Prezi

= **Prezi and Research** = = = As you know, this class aims to study rhetoric – how we and others communicate most effectively. Your research papers were mostly text, with some embedded videos or images; the papers represent one powerful and important rhetorical medium. But visual media, and in particular those that maximize use of current technology, offer other rhetorical options. Every month new options present themselves and older options offer possibilities of revision; PowerPoint, for instance, has options that didn’t exist when you learned it in elementary school.

The question should be: given your audience, given your specific purpose, what rhetorical medium is most powerful? And within the medium, given your specific message, what are the rhetorical tools most usefully employed? Through the rest of this year, we’ll be experimenting with some media you may or not be familiar with. In each case, your job will be to quickly grasp the capabilities of the medium and best adapt it to your specific message, audience and purpose. At the end of the year, you’ll be given a problem to solve, and you’ll be asked to choose the medium that best suits your purpose. Having added a variety of rhetorical tools to your toolbox, you’ll have options, and your message should be that much more compelling. This particular project asks you to articulate your research paper argument as powerfully as you can using the medium of Prezi. I’ll ask you to self-reflect on the tool and your use of it, so be thinking as we watch others’ Prezis and as you build your own, about what was possible and how you adapted. Due: the start of class Wednesday.

Rubric:
 * || great || good || weak ||
 * Clarity of message ||  ||   ||   ||
 * Power of message ||  ||   ||   ||
 * Use of text ||  ||   ||   ||
 * Use of images ||  ||   ||   ||
 * Use of medium ||  ||   ||   ||