Emerging Media Project Evaluation

These are the questions I will ask myself as I evaluate the rhetorical appropriateness of your emerging media project. You will receive a separate grade for each the report and the presentation, with the the report counting for 60% of the final grade and the presentation counting for 40%.

Written Report

Your Ethos

• How do you "come across" in the report? Do you convey the ethos of folks who are qualified to talk about the subject you are addressing? Do you use and cite researched resources to effectively "borrow" the ethos of others?
• Are you attentive to how your ethos is constructed at all levels: not just in stating your authority or character, but also in how it is conveyed at the level of your attitude, writing style, tone, document design, grammar, spelling, etc.?
• Is your approach to the issues surrounding your medium both thoughtful and balanced? Are you successful in conveying the ethos of someone who is unbiased and without an explicit agenda?

Your Audience and Purpose

• Do you make valid assumptions about what your audience knows already and what you need to tell them? Do you provide enough information to orient and educate an audience unfamiliar with your topic, but not so much information that you come across as pedantic or condescending?
• Is the quantity and depth of information you present appropriate for the limited space you have available?

Organization, Usability, Design, and Style

• Does your document employ design and visual strategies that are appropriate to, and considerate of, the needs of your audience?
• Do you correctly adhere to the APA or MLA citation formats?
• Is your writing style—your tone, manner of address, vocabulary, grammar, tense, etc.—tailored to the specific audience, purpose, and context of your report?

Class Presentation

• Again, is the information you present appropriate to the existing knowledge level of your audience? Is your ethos that of a balanced, unbiased informant?
• Do you effectively "translate" your presentation from the written medium to the media available to you in a presentation? Do you take advantage of the unique affordances of presentations?
• If you use visual aids, multimedia, or technology, are they in service to your larger purpose, or do they serve only as a distraction?
• Are you mindful of how your ethos is constructed in the delivery of your presentation? Is your presentation style—your tone, manner of address, vocabulary, etc.—tailored to the specific audience, purpose, and context of your presentation?