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INFOGRAPHIC PROJECT
An infographic is a kind of "visual essay" that uses text, graphics, symbols, and icons -data visualization-to inform a rhetorical audience about a complex topic and to motivate them to act.
The infographic uses layout, arrangement, and digital storytelling to organize distinct blocks of information/graphics/illustrations. An effective infographic suggests an order in which the infographic should be read-much as an essay uses formatting, line spacing, paragraphing, and the methods of development-to organize its arguments.
Through the deliberate use of fonts, colors, images, and other multimedia elements, the rhetor relays information about an exigence and proposes a call-to-action which serves to shift the exigence/issue in some way.
An infographic's ultimate purpose is not just to inform but
to motivate its rhetorical audience to take action.
In this project, you have three equally important goals:
. You will change/modify one of the elements of your Exploring an Issue Article and of your CCC Letter. This means that one of your rhetorical elements (other than the exigence) of the infographic must be "new" (e.g., changing its rhetorical audience, its intended purpose, its subject scope, and so forth);
. You will transform this complex topic (your exigence) into an infographic which informs, explains, and calls your rhetorical audience to act; and,
. You will demonstrate your mastery of the principles of rhetoric, critical thinking, writing, research, and multimedia composing which you have developed over the course of the semester.
EXPLORATION & INVENTION
Merely translating a former into an infographic will not give you the opportunity to demonstrate your developing expertise in rhetoric and writing. Use the freedom of this assignment to reconsider the exigence to which you are responding, your rhetorical audience, and your rhetorical purpose. Consider how the limits of previous assignments may be pushed by this new medium and how a change to one aspect of your argument might impact other aspects. Understanding the revised rhetorical situation for your
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infographic is mandatory and essential for your visual content and presentation choices (as well as your overall success).
Rethinking a Previous Paper.
Rethink about the rhetorical features of a previous assignments-their focus, scope, audience, or purpose-but don't change the topic/exigence itself.
Using your previous exigence, consider how a visual presentation allows you to present the subject/issue differently, or how approaching your topic at a wider/smaller scope, or how targeting a different rhetorical audience changes the potentiality of possible change.
Consider how the call-to-action(s) of your infographic might advance a particular plan which positively shifts/alleviates the issue. (Like the call-to-action of your CCC Letter, your call-to-action of your infographic should be SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time- bound). There are other ways you might rethink your previous paper, but whatever revisions you make, consider how you might employ the lessons from throughout the semester and the new opportunities of the infographic which would work to make your Desired State be realized.
PLANNING YOUR INFOGRAPHIC
Once you have decided how to revise one of your pre-existing projects and the details of its rhetorical situation, you will need to begin considering how to adapt your ideas to this new medium. The following will help you clarify you in this decision-making process. The audience, purpose, and topic (scope) of your infographic;
. How this new context revises (takes a fresh look at a topic from) a previous paper;
· what you hope your infographic will achieve; and
. the resources and constraints you can use to build bridges with this rhetorical audience.
ASSIGNMENT REQUIREMENTS, DRAFTING, & DEVELOPMENT
Your project infographic should
. explain your exigence and outcomes of it by balancing text and visuals, to persuade a rhetorical audience towards a course of action or attitude;
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· visually organize information by applying basic design principles including contrast, proximity, grouping, alignment, and color;
· use appropriate titles, headers, and visual groupings to reinforce logical organization to the design;
. present a SMART call-to-action which realistically, and logically, would work to alleviate/eliminate the exigence;
. express the Desired State which realistically, and logically, would work to alleviate/eliminate the exigence
· integrate credible sources for evidence and include source attributions and citations for at least three outside sources in the design;
· include an original data visualization that accurately represents the original source and expresses complex ideas concisely and accurately (You must incorporate (at least) one original data visualization that meaningfully and persuasively presents data.);
. properly acknowledge sources of information and images in a Works Cited bar at the bottom of the infographic; and
· document your rhetorical/compositional decisions and rationales in a REFLECTION AND RATIONALE ESSAY.
As with all writing projects, you will complete several drafts of this assignment. Your initial draft(s) will be assessed by peer review in a scheduled workshop (see Canvas for deadlines).
Through various activities like workshopping, you may formulate both an outline of the infographic's rhetorical purpose and create a wireframe plan. A "wireframe" is a visual map that uses simple shapes (like boxes and circles) to sketch out a basic design, allowing you to experiment with and evaluate different layouts in terms of organizational logic and visual narration.
Resources for Developing and Drafting the Infographic.
Early sketches of your infographic (i.e., the wireframe) can be created manually, using paper and pencil. Take your time during this planning phase of your project. As you develop a rough draft, you will want to use software and resources suited for graphic design. You have many options. Through Penn State's Office 365 (https://office365.psu.edu/), you have access to the Sway and Visio applications, which can be used to create visualizations and layouts. As a Penn State student, you also have access to the Adobe Creative Suite (https://adobe.psu.edu/), including Adobe Spark and Illustrator, which are well-suited for designing infographics. Web-based
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applications like Canva (https://www.canva.com/), Piktochart (https://piktochart.com/), Prezi (https://prezi.com/), and Venngage (https://venngage.com/) offer free (educational) accounts. Tutorials for how to use these projects can be found online, through Penn State's Media Commons (https://mediacommons.psu.edu/support/tutorials/), and through the Lynda LinkedIn Learning network (https://linkedinlearning.psu.edu/).
Just as you will gather facts and data to present in your infographic, you will want to gather and create different illustrations to build your message. Your infographic will include multiple data visualizations, such as pie charts, histograms, timelines, tree maps, graphs, flowcharts, diagrams, pictograms, photographs, and/or word clouds. You must incorporate (at least) one original data visualization that meaningfully and persuasively presents data. Many of the resources discussed above have interfaces designed to create such illustrations. Consider how the information you visually and creatively represent impacts your rhetorical audience's understanding of that data.
Likewise, you will probably want to employ images that have been generated by others in addition to those you create yourself. You might use photographs and renderings to convey information and/or build a mood. You might use simpler images-icons and symbols-that depict/represent ideas and can be used to organize materials or reinforce messages. In all your design choices, you will want to preserve a consistent look and feel and not confuse your reader with conflicting aesthetic or design choices.
Attribution and Citation in the Infographic.
Just as you reference your sources in a paper, you attribute and cite information in an infographic. Similarly, just as you would cite textual information you derived from another source, you are required to cite images, illustrations, and photographs that originate from other places. Typically, an infographic includes a narrow band (a sources bar) running across the bottom that acts much the same as a Works Cited page-providing the bibliographic citations for information and images in small print. Additionally, you should observe the following guidelines in the documentation of infographic sources:
1.) For your own data visualization(s), you should include a caption that begins "Adapted from ... " and lists each source of your data in short form. For example, if you derived information from reports from several government agencies, your caption might read "Adapted from the U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. Department of Health" (with the full bibliographic references listed in the sources bar). Avoid using a hyperlink to cite an image.
2.) For data visualizations you did not originate, you should include a caption that begins "Source:" and lists the source of the illustration in short form, again with the full bibliographic reference in the source bar.
3.) Icons, symbols, and other simple illustrations are not captioned. They are often parts of sets which are acknowledged as a whole or are provided by the software used to
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generate the infographic. These facts can be clarified with a simple statement like "Symbols, icons, and infographic generated by . . . ".
4.) Certain illustrations may be "free to use" or licensed by Creative Commons agreements. You still must cite these materials but must review the licensing to see what instructions the artists place on the user.
Any illustration whose source is not specified is assumed to be your work. If you use other people's work without acknowledging its source-whether it is words, information, or art-it is plagiarism and an academic integrity violation.
The source bar should follow MLA Citation as documented in Chapter 19 of the New Harbrace Guide 4e and the Pennsylvania State University Library's MLA style guide.
REFLECTION & RATIONALE ESSAY
This assignment's STATEMENT OF GOALS & CHOICES is substantial (1000-1250 words) and will completely document this assignment's aims, development, and final choices. It must be appended to your project. Use the following headings. Do NOT include the prompts in your responses.
Rhetorical Situation and Purpose
· describe your rhetorical audience-Explain why you chose this audience;
. explain the purpose of your infographic in detail;
Development of My Project
· detailing how your project developed from your initial revision, through drafting and review, and (especially) the revisions you made before final submission;
Design Principles and Rhetorical Purpose
. analyzing the content of your design, including your use of visual and textual information, data visualization, the organizational layout, and style choices (e.g., font, color schemes, formatting);
· explaining how you used design principles (e.g., proximity, alignment, grouping, repetition, color, contrast, scale) to communicate information and to express relationships between the different components of your design;
Revision
· explain your revision process
. explain the help of the peer reviews
. explain what modification you made because of them
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My Use of Rhetoric
. reflecting on how your understanding of key course concepts is reflected in this assignment. (This particular section should be substantial.)
Revision & Final Submission
After receiving feedback from your peers and additional guidelines from style workshops, you will revise and submit your final infographic on Canvas. Submit your final infographic as a PDF.
Append your Statement of Goals & Choices to your Infographic.
GRADING CRITERIA
Along with the instructions and Explanation stated above, the following criteria will be used to assess final infographics and essays:
The "A" project ...
... revises the rhetorical situation of a previous project and skillfully crafts text, graphics, symbols, icons, and other data visualizations into a compelling and coherent message. The project expertly employs the available means of persuasion-the rhetorical appeals, layout, arrangement, digital storytelling, as well as skillful use of fonts, colors, images, and other multimedia elements-to reach, please, educate, and motivate a rhetorical audience. The project matches the description of an A paper as defined by the PWR Grading Criteria. Student demonstrates strong goals and sophisticated choices in reflection.
The "B" project ...
... modifies a previous project and arranges text, graphics, symbols, icons, and other data visualizations into a designed message. The project capably employs the available means of persuasion-the rhetorical appeals, layout, arrangement, digital storytelling, as well as deliberate use of fonts, colors, images, and other multimedia elements-to inform and urge a rhetorical audience. The project matches the description of a B paper as defined by the PWR Grading Criteria. Student documents clear goals and strategic choices in reflection.
The "C" project ...
... uses a previous project and text, graphics, symbols, icons, and other data visualizations to make a message. The project adequately employs the available means of persuasion-the rhetorical appeals, layout, arrangement, digital storytelling, as well as use of fonts, colors, images, and other multimedia elements-to suggest an audience. The project matches the description of a C paper as defined by the PWR Grading Criteria. Student reports goals and choices in reflection.
The "D" project ...
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... attempts to use a previous project and text, graphics, symbols, icons, and other data visualizations to make a message. The project approaches the available means of persuasion- the rhetorical appeals, layout, arrangement, digital storytelling, as well as use of fonts, colors, images, and other multimedia elements-but fails to employ them effectively and/or address a clear audience. The project matches the description of a D paper as defined by the PWR Grading Criteria. Student fails to document clear goals/choices in reflection.
The "F" project ...
... matches the description of an F paper as defined by the PWR Grading Criteria.
