Hand in your letter assignment. Paperclip together the following:

• Evaluation sheet
• Revised letter
• Revised commentary
• Peer reviews
• First version of letter and commentary

Part I: Analyzing Information Design: Brochures

From the brochures you and your classmates have brought to class, pick out two or three that you think are especially well-designed and two or three that you think are not so well-designed. Explain your judgment. What critieria are you using in your evaluation?

Part II: Planning your Informative Document Project

For this assignment, you will work in pairs or in a small group of no more than three students.

First, read the writing assignment on page 293-94. Together with your writing group, choose one of the genres described in Chapter 8 to produce for your writing assignment:

• FAQ or fact sheet,
• brochure, or
• web page

You will also need to decide on a topic and format for your informative document. (You will need my approval for to write an informative document on a topic other than the Habitat for Humanity Lockout.)

Once you have determined your purpose, consider what your readers need to know about your topic. By the end of today's class, please post to the BlackBoard Discussion Group (bb.elmhurst.edu) your group's responses to the following questions:

1. What topic has your group chosen for the informative document project? What will be the format of the document (brochure, FAQ/Fact Sheet, or web page)?
2. Who are your intended readers? Why do they need information about your subject? What are they likely to know already about it? What information do you think they need? What should they be able to do with this information?
3. What is the purpose of informing readers about this subject? Do you want to help them understand something, show them how to do something, persuade them about an issue, identify something of interest, or does your writing group have some other purpose?
4. What do your readers need or want to know about your topic? Write a list of at least eight questions that your readers are likely to have about this topic.
5. What does your group already know about your topic, and what do you need to know? Use your list of questions to quickly survey the information you have. Can you answer the questions with the information at hand? Is your information up-to-date, reliable, and authoritative? Is it relevant to your readers' needs? If you need more information, where can you get it?
6. Consider what research and writing tasks can be done individually, and which tasks can be done only by the group. Assign individual research and writing tasks so that your writing group members will be prepared to compile a complete draft by next Tuesday. Draft a list of headings (see pp. 301-303), then divide the responsibilities for each section among group members.

Read the sample student brochure in the Writers' Workshop at the end of Chapter 8. Respond to the Workshop Questions on p. 305 for Kevin Candiloro's brochure on eating disorders. Be prepared to hand in these questions on Thursday.

Begin working on your individual writing tasks for drafting the informative document.

Part I: Writer's Workshop
As a class, we will discuss your evaluation of the sample student brochure on page 305.

Part II: Planning Workshop
Depending on what type of document your group has chosen to produce, select one of the planning exercises on p. 296-300. Complete the exercise, including a basic template for how you plan to design and lay out the information. Hand in your planning exercise at the end of class today.

As you plan your document's design, consider the tools you have available: will you use Word or some other program to produce your document? If so, what templates are available? What layout options does the software offer?

If you are using Word, make copies of your document template for each group member before you leave today (or post it as an attachment to the Discussion board so that everyone in your group can access it). Each group member can then use the template to draft his or her section. Before we meet for the workshop on Tuesday, plan to meet with your writing group or email your section of the draft to one group members who is responsible for compiling a common working draft.

Be sure that each group member understands how your group will produce a working draft before you leave today! Will you compile the document as a group? If so, when and where will you meet? If one group member will compile individual sections into a common draft, when does he or she need to have the information in hand? Is everyone clear on his or her tasks and responsibilities? Who will be responsible for bringing a copy of the working draft?

1. Working together with members of your writing group, complete a working draft of your Informative Document project.