Writing is a matter of adapting your writing to your purpose and audience. As our audiences become more distant from us—often less familiar and often representing multiple interests—writing becomes more challenging. Already, with your first three essays, you’ve made critical decisions about what it takes to adapt your writing to several audiences—specifically, your classmates and other peers (Unit 1), an academic audience (Unit 2), and a more public audience of your choosing (Unit 3).

Your assignment in Unit 4 is to write to an even broader public audience about a timely civic issue. This essay will include the following parts:

  1. Situation
  2. Discussion
  3. Recommendation

Situation. To begin, brainstorm civic “situations” by browsing several newspapers’ op-ed pieces and letters to the editor. What “situation” interests you most, and WHY? How is this issue timely? How is this issue part of a larger context, a larger civic issue? To what news publication could you send your text? What audience(s) does that publication target? Considering these questions, describe and pose the situation as one that needs further discussion.

Discussion. Analyze and reveal to readers new dimensions of this situation. Questions to consider: Who benefits? Who is harmed? Who is responsible? What consequences can be anticipated? How should those consequences be weighed? As you develop this discussion, be sure to consider these questions in light of the larger context or civic issue of which this situation is a part.

In order to reveal new dimensions of this situation, you’ll also need to know how others have already discussed it; you’ll need to know the “conversation.” Thus, examine more perspectives by locating and citing relevant current or even historical sources (including factual material as well as diverse perspectives). This section requires that you articulate effective transitions between paragraphs to show how you are comparing and contrasting the perspectives. Most importantly, consider how you’ll frame the situation in a NEW light.

Recommendation. Finally, offer recommendations for action or resolution of the situation that you posed. Once you decide on your target publication, consider how much space you should devote to the situation, discussion, and recommendations. That is, which of these sections is most pertinent to your purpose and your audience?

In the next few weeks, we’ll explore ways to address these elements of your civic essay. Writing this essay will not only give you practice with writing to public audiences, but, more importantly, such writing is a way for you to participate in civic life.

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