Multi-media Composing -- Examples of Communication Assignments

The contemporary view of writing and communication extends beyond alphabetical text-based materials. We teach visual, aural, and digital texts, writing for oral delivery such as speech and performance, and other multimodal projects. We emphasize composing in genres that circulate across disciplines and live in the world. Below is a sample of assignments to cultivate flexibility in communication in Emory students as they prepare for future educational opportunities or vocational choices.

This writing might include having students:

• composing posters, informational slides, and other presentational materials such as transcripts and voiceovers
• producing representative literature reviews or annotated bibliographies
• writing proposals or grants
• framing research questions and designing experiments
• curating, organizing, translating, visualizing, or introducing data
• curating displays and writing informational blocks for museums, libraries, and historical societies
• designing questions, written protocols, and research frameworks for interviews, and conducting, transcribing, translating, editing, and introducing the results
• developing and participating in a class blog, in weekly discussion boards, or on websites by writing content and leaving informed comments
• designing an art exhibit
• performing an oral art "crit"
• writing and performing in theater production and other performances
• writing documentary pitches, scripts, and storyboards
• shooting, editing, publishing, and publicizing films
• composing op eds and other journalistic pieces for possible submission to external publications
• revising Wikipedia articles and other public-facing, crowd-sourced collaborations
• crafting reviews of public events and places for print or digital environments
• writing, recording, and submitting copy for radio opportunities
• developing disciplinary magazines with teams of writers and editors, delivering a pitch for that magazine to people in the field in a formal presentation
• developing finely tuned and succinct field notes in investigations
• writing complete notes and copy for use in a radio broadcast, and sports announcing
• building websites, social media, and other digital content
• scripting, recording, and editing podcasts
• organizing and developing presentations for research symposia
• critical essays, review essays, research papers, summaries, outlines
• writing annotated bibliographies
• writing documents to facilitate publishing opportunities such as book proposals, cover letters, proposals, publishing market analyses, and inquiries, as well book and cover design illustrations