3-11: Submit – Writing Project #3: The Community Advocacy Research Paper, Final Draft

• Due by

• Points 100

• Submitting a file upload

• File Types doc, docx, and rtf

• Attempts 0

• Allowed Attempts 2

• Available  Submit Your FINAL Draft of Writing Project #3: The Community Advocacy Research Paper

Here, you’ll submit the final draft of annotated bibliography. You can review the project description here: Writing Project #3: The Community Advocacy Research Paper.

 How You’ll Be Evaluated

See the rubric below for specific criteria.

Note: If you accidentally submit the wrong assignment, or if your file is not accessible to the grading team or not submitted in the required format, you may resubmit the correct assignment only until the assignment closes. You are allowed two submissions per assignment specifically so you can correct such errors. 

Be sure to submit your work correctly by uploading a .doc or .docx file. Submissions that cannot be accessed will not be graded.

Rubric

Writing Project #3: The Community Advocacy Research Paper Project (1)

Writing Project #3: The Community Advocacy Research Paper Project (1)
Criteria	Ratings	Pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning Outcome Completion level	20 to >16.0 pts Exceeds Expectations Every aspect of the assignment is complete according to the instructions given in the assignment prompt. 16 to >12.0 pts Meets Expectations Most aspects of the assignment are complete according to the instructions given in the assignment prompt. 12 to >6.0 pts Approaches Expectations Some aspects of the assignment are complete according to the instructions given in the assignment prompt. 6 to >0 pts Does Not Meet Expectations Few aspects of the assignment are complete according to the instructions given in the assignment prompt.	20 pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning Outcome Focus	20 to >16.0 pts Exceeds Expectations The research paper is exceptionally clear and consistent in its focus and provides unique insights about how advocates use writing to work toward change in their communities. Further, the research paper pays close attention to the social problem the advocate is addressing. Student’s discussion of the writing process illustrates a strong awareness of key principles discussed in this course/module. 16 to >12.0 pts Meets Expectations The research paper is clear in its focus and provides insights about how advocates use writing to work toward change in their communities. Further, the research paper pays attention to the social problem the advocate is addressing. Student’s discussion of the writing process illustrates a firm awareness of key principles discussed in this course/module. 12 to >6.0 pts Approaches Expectations The research paper is mostly clear in its focus but goes off topic at times and provides only a few, undeveloped insights about how advocates use writing to work toward change in their communities. Further, the research paper only cursorily addresses the social problem the advocate is addressing. Student’s discussion of the writing process almost illustrates an effective awareness of key principles discussed in this course/module. 6 to >0 pts Does Not Meet Expectations The research paper does not have a clear focus and does not adequately deal with the social problem the advocate is addressing. Further, there is little consistency throughout, and there is little evidence of an awareness of key principles discussed in this course/module.	20 pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning Outcome Organization	20 to >16.0 pts Exceeds Expectations The research paper is meticulously organized and readers can seamlessly follow the ideas presented therein. Further, it is apparent to readers how ideas fit together, and the research paper contains an engaging and informative introduction (with a forecasting of the paper’s organization), multiple body paragraphs, and a conclusion that highlights the research paper’s contribution to academic discourse. 16 to >12.0 pts Meets Expectations The research paper is effectively organized and readers can follow ideas throughout. Further, readers can see how ideas fit together, and the research paper contains informative introduction multiple body paragraphs and a conclusion. 12 to >6.0 ptsApproaches Expectations The research paper is mostly organized but readers need to pull ideas out of the writing instead of those ideas being clearly presented. It is difficult, but possible, for readers to see how ideas fit together and the research paper contains a rough organization where writing seems to go off topic. 6 to >0 pts Does Not Meet Expectations The research paper lacks a clear or coherent organizing structure and, as a result, ideas are difficult to follow.	20 pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning Outcome Sources	20 to >16.0 pts Exceeds Expectations The research paper uses both primary and secondary sources and sources are highly credible/have met or exceeded the minimum source requirement. Further sources are thoughtfully and robustly used to bolster the ideas presented in the text and quotations are incorporated into writing effectively and eloquently. 16 to >12.0 ptsMeets Expectations The research paper uses both primary and secondary sources and sources are credible/have met the minimum source requirement. Further both primary and secondary sources effectively. Further, sources are used to bolster the ideas presented in the text and quotations are incorporated into writing effectively. 12 to >6.0 pts Approaches Expectations The research paper uses sources, but may not have used both primary and secondary sources. Further, it is unclear how sources bolster the ideas presented in the text and quotations are not effectively incorporated into the text. 6 to >0 pts Does Not Meet Expectations The research paper does not use the minimum number of sources, sources lack credibility, and or/sources are not effectively integrated into the text.	20 pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning Outcome Polish and Presentation	20 to >16.0 pts Exceeds Expectations The research paper strictly conforms to academic standards and has few (if any) surface level issues. MLA/APA format is rigorously adhered to, and the text is carefully edited and revised for clarity. 16 to >12.0 pts Meets Expectations The research paper adheres to academic standards and has few surface level issues. MLA/APA format is accurate, and the text has been edited and revised for clarity. 12 to >6.0 pts Approaches Expectations The research paper approaches academic standards and rigor but has multiple surface level issues. MLA/APA format is not adhered to, and the text still needs careful editing and revision. 6 to >0 pts Does Not Meet Expectations The research paper does not approach academic standards, has many surface level issues, and/or is not formatted correctly. Further, it’s clear that the research paper was not carefully revised or edited.	20 pts
Total Points: 100

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3-2: Overview – Writing Project #3: The Community Advocacy Research Paper

 Overview

For Writing Project #3, you will write a formal research paper in which you argue that writing is essential/valuable to creating positive change for a specific community. To complete this writing challenge, you will first select a community that is important to you. Next, you will choose someone you know or have access to who uses writing (broadly defined) to support that community; you’ll interview your chosen advocate, in order to understand how that person uses writing to further community goals/causes. Finally, you will use everything that you learned to write a formal research paper. In this research paper, you will forward your argument by persuasively providing key information about the community/cause, interviewee, and advocacy-driven writing.

Photo by Mohammad MetriLinks to an external site. on UnsplashLinks to an external site. 

 Context

People advocate for causes all the time: environmentalists advocate for climate awareness; parents advocate for the betterment of their child’s education; wildlife conservationists advocate for the protection of animals and their habitats. What does it really mean to advocate, though? To advocate is to work at furthering a particular cause or policy. To risk stating the obvious: advocacy doesn’t aim to improve things for oneself. Advocacy’s primary goal is to benefit a larger community—usually, a community that is in some way struggling, ignored, under-appreciated, or wronged.

To achieve such goals, advocacy invariably involves writing. Advocacy writing, then, is any writing that aims to further a particular cause or policy and thus benefit a larger community.  And thus, we can define an advocate as anyone who uses writing—whether once per day or once per decade—to improve the status of a community in some way. Importantly, anyone can be an advocate. One doesn’t need to write grants, organize protests on social media, or pass out pamphlets at city hall (these are all examples of advocate and advocacy writing, though) to be an advocate. An advocate can be a teacher or administrator calling for mental health awareness in their high school or a member of an online political community pushing for more thoughtful approaches to harmful conspiracy theories or a parent highlighting gender disparities in local school curricula—all topics that learners have examined for this project in the past. 

Advocacy happens in many ways, too: speeches, advertisements, pamphlets, social media campaigns, and so much more. Further, almost all advocacy makes its way into writing in some form or another. And at the heart of advocacy writing is persuasion: a call for some sort of change that will benefit a community. People write for advocacy in multiple arenas, from social media posts to letter writing to court documents. Some advocacy writing is very public—like newspaper articles, billboards, church signs, PSAs, campaign commercials, graffiti, or YouTube videos. Other advocacy writing is only “public” to (or used by) a specific community—like letters to the PTA or presentations to the local Downtown Business Alliance. Since there are multiple genres in which advocates write, it makes sense that there are diverse approaches taken to advocacy writing.

Keeping the above in mind, we can define advocacy writing as any writing that is done to further a particular cause or policy. In other words: what distinguishes advocacy writing from other writing, is that it very specifically forefronts a community within a writerly goal.

 Instructions

This writing project has several steps. There are Invention and Drafting activities in this module that will help you with each step and lead you to the final product.

Click on each tab to read the instructions for each step of this writing project.

• Step 1
• Step 2
• Step 3
• Step 4
• Step 5
• Step 6
• Step 7

Select a community that is important to you.

A community is a group of people who share something—like a place, a hobby, a struggle, a value, or a profession—that binds them together. Choose a community that matters to you (whether you’re a member of that community or just interested in it). You’ll study this community throughout Module 3. And yes, you can select, as your community, the discourse community you studied in Writing Project #2: The Annotated Bibliography!

 Criteria for Evaluation 

Criteria for Quality

This assignment is graded for quality, meaning that it is all about doing your best work as a writer–showing how, when you’re trying your hardest, you can (using learning materials) meet a project goal. Thus, your grade will be based on how closely you meet the project goals. Your research paper will be evaluated on the following criteria (view the assignment rubric for complete evaluation criteria):

• Clear focus on advocacy writing and its key components
  • Your research paper should focus on advocacy writing and the writing of a particular advocate, as well as the role of advocacy in creating change broadly, as well as in the specific community of your chosen advocate. To reach this goal, your paper should include an introductory section, a background/contextual section, a profile of your advocate and their writing, and a conclusion as described above.
• Logical and easily navigable organization
  • A good research paper will be clearly and logically organized. Your research paper should have an introduction, multiple body paragraphs and sections, as well as a conclusion that highlights the research paper’s insights and value to readers.
• Effective use of sources 
  • Your research paper should use both primary and secondary sources to support and complicate your ideas and the argument(s) you’re making. You will also want to make sure that you effectively integrate your sources/quotations into your writing and that you expand/clarify the relevance of your sources; your writing shouldn’t assume readers will make the connections that you’re intuitively making in your head.
• Adherence to conventions of academic discourse/writing
  • You will want to do your best to model academic discourse/writing. This means that your tone should be formal and collegiate and that your writing is crafted for a, mostly, academic audience. This also means that you should attempt to make writerly moves that are inherently rhetorical. Said another way, your writing should not only explore an advocacy/advocacy writing but persuade readers of something about that advocacy/advocacy writing. Further, you will want to make sure that your writing stays on topic and that you consciously and consistently relate your ideas and use of sources to a larger idea that you lay out early on.
• Polish of final product
  • Academic writing is carefully revised, edited and contains few surface errors (typos, grammar issues, format issues, etc.). Therefore, your final draft should be free of such errors and adhere to MLA or APA format. 

Criteria for Completion

While this assignment is graded for quality, it should still be complete. To be considered “complete,” your submission must . . . 

• Consist of a minimum of 1,250 words
• Employ a minimum of five credible sources (including your interview); note: you may re-use sources from Writing Project #2–but at least three  of your sources should be new.
• Use either MLA or APA format

 Relevance

Why is this assignment relevant?

This assignment emphasizes how writing can produce social change, and it entrenches you in the academic discourse that is part and parcel of college. Having a more expansive understanding of what writing can be allows you to choose the best method for persuading an audience and thus to achieve your purpose. The process of identifying someone to interview and carrying out the interview will help you develop interpersonal skills that will help you in your professional life. Finally, you will have one more chance to practice the judicious use of generative AI, namely Wordtune, to perform tasks.

How to Make this Assignment Relevant to You and Others

While many times people think that “writing for advocacy ”means some large, political action, frequently the writing for advocacy we do is in the form of common, ordinary, mundane texts. When we re-post a meme or news article, when we forward a message to a friend, when we compose a comment on a friend’s post, or when we write to ask for a pay raise, we are actively using writing for advocacy. We are surrounded by advocacy writing and yet may not pay careful attention to the way it works to persuade and enact change. This assignment asks you to step back and look at the specific rhetorical strategies that are used in advocacy writing in order to become more aware of the kind of writing for advocacy we do, and to become more aware of the various communicative tactics available when advocating for something through writing. The relevance of this assignment to you, then, is to help you become more aware of and more skilled at advocating for the kinds of positive changes you would like to have enacted in the world–on both small and large scales. More than just a school assignment, learning to write for advocacy will be beneficial to you in multiple arenas in your life.  

 Common Questions and Tips

Below, find answers to questions that learners have historically posted about this assignment. If you have other questions, please ask them in the Help Forum. (If your questions are of a personal nature, ask them in the Private Questions space.)

What are some good examples of Writing Project #3?

• Check out these examples from prior learners! Note that none of these examples will be perfect. But they offer a great place to start!
  • Writing Project #3 – The Community Advocacy Research Paper Example #1

Actions

• Writing Project #3 – The Community Advocacy Research Paper Example #2

Actions

What if I don’t know anyone who advocates for anything and what if I can’t find anyone to interview?

• Think broadly and creatively about what advocacy is and who you might interview. Your chosen advocate does not need to deal with large-scale issues like ending world hunger, fighting climate change, opposing X or Y war. Think outside the box and consider who you know that works for positive change (broadly defined) and does this through writing (broadly defined). In past courses learners have framed the following as advocates who use writing to get the work of advocacy done: pastors, doulas, educators, family members (who advocate for equal rights or are health coaches), family friends (who organize donation drives and spread the word about food insecurity via social media), and  so on. Bonus tip: taking some time to define/redefine “advocacy” in your project will go a long way in helping readers to clearly see how you’re viewing and using “advocacy.”
• Additionally, you might check out the following websites, which purport to help podcast hosts find guests to interview: Matchmaker.fm, Podcast GuestsLinks to an external site., PodkoiLinks to an external site., PodmatchLinks to an external site., GuestioLinks to an external site., Interview Guest DirectoryLinks to an external site., and WebiCasterLinks to an external site.. Note: We haven’t used any of these sites ourselves, so take this recommendation with a grain of salt. NOTE: Many of these links are for connecting people to interview for podcasts. Please note that they may not be extra helpful in finding people to interview for a research paper.

What if the advocacy I want to look at doesn’t incorporate writing?

• Think broadly and creatively about what “counts” as writing. Writing is a lot more than just writing. Said differently, writing cuts across a broad swath of communicative means, and is often more than alphabetic text. From the perspective of Composition Studies, the scholarly field that Professors Brown and Conner work in, “writing” can encompass written text, images, recordings, sound, etc. Essentially, writing is any purposeful communicative act that can be shared with audiences. Therefore, social media posts, memes, podcasts, blogs, websites, and so on all incorporate and are writing for us. Any of the previously noted examples (and there are many more out there) would be acceptable forms of writing to examine in Writing Project #3. 

Does my interview need to be face-to-face?

• No, interviews do not need to be in person. Ideally they would be, but we know that y’all have complicated work, family, and personal lives. As such, we’ve created some flexibility when it comes to your interview methods. So, not only can your interview be via phone, Zoom, Skype, etc., but you can also send someone questions via email, share a Google Doc with them, or even use social media to communicate if you don’t have other options.

How should I contact my potential interviewee?

• Write a very respectful, formal email in which you kindly request (very important!) an interview. Be sure to tell the recipient why you want to secure the interview–both that you are completing a class project and that you are interested in their writing advocacy work. Give the interviewee a preview of the kind of questions you’ll ask. Let the interviewee know exactly how much time the interview will take, where it will need to be held, and the range of dates in which it can occur. Explicitly note whether the interview will be recorded, but that the recording will not be distributed outside of this course. Finally, if your request is accepted, give the interviewee options for times to meet. We recommend listing three dates and ranges of time that you’re available, then asking the interviewee if one of those dates would work.

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Step #2

Consider a few advocates who you might interview.

Take some time to come up with options and carefully consider those options before making your interviewee choice.

Step #3

Select a community advocate and conduct an interview.

Select someone in your life—a friend, a family member, a teacher, etc.—who has written a text to advocate for positive change in a community. This “text” does not necessarily need to be a formally written document like a letter or email (although these are both viable options). A “text” could also be a video posted to a social media account, a series of tweets (twitter thread), or even a physical document like a flyer or poster. The main requirements are that 1) the person you interview wrote the text themselves, and 2), the text(s) was/were designed to create positive change. As such, someone who has composed a text in order to spread hate speech, conspiracy theories, and/or misinformation would be disqualified as this would not be composing for positive change. 

Step #4

Prepare for your interview.

• • Conduct secondary research: find sources that can help you better understand the kind of advocacy your interviewee engages in (and the topics surrounding it) and/or the writing practices of advocates.
  • Write interview questions: compose queries that will invite your interviewee to describe and reflect on the process they use to complete their advocacy writing. 
  • Schedule an interview: secure a time to actually pose those questions to your interviewee.
  • Conduct the interview: record it, and take notes during the interview.

Step #5

Conduct MORE secondary research.

Continue to find sources that can help you better understand the kind of advocacy your interviewee engages in (and the topics surrounding it) and/or the writing practices of advocates.

Step #6

Write the paper.

Organize and compile your research into a traditional research paper that crafts and supports an argument about writing strategies and community advocacy. There are many different ways to structure a research paper, and there is no “right way” to organize one. That being said, there are best practices for doing so. For your paper, we are requiring you to follow a couple of those best practices (regardless of the structure you use). With that in mind, your paper should should do the following:

• • Include an introductory section that engages your audience and announces your purpose and your argument (i.e., how and why writing is important/helps to create change in that advocacy)
  • Include a section that provides background and context about the advocacy you’re looking at, as well as examples of writing in that advocacy
  • Include a profile of your advocate and the kind of writing they do. You should provide readers with any contextual information they need to understand your advocate and at least two concrete examples of your advocate’s writing. These can be screenshots, textual evidence, etc. This section should also explain how the examples–whether directly or distantly–affect change for the target community.
  • A conclusion that leaves readers with takeaways, insights, and/or paths forward for encountering, examining, or even doing advocacy writing.
  • Adhere to formatting conventions according to MLA or APA standards. This is a formal research paper, and you should do your best to adhere to academic conventions, which include accurate citation and formatting practices.

Step #7

Submit your research paper.

Upload your paper in the Writing Project #3: The Community Advocacy Research Paper, Final Draft assignment. You must submit your project as a .doc or .docx file.