As you start to compose your persuasive essay and then advocacy project, think about designing “multi-modally” – a series of photographs combined with a descriptive appeal; a stop-motion video; a short, satirical piece of writing; a video including music and written statements; a few linked posters that are not simply a series of words; a website that isn’t just a “flat” WordPress site, etc. The following are pretty extensive types of advocacy projects, but might provide some ideas:

From TIME Magazine: “Photographer as Witness: A Portrait of Domestic Violence”;
From R-Word.org: “Spread the Word to End the Word” – this includes photos, videos, written appeals, etc.
Or consider writing (or constructing) something satirical, like this piece from The Onion. Or this.
Articles from The Daily Collegian re: a PSU flash mob promoting sexual abuse awareness; or Pride Week HUB Takeover; or Penn State Pride Week Rally.

To help us generate potential sources to reference when writing our Civic Issues (CI) posts (we’ll start these next week), Ben Henderson, a Senior Lecturer in Comm Arts & Sciences, put together this list of pretty popular — though generally respected — Cultural & Civic Commentary Sources. Check it out when you have a chance; you’ll probably recognize many of the sites / magazines / blogs listed, but some may be new to you. Consider using some of these sources — or others — when writing your CI posts; you may reference an article that relates to your CI topic, refute a columnist’s point, focus on some of the online commentary that’s taking place about this topic, etc.

You guys might consider checking out “Ancient Aliens, Scientism, and the Need for Myth: What the Paranormal Edutainment Complex Tells Us About Scientific Imperialism.” Note that the author even labels the shift: “Paranormal Edutainment Complex.”