Writing the Intermediate Draft

We know that stakeholder organizations use various website elements and techniques such as media (images, videos, infographics, photographs, graphics, etc.), text, color, organization of content and pages, links and supporting evidence, etc.), to move their target audience toward their desired purpose (to inform, persuade, entertain, take a specific action, or a combination of purposes). When we analyze a stakeholder’s website, we critically interpret, explain, and evaluate what we see. The process of critically interpreting and evaluating a stakeholder’s website means determining how the stakeholder attempts to align and support its goal (interests, mission, and/or message) through its website elements and techniques.

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By completing your Part 1 Preliminary Response, you’ve used your observational skills in identifying what you see as the stakeholder’s purpose and goal, intended audience, and tone, and you have pointed to and described the stakeholder’s use of media, evidence, and content organization. Now you are ready, in Part 2, to advance your analysis by writing your intermediate Project 2 draft.

This Part 2 assignment asks you (1) to interpret your observations by explaining and evaluating how the stakeholder organization uses the website elements and techniques you addressed in Part 1 to move its intended audience toward its desired purpose and goal and (2) to analyze how well these website elements and techniques accomplish this objective. To narrow the focus of your 1,000 – 1,200-word intermediate essay, you will choose 4-6 elements and/or techniques that are complex enough to spend an entire essay analyzing.

In your analysis, you will identify the stakeholder’s desired purpose and website choices (elements and techniques), consider the stakeholder’s possible intentions in making these choices, and provide explanations and evidence to support your evaluation of the stakeholder’s effectiveness in using these website elements and techniques to move its intended audience toward its desired purpose and goal.

In addition to drawing evidence from the website (your primary source), use two sources from Project 1, your textbook, or from additional research to support your analysis.

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The following steps will help you to further develop your Part 2 Intermediate Draft:

1. Begin with a creative title that reflects your analysis of the stakeholder’s website.
2. Your introduction should identify the stakeholder organization that addresses the selected topic you’ve been exploring, the stakeholder’s intended audience, desired purpose (e.g., to inform, persuade, entertain, take a specific action, or a combination of purposes), and goals (e.g., interests, mission, and/or message), the 4-6 elements and techniques you will include in your analysis, and your thesis: the one or two sentences that evaluate the stakeholder’s effectiveness in using the website elements and techniques to move its intended audience toward its desired purpose and goal.
3. Organize the body of your analysis into key elements and techniques. Introduce each key element and technique with a topic sentence that explains and evaluates how well the stakeholder organization uses the element/technique toward its desired purpose and goal. Describe the element/technique, and consider the stakeholder’s possible intention in using this element/technique. Follow each topic sentence with supporting evidence from the website to support your claim. Should you determine a stakeholder’s use of a website element/technique does not effectively move its intended audience toward its desired purpose and goal, suggest the ways in which this stakeholder’s choice might have been more effective. Additionally, integrate appropriate evidence from your 2 sources as it applies.
4. Be sure to use clear transitions as you introduce key elements and techniques.
5. Provide source citations according to the required guidelines.
6. Write a conclusion to your analysis that highlights your main points, including the thesis and major claims from the body paragraphs. You should end your conclusion with realistic forward thinking ideas about how your analysis of the stakeholder’s website might demonstrate any possibilities for future research/action.
7. Proofread your Part 2 analysis.

Helpful Hints

1. Balance your analysis so that you are interpreting what you see by explaining and evaluating how the stakeholder organization uses the website elements and techniques to move its intended audience toward its desired purpose and goal AND demonstrating how well these website elements and techniques accomplish this objective.
2. Review the topic sentences of each paragraph to be sure that they link back to your thesis and demonstrate a logical progression of ideas and evidence from beginning to end.