WRIT6001 Assignment Task 1 : Individual Editorial Analysis

Invitation to learn

Professional texts circulate in the world around us, shaping our lives, choices, work and information available to us. Now that you are studying Professional Editing, you are becoming more expert in understanding how and why professional texts have been created. This assignment is an opportunity to practice using critical terms to present your emerging expert understanding of editorial processes and professional communication.

Key Information

 Instructions

This task will be completed individually by students outside of class time. Students are expected to complete relevant drafting, reading, research, and submission independently.

In completing this task, you are expected to:

1. Locate and describe one professional text. We understand text broadly – it could be a press release, a poster, an ad campaign, an annual report, an ‘About Us’ page online, a white paper. By professional, we are looking for texts that are ‘owned’ by a business or professional organisation. The text might have been created or edited by an external partner, but you will need explain which professional entity ‘owns’ the document. The text you choose must be RECENT, meaning it was published or updated in the past 24 months.
2. Define at least ONE rhetorical concept from the WRIT6001 readings or lectures, and deploy it in your analysis. Use at least ONE scholarly source about rhetoric to support your definition. Your analysis should focus on specific features of the text and explain how they operate rhetorically.
3. Describe the editorial process that has likely led to the creation of the text. In this description, you should refer to ‘higher order and lower order’ editorial concerns.
4. Present an overall claim, substantiated by the accumulation of points made throughout the analysis, about whether the editorial process has likely contributed to the persuasiveness of the text.
5. Include accurate in-text citations and a reference list using either APA or MLA style conventions. You must also include a ‘Gen AI acknowledgement’, whether or not you have used Gen AI in the completion of this task.

Marking Rubric

Statement on Generative AI and Academic Integrity for WRIT6001

Generative AI may be used to complete this task. Students must include a statement at the end of the assignment that describes which Gen AI tools were used and how. If no Gen AI tools were used, the statement should say this.

The marking rubric assumes critical thinking on the student’s part. This means that any output generated in collaboration with Gen AI should be edited, verified, checked, and improved by the student. The statement on Gen AI use should focus on these skills.

The University Academic Integrity Policy (2022), s16.2-3, states that ‘submitted work must be the student’s own original work and thought’ and not ‘work that has been primarily produced by an automated writing tool’. In short, if a student writes in collaboration with Gen AI, they must ensure that prompts and outputs are designed and edited in ways that the submitted work reflects their own thinking and understanding on a topic. Your statement on Gen AI use should highlight what you have done to achieve this.

 Professional Relevance

This task builds your understanding of how rhetoric operates in public discourse. The ability to identify and analyse persuasive techniques used by others is a vital skill in many professional contexts. Whether you work in law, policy, communications, marketing, journalism, or community advocacy, you will need to evaluate the arguments of others’ understanding not just what people say, but how they say it and why those strategies might succeed or fail with different audiences. This knowledge helps you to edit professional documents to help them become more persuasive to an audience