Overview
For project three, you will collaborate in the development of a presentational assemblage of documents (publications and communiqués, both internal and external, formal and informal). Depending on team size, each group will produce between 5-7 documents. Groups of 2-3 members will produce at least five documents; groups with 4+ members will produce at least seven documents. Working together, you will decide on the documents to compose and present them in December as your best, most carefully composed work.

This project is defined around a simulated professional arena, so the assemblage will be thematically persistent, following a particular business concept, an invented company of sorts. Your team will create a workplace, starting with a problem or need and working through designing, producing, advertising, etc. the product or approach you propose as a solution. You might think of this as a job; you have until December 5 to complete it. Your grade-30% of the course-will be based on the professionalism, appropriateness, and quality of the variety of written material your team produces.

Ultimately, your team will produce a set of documents defined around your agreed-upon purpose(s) and sampling from among the following list: graphics standards manual*, web site*, weblog, memo, product packaging, sales brochure, meeting agenda and minutes, press release, product or event promotional ad, budget proposal, policy manual*, notice (a posting), job description and ads (50 word and 250 versions), letter to a prospective customer, survey, business plan*, manifesto*, email, proposal/report to a client*, and an internal letter of complaint/criticism. We can add to this list. Starred items are appropriate for a team's featured piece.

Each team's presentational assemblage will include at least one featured piece. Shorter pieces should relate to the purpose and aims of the featured document. For some teams the completed job will be represented by a formal proposal to the client in order to get a go-ahead; for others, the formal proposal will be one of the earlier stages and completion will take the form of a formal report to the client about how the project has been finished. You have to decide this, based on your project, client, and company.

As these products and the steps along the way will differ from group to group, I am now supplying you with rather general guidelines for what I expect, but your job is to tell me what form they will take and when I will see them.

Guidelines

• Each team will produce 5-7 pieces of writing for grading, depending on the size of the team.
• Among those pieces, at least two (2) forms of writing--memos and proposals/reports--will be represented.
• At least two (2) audiences will be addressed.
• Additional document forms or genres will be represented as they are determined appropriate for the project by the group.
• One (1) piece of writing will be presented as the major or featured piece; this piece will most likely be a proposal or report of some sort, and will bear the largest single portion of the project grade.
• If the team produces and submits more than the minimum number of pieces, the ones to be graded will be clearly indicated.
• Some of this work may be submitted midway in the project (on November 18 or other dates as you decide); others will be submitted at the end of the course. Whether to submit work on the intermediary deadline is up to the team. As I receive pieces of writing, I will file the work and respond when and if I think a response is called for; if the group wants a response, that should be indicated on the page. Any work submitted midway may be revised and resubmitted. No work will be graded until the end.
• Groups will set and adhere to their own schedules for meeting and production of writing. I will be glad to "meet" with teams or individuals whenever and as often as they request it.
  

Group Makeup/Responsibilities
Teams will have 2 to 5 members and will be made up according to interest. We will set out with preliminary teams, but you can reorganize provided that everyone has a team to work with. Here are the finalized teams:

AEKM Web Design
Katie/Matt T./Elana/Ahmed
Sector: Web Design
Featured Piece: Web Site

C&D Networking
Darius/Carlos
Sector: Entertainment/Music Promotions
Featured Piece: Policy Manual

Capital Investments
Will/Mike/Natasha
Sector: Financial Services and Investment Banking
Featured Piece: Report/Proposal

Chi-Town Sports Marketing
Ryan Y./Steven
Sector: Sports Marketing
Featured Piece: Web Site

Flaming Rock Tires
Dave/Ted/Matt T./Jeff
Sector: Automotive Tire Manufacturing
Featured Piece: Report/Proposal

Grand Era Clothing
Gina/Brandon
Sector: Clothing Manufacturing and Distribution
Featured Piece: Report/Proposal

The Sports Consultants
Ryan F./Colin
Sector: Sports Administration/Management
Featured Piece: Report/Proposal

Delegation of responsibility within the team will be determined internally and reported in the form of the Company Profile Sheet. Each team will take on self-definition as one of its first tasks. If you request it, your group can have an area in Blackboard including any of the following features: Discussion Board, Virtual Classroom, File Exchange, and Group-only email functions.

As soon as you finalize your group, you'll need to begin work on the following initial assignments:

• Company Profile Sheet [download] (due by Nov. 9 or 11 in consultations)
• Job Calendar (tentative) [download] (due by Nov. 9 or 11 in consultations)
• Grading Proposal on letterhead (due by Nov. 9 or 11 in consultations)
• Preview of Main Project Proposal [one paragraph written to teacher] (due via email by Mon., Nov. 14)
• Main Project Proposal [written to client] (due Nov. 18)
• Project Complete (submitted no later than Dec. 5)

Calendar
As noted above, teams will determine their own calendars.

Grading Model
The grading for this project will be negotiated with me. There are two major features you should consider as you design the grading model you'd like me to use:

1. distribution of responsibilities and grade within the team and
2. the weighting of assignments.

When considering the first of these, you need to determine whether individuals or sub-groups will be responsible for specific pieces or if you all want to take joint ownership of all texts. The larger final product will be jointly written and owned. The second issue gives you choices; consider them carefully. The final product will carry the largest single portion of the grade, but what portion that is and how the rest is distributed is up for discussion:

• Featured piece (must be largest single portion): xx%
• Other Written Products (individually or collectively): xx%
• Overall Project Performance (must be at least 5%): xx%
• Combined, these percentages will add up to 100% for project III

Online resources
Model Documents
OWL Professional Writing Samples