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SLCC ENGLISH 2010 CWC
December 6, 2005
RE: Transmittal Letter for CWC campaign
Dear Instructors of English 2010,
The 2005/06 fall semester is coming to an end and it is now time to submit the final project for our English 2010 class. As a group, we have decided to complete our Community Writing Campaign (CWC) with the topic of alternative fuels, specifically, biodiesel and ethanol. We have developed a web site located at http://frontpage.tripod.com/english20100/ to present the campaign. On this website, you will find links for the various documents we have created in the required genres, and other links to make our campaign effective. The purpose of this letter is to explain our campaign and how it was developed using the required genres.
Before we began research on alternative fuels, many of our group members knew nothing about the topic. We felt that our audience would be in the same situation and that the best place to start a campaign on alternative fuels would be to inform. In addition, there are way too many types of alternative fuels to cover in a dozen or so documents. We felt the best way to get the most specific information to our audience would be to narrow our topic down to biodiesel and ethanol. Therefore, our campaign is to inform the public on these two fuel types.
The processes used to produce biodiesel and ethanol can be very scientific. We had to learn these extensive processes and the terms and definitions involved. We then had to explain these processes in a manner so that any person with a High School reading level could understand. This was sometimes challenging since most of the information is very complex, however, we felt this was an important factor in getting useful information out to the public.
Much of our campaign wasn’t intended to persuade people to use Biodiesel and Ethanol, but rather we were trying to persuade people to get involved, become knowledgeable about the product and make the best choice for them. Of course we want people to begin using alternative fuels because that is the only way to solve our energy crisis but we know that this will be a gradual process and the first place to start is education. You will see in the different documents that we aren’t only providing the “good” information about biodiesel and ethanol but we are giving any information that could be useful. We want people to know that there are alternatives to petroleum and they need to choose what’s right for them. We are asking them to evaluate their own situation and level of knowledge and then ask them to help themselves by becoming more informed. The evidence to these claims is included with every document within the campaign. Many of the documents have hyperlinks so that the reader can explore for him or herself.
Conversations about the issue of alternative fuels tend to revolve around economics, energy dependency and environmental concerns. Our CWC was produced during an energy crisis which created acute economic problems and clearly demonstrated our helpless position of energy dependency. The crisis served to strengthen the call for alternative fuels. Ongoing conversation regarding infrastructure, economics and environmental problems intensified. Our CWC added to these conversations as we first educated ourselves about two important alternative fuels and then wrote to educate our audience. Our audience doesn’t necessarily understand the conversations surrounding alternative fuels. Our purpose is to educate them so they can hold meaningful conversations.
Our group has chosen to use letters, commentary, reports, proposals, memoirs, public documents, profiles and reviews as the genres to best fit our campaign. We chose these genres because we wanted to reach a broad spectrum of people. Not one genre would reach every person in our audience. Some of the documents are more technical and some are more general. Reports were chosen to give information, commentary to process that information, letters as a method to catch interest. Each genre tends to focus on specific details about the topic.
Addressing group questions and concerns online was difficult at times. Having never met in person, most group members had to correspond nearly exclusively through writing. This meant that we could not benefit from the verbal and non verbal communications that allow people to really get to know one another. Without personal contact, misunderstanding and frustration were more common than might have been the case in a “traditional” classroom environment. In response, our leader became very careful to set a tone of humility, respect and appreciation in all of her communications. The group responded to the leader’s strategy by taking on a similar tone and we got much better at dealing with this challenge as the semester progressed. Still, there is no question that the lack of personal contact affected the outcome of our project.
Incompatible scheduling meant that chat sessions were largely unattended. Negotiation and decision making was in essence limited to the forum and personal emails. Instructor imposed deadlines regularly approached more quickly than responses could be gathered. After receiving last minute input, there was often no time left to compile and complete the process. Consequently, the team leader created and imposed separate pre-deadlines. If there was insufficient response from the group, the team leader was called upon to use personal discretion in making the decision.
Overall, this project has helped us understand the purposes genres have in our society and the importance of being rhetorically aware of the situation for which we are writing. It has also taught us how to work effectively in groups. This is useful knowledge that can be expanded into other aspects of our life’s such as our careers. If you have any questions about our project or anything contained therein, please contact any one of us for clarification.
We respectfully present our project to you for grading.
Sincerely,
Group 6, consisting of,
Amy Floyd, Group Leader
Matthew Fraley, Co-group leader
Nathan Faurschou
Alyse Fisher
Troy Fretwell
Candice Fugit
William Fuller
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