Dietel-McLaughlin / FYC 13300 / Fall 2012

Visual Essay Proposal

(Paper copy due in class 11/20; Worth 5 points out of your final total point total for the Visual Essay)

Your Name(s) ________________________________

Primary Goal/Point of the Piece _______________________________________________________________
Format/Medium Your Essay Will Take _________________________________________________________
Main points/sections that will support your main purpose:
1) ___________________________________________________________________________
Visual/textual evidence to illustrate this point: __________________________________
2) ___________________________________________________________________________
Visual/textual evidence to illustrate this point: __________________________________
3) ___________________________________________________________________________
Visual/textual evidence to illustrate this point: __________________________________
4) ___________________________________________________________________________
Some claims/perspectives that might complicate your perspective:
1) ___________________________________________________________________________
Visual/textual evidence to illustrate this point: ___________________________________
2) ___________________________________________________________________________
Visual/textual evidence to illustrate this point: ____________________________________
Library source material to integrate (use credible sources):
1) ___________________________________________________________________________
Where/how do you plan to use it? ______________________________________________
2) ___________________________________________________________________________
Where/how do you plan to use it? ______________________________________________
3) ___________________________________________________________________________
Where/how do you plan to use it? ______________________________________________
Exploratory Draft (type and attach to this sheet):
First section: You should begin with something like In this visual essay I plan to, followed by argue that,
propose a solution to, speculate about the causes for, critique, provide commentary on, or whatever you
plan to accomplish with your visual essay. Also explain why this topic is interesting to you and why you think its
important that other people know about it.

Dietel-McLaughlin / FYC 13300 / Fall 2012

Second section: Talk a little bit about your intended audience and what that audience has at stake in the
controversy you are researching. Who will benefit most from your essay? Who needs to be concerned? Who is in
a position to be persuaded? How do you plan to appeal to that audience?
Third section: Discuss how you are conceptualizing the design of your essay at this point. What kinds of images do
you plan to use? Where will you get them? Will the images be in color? Black and white? Both? What kind of
overall design aesthetic or artistic flavor are you going for, and why? What other steps do you plan to take to
support your overall message through your design (sound, color scheme, music, graphics, etc., etc)?
Fourth Section: What role will alphabetic text play in your visual essay? What kind of information will be presented
textually? Where and how will that text be presented? How will you use text with images to enhance the credibility
of your essay? How/where are you going to integrate source material?
Fifth section: Share any concerns or questions you have about this project. Where do you think you might run into
problems? Put some thought into this the more specific you are about your questions, the more I will be able to
point you toward some answers.