English 120 MWA #2 Revision

December 8, 2014
Dear Reader,
The following is a genre revision of the second major assignment (MWA #2) assigned to
Ms. Larsens English 120 class at the University of New Mexico. MWA #2 was unique in the
sense that, despite this being an English class, the final product was not an essay or another
paper-based medium, but a documentary a video. The purpose of the assignment was to
perform a literary analysis on an urban legend of our choice, and then create a documentary with
our partners to inform a general audience about the legend. Persuading the audience either to
believe or not to believe was an optional secondary purpose. So, my partner and I chose to focus
on Slender Man, and created a documentary that was intended to be mostly informative. We
provided a background/history and his impact on popular culture. We clearly leaned toward the
position that Slender Man does not exist, but not much time was spent trying to sway the
audience one way or another.
The genre revision required us to take our documentary, and individually turn it into a
paper-based medium. I gave this one some thought, and originally settled on writing an essay,
mainly because I had already written and saved a script for the documentary, and figured itd be
relatively easy to take the script, break it up into paragraphs, and then call it good. So, thats
what I did. I turned the script into an essay, but when I was finished, I read through it, and wasnt
satisfied. An essay is boring. Essays are unoriginal. We were encouraged to be creative and take
risks, so I opted for a different approach. I decided on a brochure still a safe choice. But I
decided to change my angle.
In light of the Slender Man-inspired crime that took place back in May of this year,
where two girls from Waukesha, Wisconsin stabbed their friend nineteen times, I chose to make
a brochure and pretend that it had been created by the city of Waukesha as a response to the
crime. The brochure would be available in a tourism office in Waukesha, alongside the brochures
that highlight the citys landmarks and the activities available in them. The brochure is not
intended to focus on the city; its intended to address an urban legend associated with the city
due to the crime. The goal was to make it seem like Waukesha recognized the negative publicity
due to the stabbing, and brought out a brochure for their visitors that addressed the issue. So, my
brochure provides a brief history of Slender Man; the second page covers the origin. The third

page is devoted to discussing Slender Mans unchanging characteristics and the phenomenon
called Slender Sickness. The fourth page discusses Slender Man in popular culture and his
influence in the crime that took place in Waukesha. The fifth page provides several reasons why
visitors to Waukesha shouldnt be afraid or paranoid, and briefly mentions Slender Mans impact
on society. The brochure is intended to be slightly humorous, and intended to clearly take a
position on whether or not Slender Man is real. And this time, unlike the documentary, its
intended to be at least somewhat persuasive (and less creepy!).
As for the design of the brochure, I included several relevant photos to balance out the
pictures and text, in an attempt to not overwhelm the reader with too much text. Brochures are
supposed to be concise, and also much more visual than other mediums like an essay. The color
scheme is black, gray, and white. I chose those colors because Slender Man is often portrayed
wearing a black or gray suit, and he has a white face. So, the color scheme is intended to be
minimalistic and suitable for the urban legend. The font that I used is simply the font that went
along with the brochure template. It was clear and easy to read, but not as boring or as common
as something like Calibri or Times New Roman. It was purely an aesthetic choice.
I feel that Ive met my own expectations for this assignment. I think that the brochure
concisely covers all the main points regarding the urban legend of Slender Man, sort of a crash
course. And at the same time, it minimizes the creepiness of the character. The pictures used on
the second to last page are amusing they make Slender Man seem like hes either
misunderstood or a complete joke. Sometimes, when trying to beat a fear, the most effective way
to go about it is to face it head on with humor.
This revision clearly showed progress in at least two of the course outcomes. Ill focus
specifically on Outcomes A and C. To know if weve made progress toward Outcome A, were
supposed to see if weve improved in the following: analyzing, composing, and reflecting on
arguments in a variety of genres, considering the strategies, claims, evidence, and various
mediums and technologies that are appropriate to the rhetorical situation. This revision is an
excellent manifestation of that outcome. We were required to analyze and compose arguments in
a variety of genres a documentary (a video), and a paper based medium of our choice (a
brochure, in my case). A documentary requires a lot of planning and a lot of visuals. Most of the
impact we had on viewers would be visual, so it was important to choose the right photos and
clearly explain what we needed to in the narration. Revising it into a brochure, however, required
me to pick and choose the most important information, and cram it into the limited space on the
brochure in a way that was both clear and easy to read, and aesthetically pleasing. Thinking
strategically about it was crucial, and it was necessary to consider the most important claims and
evidence to include.

Outcome C states: use multiple approaches for planning, researching, prewriting,

composing, assessing, revising, editing, proofreading, collaborating, and incorporating feedback
in order to make your compositions stronger in various mediums and multiple technologies. The
documentary itself required almost all of these, specifically several different approaches for the
planning of it (outlines, peer reviews, summaries, scripts, etc.), and it required my partner and
me to learn to collaborate and cooperate and create something worth watching. but the revision
itself a certain degree of editing. Not necessarily editing to make it better, but editing to make it
more concise while still maintaining the desired effect. And of course, it required incorporating
feedback. The documentary received feedback from our teacher, our peers, and friends and
family outside the class who took the time to provide opinions on it. With the brochure, I was
given the opportunity to incorporate that feedback into the new medium.
Hopefully, the documentary was interesting and informative and worth watching. But, I
hope that the brochure is either just as good, or better. I wanted to use everything weve learned
this semester and apply it to make final composition stronger. I personally, am satisfied with the
results displayed in the brochure, and I hope that you enjoy it.

Sincerely,

Ana McElroy