Writing to Explore Scenario 4: Civic Writing(135)

SCENARIO 4 Civic Writing: A Profile of a Local Agency

What local nonprofit agencies exist in your area? (SEAS) Student Environmental Awareness Society. They promote awareness about the environment to the campus, and find new sustainable activities in order to have a clean and it.green community. What do you know about how they function? I know that they promote awareness by scheduling activities, events, and surveys. What do you know about the work that they do in your community? Do you interact with any local, county, state, or federal agencies or departments? As of right now, I do not participate with this organization, but I want to look more into it. What experiences (good or bad) have you had with such entities? I have none at all, but I do appreciate their motives to make the campus a green one. They have recycling bins everywhere and in the residence hall.

Select one local nonprofit or government agency or organization in which you are interested and about which you would like to learn more. The agency or organization may be your city or county government, your local school system, or a nonprofit organization such as United Way.

Writing Assignment: Investigate the nonprofit or government agency or organization you have chosen. Explore what it does, where and how it functions, where its funding comes from, who works for it, and how its functions relate to other aspects of your community. Then construct a paper in which you explain your exploration of the agency or organization. Since this is not an informative paper, your focus should be on the exploratory process you used to learn about your subject.

You will need to identify these things for your profile:
Audience: The students of USFSP, faculty, and anyone of the community
Purpose: I want to aware the students of this campus that we are the ones that can make a change. This is our community, therefore we should take care of it and aware others about what sustainable activites can we do in order to have a greener campus. I want to inform the readers about SEAS, and what exactly istheir objectuve
Voice, Tone, Point of View: I want to have an informative but persuasive voice in my writing.

Context, Medium, Genre: see Mc-Graw Hill Guide Chapter 15 and appendix C for help determining what medium & genre might be most effective
Guiding Questions for Exploring/Writing your Profile of a Civic Agency:
· What do I as writer/explorer want to know about this agency? I want to know their objective, what message are they trying convey, what are their plans in order to fulfill their objectives, and what are they doing right now to better the community.
· Where am I most likely to find this information? I can find the needed info on the usf website, and I can check articles. I also intend on calling the director of SEAS to receive direct information, and exactly what is happening in the organization.
· How do I get this information? (Can I find it online? Do I need to talk to someone? Who is best able to answer the questions I have?) Refer to above answser.
· When I get this information, what's next? I want to organize my information into an outline and begin drafting. Do I have new questions or am I done? I have gotten all of the information I think will contribute to this essay. Do I know everything I need to know to be able to talk knowledgeably about this agency? Yes I do. If not, what do I still need to know? I think in order to really talk from experience I would want to actively participate in this organization. By doing so I can really know what it is to take part in sustainability and make the community a green environment. If so, how do I share this information with others so that they will know the things I want them to know about the agency (this suggests that you know/have identified what you want others to know about the agency)? I want to aware people, such as the students of usfsp, faculty, and members of the surrounding communityof my findings and what I have learned throug researching this particular organization.