7 Multimodal Essay Assignment Guidelines

Introduction:

The goal of this lesson is to start thinking about the communities to which you belong. You will also think about yourself as a writer with something to communicate to an audience who has expectations within the communication mode. Much writing is multimodal (using more than one mode to deliver a message), and visual literacy is a skill important in writing; in this first assignment, you will explore multimodal composition.

Mainstream life in the U.S. is deluged with images—not random photos or pictures, but carefully selected images designed to influence what we think and how we feel. We are surrounded by drawings, computer graphics, digitized photos, and airbrushed faces. The images rarely work alone; writers layer text, music, spoken words, and so on with images. The minute details of each text appeals to our values, desires, needs, and assumptions.

Such details are no accidents. They are closely scrutinized and are meant to impact consciousness in particular ways. But even if they were accidents, the particular elements impact readers. Regardless of the intent, we should be cognizant of the way details, the minute and the marginal, figure into the meaning of a message. This understanding is important for both readers and writers.

Time, The Washington Post, and other major media outlets regularly publish photo essays. Sometimes, photo essays are published alongside more traditional news articles, and sometimes, they are standalone pieces. In both cases, the images are meant to build a particular point of view on the subject matter. Each image contributes to a whole story, and even though each piece is a single part, they are connected. Your photo essay will need to connect the individual images and text to create your message.

To create a strong, clear message, writers think carefully about their audience. Pages 230-237 in your text Something to Say discusses the way Western rhetors think about writing situations. By examining the rhetorical situation, writers can make informed decisions about what to include and how to include that info in their texts. Photo essays are primarily visual communication, but they do use strategically composed sentences to complement the images. Keep track of the decisions you make throughout the process of creating your photo essay. You will communicate those decisions to your instructor in a memo at the end of the assignment.

Assignment:

Part 1:

To begin your assignment, think about a community to which you belong and what it means to you.

Keep in mind that communities can be defined by…

1. Place: groups of people who live/work/play near one another (Lewiston, ID; LC State; place of employment, etc.)
2. Action: groups of people who create change in the world by building, doing, or solving something together (Examples: Idaho Food Bank, Meals on Wheels volunteer, etc.)
3. Interest: groups of people coming together based on shared interest, experience, or expertise (LC State’s International Club; book club, sports team you belong to, etc.)
4. Circumstance: groups of people brought together either by chance or external events/situations (rider of public transit; LC state student, etc.)

Requirements:

• The photo essay should be at least five frames in length and no more than ten frames (plus a Works Cited slide if needed).
• Each slide should incorporate small, strategically composed text to complement the selected images and to guide your reader. (See sample photo essay on Canvas.)
• The photo essay should offer readers a clear message.
• The final slide should identify a problem you see in this community; this problem can be large or small. Try to include a solution to this problem.
• You will use PowerPoint or Google slides to complete this portion of the assignment.
• Remember to cite any images that you found on the internet and/or were taken by a photographer other than you. Use MLA to cite in text and on the Works Cited slide.

How to cite an online image from OWL Purdue MLA: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_works_cited_electronic_sources.html

Provide the artist’s name, the work of art italicized, the date of creation, the institution and city where the work is housed. Follow this initial entry with the name of the website in italics, and the date of access.

Goya, Francisco. The Family of Charles IV. 1800. Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid. Museo Nacional del Prado, www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/art-work/the-family-of-carlos-iv/f47898fc-aa1c-48f6-a779-71759e417e74. Accessed 22 May 2006.

Klee, Paul. Twittering Machine. 1922. Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Artchive, www.artchive.com/artchive/K/klee/twittering_machine.jpg.html. Accessed May 2006.

Part 2:

Second, write a reflective memo addressed to your instructor. In this memo, analyze and explain your photo essay’s rhetorical triangle (rhetorical situation), the strategies employed in the photo essay to engage your readers, and describe the process you went through to focus on a main idea.

Requirements:

• Follow the formatting of the sample reflective memo on Canvas and use this as your template.
• Analyze the rhetorical strategies you used in developing your photo essay and explain why these strategies help convey your message.
• This memo must be between 1-page to 1½ -pages in length, single-spaced.

This assignment was adapted from the University of Idaho’s Independent Study in Idaho ENGL 102, Writing and Rhetoric II, course. indepst@uidaho.edu