Coniglio+Ear+Rough+Draft

Kate Coniglio Foundations of College Writing - Dr. Sherry December 4th, 2013

Throughout this semester, our class has been exploring the different types of mediums used to get certain information to certain types of individuals and how it works. We've learned just how important it is to use the right type of mediums to channel what you want to say what you want to certain demographics of viewers. The mediums range from something as professional as a business letter to something as common as a flyer on the cork board in a academic building. Through my CLUE project I have gained a lot of information I would like to share with many different demographics. This requires many different types of mediums to grab attention of diverse viewers and convey the important information I've collected. The first group of people I wanted to convey information to was college students. Since my topic for my CLUE project was deaf/hard of hearing students in the college setting, I thought I would try and address that specific group of students. I chose the medium of a flyer, because they are very common around campus and if you construct them in the right way, can be very attention-grabbing and engaging for both hearing and deaf/hard of hearing students. There were three posters that I found on campus that I used for inspiration for my flyer. I chose these three posters because of how they were set up visually. Each on grabs your attention in a different way. The first one is not only a different shape and size than the other two, but also has bright yellow emoticons that grab your attention. Things are grouped together in ways that make sense. The second poster is set up with circles sectioning off the information into sections that relate to each other. And the last poster is different in the fact that the background is black and the lettering is white, as opposed to the other way around, which we see in the other two examples. There is also a giant stop sign that grabs your attention. It not only relates to the message the poster is trying to convey, but it almost says "stop, look at this poster!" to anyone walking by. I chose these three posters because of their attention-grabbing techniques and the way things are set up in a way where the information that goes together, stays together. The attention-grabbing aspect would be very helpful to me in addressing deaf students because posters are one of the only ways they can learn about clubs and other organizations and meetings on campus. If a teacher or faculty member says it during a class and they don't have an interpreter with them, they miss that information. For my poster, I tried to recreate the sectioning of information I saw in the second example with boxes. I also tried to recreate the attention-grabbing aspect of the the third example by including pictures that would be recognizable and familiar to deaf students. I think the fact that it is a blue background and white and black lettering also is attention-grabbing. I made up the Club For the Deaf but essentially it gets my point across that deaf students often feel left out because they can not make friends with hearing students easily. To combat this, I think it would be interesting to have a club where deaf people could meet other deaf people, to build friendships to last them until they eventually meet hearing people and add them to their circle of friends. For my second group of people I chose to address faculty. Knowing how to construct a professional letter is very important at this point in my life, as I'm constantly in contact with professionals every day. The experience that is demanded by professors and other faculty at universities is high, and they have to be addressed completely differently than if you were addressing your friend or peer. So, I had to do some research on how to make a business letter effectively. I found three prime examples. I chose these examples of letters because they showed a wide range of layouts for how you can address someone higher than you. The first and third examples had headings at the top with the contact information clearly visible, while the second example had it listed just before the actual letter itself. They are all job application letters so they have to be very formal and professional so that they come across as a good candidate for whatever job they are applying for. The same goes for when you are addressing a professor. If you want them to do you a favor or help you in some way academically, you have to come off like you know what you're talking about. For my professional letter, I chose to use it as a professor addressing a student on their grades. It relates because the student being addressed is deaf and falling behind, as many deaf students do according to the statistics I found for my CLUE project. I used the templates above as my guide to make it flow nicely and look like something an actual professor would send out. I obviously made up the name of the professor, but it's still usable in the situation I created.

My last group of people I decided to address was potential employers. For deaf/hard of hearing students, we don't really think about what happens after college. But they go out and try to get jobs just like the rest of us. When you apply for a job anywhere, a resume is definitely in order. It shows everything that you have accomplished over the course of your schooling, and employers look at that first before even considering an interview. I found some very good examples of resumes. I chose these three resumes as examples for how a deaf student could address an employer because a resume is something that doesn't necessarily require talking or a conversation with the employer right away. This is good for deaf people because they usually cannot talk, and obviously cannot listen without an interpreter. I liked the layout of all three because it breaks it into different parts so that, as an employer, you can clearly find whatever information you are looking for about the potential employee. I used the organization of the examples to my advantage in my resume I made for this part of the EAR project. All the information the employer would need to consider a person for a job are there. I added the last part in even though it is not required by law for you to tell an employer if you are disabled. It does make a significant impact on the type of work they do, however, so in the case of "Jane Doe", I felt it was necessary for her to bring it up on her resume. Through different mediums and genres, you can convert all sorts of information to appeal to the demographic you are addressing. I think that these three demographics really were the most important when it comes to information on deaf/hard of hearing students in the college setting. I've learned a lot from these varied genres, and now I know how I can use them in my own life as a college student.