience awareness, purpose, and effective use of tone and structure. Students are also expected to gather and incorporate relevant evidence to support their claims. This assignment may be undertaken as a collaborative project, and instructors are encouraged to foster small-group work to support idea development, peer feedback, and shared rhetorical decision-making.

Requirements

• Completion Draft

This is graded based on students demonstrating a basic understanding of the following requirements: choosing a topic/problem, choosing a medium and genre, and having at least two outside perspectives.

✔️Topic or Problem

This must be arguable—meaning it invites multiple, competing perspectives—significant in its relevance and impact on a broader community, and appropriately local in scope to allow for focused inquiry. Students may choose to identify a specific local problem and propose feasible solutions, highlight an overlooked opportunity and provide compelling justifications, or pursue a project that blends both approaches within a clearly defined rhetorical context.

✔️Media and Genre

This should be appropriate to the topic and the audience or situation.

✔️Outside Perspectives

This be at least two (2) outside perspectives on the project, at least one of which must represent a position different from the students' proposed solution.

• Reflection Piece

Although the project itself will be developed collaboratively, each student is required to write an individual reflective essay. In the reflection paper, students should be analyze the rhetorical and design choices made during the creation of the project, as well as critically examine the collaborative processes used to work effectively with peers. The reflection should demonstrate thoughtful engagement with both individual and group contributions, highlighting strategies for negotiation, coordination, and shared decision-making. The final reflection should be approximately 800 words in length.

• Presentation

Student groups will present their completed persuasive projects to the class and, optionally, to the external audience identified in their project proposals. The final product should demonstrate clear rhetorical intent, genre awareness, and attention to audience expectations. Written projects should total approximately 1,200 words, while video or audio-based compositions should be between 5 and 10 minutes in length. Multimedia projects must reflect careful editing and adhere to the established conventions and formatting standards of their chosen medium and genre.

• Proposal

Students' proposals should detail their topic, their target audience, and the medium and genre they plan to employ.

• Group Contract

Group contracts should clearly outline the distribution of responsibilities among members, specifying individual tasks, required deliverables (including details such as length, format, and media), and agreed-upon deadlines for submitting work to the group. These contracts serve as a collaborative accountability framework to support effective project management and equitable participation.

Rubric

• Report

Grading Criteria	Exceptional	Met	Not met
Choosing a topic	Your topic is of appropriate scope with a clear set of stakeholders and a clear sense of the larger set of conversations in which this topic participates.	You have selected a topic of appropriate scope and with a clear set of stakeholders	The topic selected is unclear or of inappropriate scope.
Choosing a vehicle	Your choices of medium and genre are well-aligned with your task and executed proficiently.	You have selected a medium and a genre appropriate to your persuasive goals.	The choice of media and genre may jeopardize the success of persuasive goals.
Joining the discussion	Your project seamlessly integrates multiple perspectives accurately and critically.	Your project joins an existing conversation by representing what others have said about this topic.	The project fails to incorporate outside sources or integrates sources irrelevant to the topic.
Next Steps	Your specific and appropriate solution is presented as the best of several possible solutions with advantages and disadvantages acknowledged.	Your project identifies a solution and identifies at least one (1) concrete step the reader can take to move the project forward.	A solution for the problem is not provided or is not reasonably actionable.
Responding to Feedback	You have revised your report substantially and/or thoughtfully based on both your peers’ and your instructor’s feedback.	You have revised your project based on both your peers’ and your instructor’s feedback.	No revisions to the report have been made or only minor changes have been made that do not adequately respond to feedback.
Meeting Requirements	You have met or exceeded all the requirements for the report.	You have met all the requirements for the report.	One or more of the requirements has not been met for the report.
Meeting Responsibilities	You have contributed to your project as described in your proposal and have worked well with your team to meet goals and integrate materials.	You have contributed to your project as described in your proposal.	One or more pieces assigned in the proposal was not completed, or responsibilities of other group members were taken from them without discussion.
Providing Group Evaluations	You have provided an individual group evaluation that explains in detail each members’ contributions to the project and evaluates their performance.	You have provided an individual group evaluation that explains each members’ contributions to the project.	The group evaluation is not provided, is written as a group, or does not clearly explain members’ contributions.
BONUS: Sending Your Project	You have sent your project to your audience and provided proof of the audience’s receipt.	--	--

For a copy of the Report rubric, click to download.

• Reflection Piece

Grading Criteria	Exceptional	Met	Not Met
Reflecting on topic	You have clearly explained both how your group selected the problem/opportunity to focus on and how your solution fits the situation. Reasons for these selections are convincing.	You have explained how your group selected the problem/opportunity to focus on and how the proposed solution fits that scenario.	The group’s choice of problem and solution is not included or unclear.
Reflecting on Media	Your discussion of media and genre links the form of the persuasive project to the specific audience(s) you are attempting to influence.	You have explained why your group chose the specific media and genre you used.	The choice of media or genre is unclear.
Reflecting on Your Evidence	You have clearly explained why your group provided the specific evidence for both the problem and the solution. You discuss how and why you chose to represent outside voices in the ways you did.	You have explained why your group provided the specific evidence for both the problem and the solution (including how you represent outside voices).	The choice of evidence is not included or unclear.
Reflecting on Your Audience	You have explained specific choices your group made to influence your audience. These choices are likely to have a positive impact.	You explained how your group’s choices influence your audience.	How the group’s choices influenced the audience is not included or unclear.
Reflecting on Your Teamwork	You have clearly explained what methods your group used to successfully work together and have included things you would do differently next time based on your experience.	You explain what methods your group used to successfully work together.	The methods used to work together are not included or are unclear.

For a a copy of the Report Reflection rubric, click to download.

Reflection Overview

The final writing project builds upon the reflective pieces students have composed throughout the course, making it a fitting capstone assignment. In this document, students will integrate selected excerpts from their earlier reflections and compose a new, comprehensive reflection that critically examines their overall development as writers. The new reflection should synthesize insights gained over the term and respond thoughtfully to a set of guiding questions focused on rhetorical growth, writing processes, and knowledge transfer, such as:

• What major things did you learn?
• What evidence do you have to point to that learning?
• How will you use what you learned in the future?

See details

To support their claims, students are expected to draw on evidence from their writing projects, reflective essays, and any other relevant work completed during the semester. They are also encouraged to incorporate writing composed outside the context of this course—including work created for other classes, part-time employment, or personal interest—as long as it contributes meaningfully to their reflection and demonstrates growth as a writer across contexts.

Requirement

• Completion Draft

Completion drafts will be evaluated based on the extent to which they demonstrate a foundational understanding of the assignment’s core objectives. These include articulating key insights gained over the course of the semester, explaining the significance of those insights, identifying areas of personal growth or improvement, and reflecting on how these takeaways may inform future academic pursuits and broader civic or professional engagement.

Rubric

Grading Criteria	Exceptional	Met	Not Met
Choosing What to Include	You have included your previously written reflections. You refer to them directly in the overall reflection and provide other evidence from revision drafts, other class work, or other writing.	You have included your previously written reflections. You refer directly to them in the overall reflection.	Previously written reflections are not included or are not referenced in the overall reflection.
Discussing What You’ve Learned	You have referred to a minimum of three things you’ve learned in the class and explained clear how they were learned and how they are used.	You have referred to a minimum of three things you’ve learned in the class and why they are useful.	What was learned in the class is not provided or unclear.
Applying Learning to Future Situations	For each item learned, you refer to at least one specific situation in which that learning will be used and how it will be used in that situation.	For each item learned, you refer to at least one future situation in which that learning will be used.	References to future use of learning are not mentioned or are unclear.
Identifying Areas for Improvement	You have referred to at least one item you’d like to continue to work on and how you’ll work on that thing.	You have referred to at least one item you’d like to continue to work on.	No areas for improvement are referenced, or they are unclear.
Meeting Requirements	You have met or exceeded all of the requirements for the reflection overview.	You have met all of the requirements for the reflection overview.	One or more of the requirements for the reflection overview has not been met.

For a copy of the Reflection Overview rubric, click to download.