Genre: Recommendation: Should Students be Reading the New York Times in Print or in Digital Format?
Audience: WRD faculty and students (primary); New York Times Masthead (secondary)
Learning Outcomes: Rhetorical Knowledge; Critical Thinking, Reading, and Writing; Knowledge of Conventions; Processes
Length: 500 words; include embedded links and compelling, illustrative visuals
Background: St. Martin’s e-Handbook:
- “Integrating Sources into Your Writing” (3.13)
- Oxford English Dictionary
As you already know from your own daily reading practices, from the film Page One, and from the wide range of print and digital texts and images that you encounter daily, that you are in college at an interesting time in the redevelopment of human communication. In fact, it would not be a stretch to argue that we are, because of the internet, experiencing the biggest shift in human communication in history, or at least since Gutenberg. This shift has implications that are still difficult to comprehend at the level of epistemology, economics, and access to knowledge, but there is one practical area in which you are already experts: should students be reading the New York Times in print or in digital format?
In the spirit of persuasion, your recommendation will respond to that question.
Some background:
- Literacy and reading: why do people read? (Rosenblatt)
- Differences between reading in print and reading on a screen (also see Cull and the NYT)
- The serendipity issue
- The annotation issue
- The socio-economic argument for long-form narrative
- Is there a potential third side to the print vs. digital proposition?
Due Dates:
- Week Seven: Preview & plan
- Tuesday 2/26: First draft
- Thursday 2/28: Second Draft
- Tuesday 3/5: Final Draft
Resources:
- Sample Recommendation Reports (Penn State); ignore the format and topics — see the tone.