Progression Two: Seeing and Hearing Texts

In Progression One you were asked to look inward in order to build some understanding of your own
Social Literacy as it pertains to some larger conversation outside of yourself. You also took a stance
within the conversation, allying yourselves with some argument concerned with what it takes to be
socially literate (being kind, being aware, being conscious, etc.).
Now you are going to continue by looking outward (although your own experience is still important in
this progression). The goal of this progression is to gain and hone those skills that are necessary for
reading the world. In order to do this, you will be looking closely at and analyzing texts within the
genre of Science Fiction. More specifically, we will be examining the human experience in the 21st
century by considering our place in a world dominated by technological and industrial advancements, in
addition to an ever increasing awareness of human rights and responsibilities.
These texts, both fictional stories and critical essays, will help us to recognize and explore the various
themes at play within our own lives and within our societies and cultures (equality vs. inequality;
naivety vs. skepticism; our public vs. our private lives; and recorded history vs. our memory, to name a
few).
While exploring these themes (in our texts and in our world), you will also continue to flex and stretch
your writing muscles, moving through each exercise with your multi-modal essay in mind.

First, you will construct a word-picture describing some scene or image (either experienced firsthand,
or found), and then you will analyze that scene or image, paying particular attention to the
arguments being made. Next you will conduct a field report by going out into the world with the
intention of reading or analyzing your experience. And finally you will create our own visual
argument that deals with one or more of the themes related to this progression.
These three exercises should help us in our construction of an essay that uses multiple modes (visual,
audio, etc.) and one which explores the themes as we will interpret them in our discussions, our reading,
and in Black Mirror.

Exercise #1: The Word-Picture

Your recent work in reading essays, articles, and speeches should have demonstrated to you the
importance of a reading process that is active, and it should have reaffirmed the rigorous demands of
good, clean writing. In this next writing sequence, you will extend the active reading process to a visual
text in order to create a word-picture.
For this exercise you will create a word-picture of a profound or powerful scene or image so that readers
can see the image or scene through your words (this is similar to a summary, but highly descriptive
and full of sensory details). You will then analyze your scene or image in light of the themes being
explored in this progression. This means that you will need to be able to connect the scene or image to
our readings and our discussions.
Choose a scene or image that interests you or triggers a strong response within you. The scene or image
may be personal (as in a personal experience, or a piece of art that you made) or it can be found (as in
a politically charged photograph, or a historical moment that was captured on film). Either way, you will
need to:

Describe this image/scene to someone who has never seen it/did not experience it. Think of the
senses: smell, touch, taste, sound, and sight. 100 words maximum
Analyze the image/scene. This means giving your opinion. Why is this image/scene powerful?
What, if any, arguments are being made? How does this image/scene fit into our progression?
What might it tell us about the world or ourselves? 150 words maximum.

Try to keep your word-picture as short as possible without sacrificing precision; produce something
more evocative than a laundry list of features. Remember to use sensory details, and vivid descriptors.
Standard MLA Format: Double Spaced, 12pt font, 1 inch margins, name in left hand corner along with
prof. name, section number, and date.

Exercise #2: The Field Report

For this exercise you will need to venture out into the world in order to observe some place/space that
is intended to be experienced firsthand. This must be a place/space that you can relate to our class
discussions and texts. Like the word picture, you will first describe this place, then you will give an
analysis, extrapolating some argument or meaning from the visit. In addition, your analysis will

briefly compare and contrast your experience in this physical place/space with the virtual spaces you
inhabit on a daily basis.
Choose a place that interests you, but one that has some educational or informative agenda, i.e. a
museum, or an art exhibit (I recommend the Jack Kirby Exhibition in the Main Art Gallery on Campus),
and spend at least one hour exploring the space, observing and taking notes. Take in the scene. What do
you see, smell, hear, taste, and touch? Who is occupying this place/space? What are they doing? How
are they interacting, if at all?
For this assignment you must:

Write a short report describing your visit in no less than 100 words. This is a summary of your
experience. Be objective as possible, but do not be judgmental or inappropriate. Be respectful.
Write an analysis of the place/space in no less than 200 words. In addition to giving your
opinion (what did you think of the space/place? How did our discussions inform your
experience?), your analysis will draw a connection between the physical world and the virtual
spaces you inhabit. How are the experiences similar? How are they different? Are there any
rules that span both places/spaces? Where do you feel more comfortable? Why?

The Challenge: If you dare, try to experience this exercise without accessing the virtual space for the
entire day on the day of your visit! This means not checking your phone (maybe use it as a clock only!)
and not logging on to the internet for at least 24 hours! If you take the challenge, include in your
analysis how this experiment affected your experiencewere you more aware, more present, or
were you distracted by the thought of what might be happening online, what you might be missing?
Standard MLA Format: Double Spaced, 12pt font, 1 inch margins, name in left hand corner along with
prof. name, section number, and date.

Exercise #3: The Visual Argument

For this exercise you will create your own visual argument, followed by a short explanation/analysis.
Think about how images make arguments, and think about how the themes we have been exploring
during this progression might be expressed in a visual argument. How might you create a visual
argument that deals with those themes?
This exercise is up for interpretation. You might take a picture (a well thought out picture), draw a
comic, or make a collage. The choice is yours. The point is that you experiment with arguing through
images. We will talk more as a class, but here are the basic guidelines:

Your image must be unique. You cannot use a found image for this exercise. You must be the
artist.
The image must be significant. This means that you thought deeply about the argument you
are trying to make with your image. Consider the Rhetorical Situation (who is your audience,
what is your purpose, etc)
You must write a short, no more than 200 word, explanation/analysis which explains your
image and your argument and why you think it is effective.

Standard MLA Format: Double Spaced, 12pt font, 1 inch margins, name in left hand corner along
with prof. name, section number, and date.

The Multimodal Essay: Black Mirror Edition

What is a Multimodal Essay?
What differentiates multimodal texts from their more traditional counterparts is that multimodal
composing goes beyond the written word to include any combination of images, sound, color, animation
and written text.
A multimodal essay is one that combines two or more mediums of composing, such as audio, video,
photography, printed text, magazine cut-outs, a hypertext web document, a website, video game, etc.
One of the goals of this assignment is to expose you to different modes of composing.
As such, you will compose, revise, and present a multimodal essay. This is an essay meant to be read
online, and one that will make strong use our ability to use sound, image, and text.
Essay Requirements:

Must have a minimum of 1000 words, (not including any descriptions of images/videos/music,
or speech balloons (if you are including any comics)).
Must be multimodal: I am not going to give you a specific number of images or videos to
include, I want you to use as many as you think you need. I want a cohesive essay, which means
that you must have a balance between text, image, and sound. Remember, you have the chance
to back up your essay with hyperlinks and with imbedded images and videos, but you dont
want to overwhelm your reader or distract your reader, you want to use the different modes to
support your text, and to hook your reader/audience.
Writing must be academic in style (introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion), and must
be revised, with clean and correct diction, syntax and grammar. (Sloppy writing often means
little time was spent revising and proof-reading).
Must have a clear thesis: if you are not making a claim, then you at least need a clearly defined
purpose in your introductory paragraphwhy are writing this essay? What is the point you are
trying to make?
In addition to Black Mirror, your supplemental readings, and your multimodal resources, you
must have at least one academic (peer reviewed) source.

Essay Prompts coming soon.