Assignment:

Final project portfolio (First draft)

This assignment page includes introductory information, a list of readings (if any) required to do
this assignment, instructions for doing the assignment, and grading criteria.

Introduction

You have identified a project and a team with which you will be working. Each member of the
team will prepare the communications to complete the portfolio described below. Teams can
share the work of doing research into library sources and empirical research; engage together in
brainstorming, idea development, etc.; and even work together to create a single redesign or
reconception of the target communication effort. But each of you must write her own final
materials except as expressly provided below.

Some key facts:
You have identified a communication or communication effort that presently exists
somewhere in the real world (which just means the world outside our classroom and our
own imaginations).
You have an instinct that the communication effort can be improved.
You have identified the person responsible (directly or indirectly) for the communication
effort and the sponsoring organization.

Note: As we talk about this assignment in coming weeks, we will revise some of the details (thus the
first draft in the title of this assignment sheet).

Readings for this assignment

We will read a variety of materials as we progress on this project.

Assignment description

You will prepare the following materials:

A formal report assessing the existing communication effort, identifying its strengths and
weaknesses. This will require some kind of empirical data gathering on your part, but you
can share the work of gathering empirical data with your team. Each student will write all
the text in, and do all the design for, her own formal report.
A redesign or reconception of the communication effort intended to address the
weaknesses of the existing effort. This could take any of several forms. For example, you
might electronically mock up a new web site for the sponsoring organization. You might
take an existing periodic report and recast it in a new design. You might rewrite some or all
the text of the existing communication to make it more effective at reaching its audience.
You might engage in a combination of the foregoing (especially if you are looking for an A
in the course.) This redesign or reconception may be the product of your group. (Your
group must decide that.)
A letter to the responsible person at the sponsoring organization that introduces your
formal report and argues that the sponsoring organization should adopt your
recommended redesign/reconception. You will write all the text in your letter as an
individual.
2015 Brian N. Larson

Assignment: Final project portfolio

Page 1

Submission instructions

You will work on this assignment inside and outside the classroom with your group for
much of the balance of the semester.
As you write your materials, you will share them with group members for peer review over
the course of several weeks.
The portfolio is due on the date set out in the course schedule. You will submit the formal
report and letter as MS Word documents or PDF files; you will choose the medium for
sharing your communication redesign/reconception.
Your instructor will provide you detailed feedback and a tentative grade on the date set out
in the course schedule.
If you accept the tentative grade, your work on the project will be done. If you wish to
revise, you will have approximately ten days to do so.

Grading criteria

Report and letter use proper format as laid out in ABO (adapted based on your discussions
for this purpose).
Report and letter have strong organization, with clearly articulated subject and purpose
and clear address of audience.
Report and letter fully cover the items described above.
Report offers sufficient evidence (in the form of empirical data or secondary research) for
the claims it makes.
Report and letter are free from grammatical and mechanical errors.
Redesign or reconception of communication responds to the issues raised in your
evaluation.
Cover letter introduces the formal report, highlights key observations from it, and explains
how the redesign or reconception addresses those observations.
See the syllabus for general grading principles.

Value toward final course grade

30%. This assignment is subject to an opportunity to revise. You will receive detailed feedback and
a tentative grade from your instructor on the first version you submit. You will then have
approximately 10 days to revise it, if you choose to do so.

Works cited

2015 Brian N. Larson

Assignment: Final project portfolio

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