Extended Definition

I.  GOAL
In this Audience Analysis & Extended Definition Assignment, you will define a term according to the needs/Rhetorical Situation (Links to an external site.) of three specific audiences of your choosing. Without the rhetorical situation, the term you choose would exist within a vacuum, such as a Wikipedia entry, or a chapter from a textbook.
Thus, with a detailed Audience Analysis/Rhetorical Situation, you will have all of the meaningful parameters within which you will tailor the information you want to provide. II.  REQUIREMENTS
⦁ MEMO (This component is only mentioned here; you will not complete until the final draft of the assignment. Full instructions at ⦁ Extended Definition – Final Submission.)

⦁ Three Audience Analyses (100-150 words each; 300-450 words total – these are strict word limits): Identify three different rhetorical contexts that you are or have recently been a part of. These can be jobs, internships, clubs and/or committees, etc. Ideally these will come directly from you ⦁ Job/Internship Selection + Resume and Cover Letter. These CANNOT be classes you’ve taken/are taking for which you’re only role is/was as a student. We are, after all, in a “Professional” writing course, in which one of our goals is to begin thinking beyond the confines of the classroom. Nevertheless, if you happened to be a lab or teaching assistant for a certain course, you may use that context. For example, if you took ENES100 last semester, you cannot use that. However, if you took ENES100 a couple of semesters ago, and last semester you served as a teaching fellow, then you can use that.
For each description, identify:
a) the name of the company/organization/committee/etc and what they do/are responsible for/etc;
b) your title within the company/organization/committee/etc and your role/responsibilities; and
c) a summary of the other people/titles/organizational hierarchy, along with their roles and responsibilities.
d) Most importantly: any information that influences how you will tailor the definition to them. Such as education level, experience, familiarity with the topic, interest in the topic, etc.
⦁ Three Extended Definitions (200-300 words each; 600-900 words total – these are strict word limits) – For each of your three chosen audiences/rhetorical contexts, you will create an extended definition in which you define one of the terms provided in the following sections, tailoring each definition for the specific needs/competencies/etc of each of your three audiences/rhetorical contexts.
⦁ For this assignment, do not use the first or second person (I, we, us, you, etc).
III.  TERM SELECTION
As discussed above, you are to choose just one (1) of the following terms that you will then define/tailor for each of your three audiences/rhetorical contexts. If you are unfamiliar with the terms, be sure to research online in order to fully understand. You MAY choose your own term; it must come from the list below. In the end, you are encouraged to be creative in order to tailor your definition to your different audiences.
Terms (Choose one)
⦁ Digital Literacy
⦁ Disruptive technology
⦁ Cryptocurrency
⦁ Machine Learning
⦁ Designated Hitter
⦁ Astroturfing
⦁ Global Competence
IV. FORMAT
As seen in the examples (including Extended Definition Example Review 1), pair Audience Analysis 1 and Extended Definition 1, then Audience Analysis 2 and Extended Definition 2, and so on.
As seen in the reading linked here (Links to an external site.), please organize the text of your extended definitions using paragraphs, headings and sub-headings, and useful formatting techniques including use of bold, italics, underline. Two main goals include making each extended definition both
⦁ as reader-friendly as possible, which means organizing your text beyond single-block paragraphs and
⦁ and as unique as possible, meaning using different organization, formatting, and techniques.
How can you effectively apply some of the techniques we’ve discussed from the article What do technical communicators need to know about information design?.pdf ?
V.  EXAMPLE & FURTHER GUIDANCE
For someone doing this assignment their three three rhetorical contexts might include roles as:
a) ENGL393: Technical Writing professor
b) Professional Writing Program (PWP) Blended and Online Learning Coordinator
c) Department Assembly Representative
He/she would then choose one of the terms above (for example: blended learning), and define it for each of my three rhetorical contexts. For example, the way blended learning should be explained to students in a class would be different than discussing it to fellow professors in PWP. Similar terms may be used, but focus on some items may be more so than others. Moreover, for one audience the perspective may be of taking a blended learning course, while in the other it would be from the perspective of administering or developing a blended learning course. These differences have important implications on how you go about writing each of your extended definitions.
The point of this assignment is not to reproduce what is already available elsewhere, but to create something new that has been created/tailored for very specific audiences with unique backgrounds and other characteristics. To do well on this assignment, you will want to showcase your ability to tailor information for specific audiences. In some cases, you might find that choosing a term that you aren’t initially familiar with might give you the most opportunities for showcasing your strengths as a writer.