Armbruster
WRIT 2072
Spring 2006

Assignment 7:   E-mail/Web-Based Issue Campaign

For this assignment, you will choose an issue at the national level   (the one you wrote to your Congressional representative about or a different one -- it doesn't have to be something related to legislation in this case).   Then you will imagine a nonprofit organization that might be involved with this issue and create a series of messages from this organization designed to be delivered via e-mail and/or the web.    The purpose of the messages will be to get other people to act in regard to your issue:   to sign a petition, to write a letter, to join a protest march, etc.   You will create an entire issue campaign, including not only the request for action but also a thank-you for responding and an update on progress with the issue.   Another option would be to create an action kit that might be available on your organization's web site.

The goals of this assignment are to give you a chance to practice yet another form of persuasive writing while learning more about national issues and the role of nonprofit organizations in working for change.

I will grade your messages using the criteria for persuasive writing in general and for e-mail and action campaigns in particular that we cover in class.          

First, respond to the attached planning questions.   Although we will not be discussing them in a class period separate from our peer responding sessions, you do need to turn them in with your final draft (and I would be happy to look at them for you on an individual basis).

We will conduct full-class peer review sessions on drafts of all your campaigns next week, May 2nd and 4th.   Keep in mind that we may not have time to discuss each of your documents in detail.

During our final exam period, Tuesday May 9th from 10:30-12:30 , you will present your campaign to the class.   You will need to either provide paper handouts of your documents or present them using overheads, Powerpoint, etc.

Plan to spend about 10 minutes not only summarizing your documents but also explaining the choices and strategy behind them.

The final draft of your campaign documents, along with he answers to your planning questions and rough drafts, will also be due on Tuesday, May 9th .