Assignment Description: Petition

As the final writing project of the term, you’ll compose a petition for change.org. based on the results of your investigative assignment (or some aspect thereof). In your petition, you’ll have to speak to the broad audience of change.org readers and convince them to agree that your argument is worthy of participation (demonstrated by their signatures). 

In this assignment you are taking your existing research and changing it: changing the purpose, changing the audience, and changing the genre.

This will require you to rethink your work for the new audience. Just cutting and pasting your article won’t work (remember our lesson on audience and the letters to the boss, child and best friend?)

Many things will come together for this assignment:

• As with your blog post: making it short but powerful as well as compelling titles and images.
• Identifying a specific audience AND a specific course of action (thesis)
• Using compelling evidence and a strong rhetorical strategy to make a case that will target your intended audience (you may draw on your investigative argument and other writings from this class.)
• Considering your genre

Go to Change.org and “Start a Petition.” You will need to create an account. I suggest reading several other petitions first to get a sense of what works and what doesn’t work (as well as what is needed vs. already done.) Follow the prompts.

You must publish it and submit the hyperlink in Canvas by the deadline. (You will have to paste the hyperlink into a Word Doc in order to upload).

Good luck!