Assignment #5: College Life Photojournal

Genre: Multi-Modal Composition

“I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.” –Albert Einstein
Goals:
- co-create a photojournal about your SUNY Sullivan experience so far
- explore what college life is like for you using vivid, specific examples and well-chosen
details (showing as well as telling) in your photojournal
- use sound principles of design to incorporate visuals with written text to communicate
your ideas
- practice elements of good writing including processes of pre-writing, drafting, and
revision

Description:
For this assignment you will build a photojournal about your semester. The focus is up to you.
You can pick a certain aspect of your life as a student at SUNY Sullivan or give an overview of
life at college and your experience this semester.

You will create a photojournal with at least five images with text and present it to the class.
Questions you could answer include
- What is life in the res hall like?
- What is your experience of being a college student at SUNY Sullivan so far, positive
and/or negative?
- What does your day look like?
- What do you do with your free time?
- What’s the best (hardest, most fun, worst, etc.) thing for you about being a SUNY
Sullivan student, and how have you dealt with it?
- What is something important people should know about being a student here?

This assignment has three requirements:

1. Your photojournal must relate to your life as a student at SUNY Sullivan in some way.
2. Your photojournal must include at least five images, each with a paragraph of text and
explanation of each image and what it shows.
3. Try to use all original images. If you are using images someone else created, you must
cite them properly and give attribution to the creator.

You have a lot of freedom in creating a focus for your photojournal. Below are only a few
ideas:

Res Hall Life

If you live in the Res Hall, talk about what it’s like to be an on-campus residential student.
Show us how students get along, what your room looks like, challenges about living in the res
hall, what students living there do for fun, etc. Note that you could also interview res hall
students and include photos and commentary from them on your page.

A Campus Community You Belong To

If you belong to a sports team, or you’re a gamer, or in the garden club, etc., show us what it
means to be a member of your campus community. Where do you meet, what do you wear,
how do you talk to each other, what do you do every day? Open a window onto your
community and use images and written text to show us what’s like to be part of your chosen
group.

Your Greatest Challenge

What is your greatest challenge this semester? Note that this could be academic, time
management, creating a social life, food, boredom, etc. If you choose this topic, you will
identify your greatest challenge at college, talk about what that looks like, and then research
strategies to meet that challenge. Your website should also present those strategies, including
from a reliable secondary source, that will help you meet and master your challenge

Fun at SUNY Sullivan

Where do you go to have fun on this campus? What happens in the res hall, the caf, the gym,
or the student union? What do students do when they’re not studying? Where do they gather?
What do they wear? If you choose this topic, you will talk about how to have fun on and around
the SUNY Sullivan campus (or not!). Note that you can also write about the challenges that a
rural campus faces in keeping students occupied and happy.

Other topics suggestions could include procrastination, binge drinking, the historic Woodstock
music festival, smoking week, students loans, exploring your major, living in Sullivan County,
etc.

Make sure you pick something you’re interested in that you want to explore further.

Finding Images:
Best is to create your own images, but if you use pictures from the Internet, you must create a
Works Cited page and cite them correctly. All photos should be captioned with the name of the
creator, i.e., Photo by [your name].

Reminder: include at least five photos with explanation of each, including discussing what
the picture shows and how it is shaping your college experience.

Your audience is our "community of writers" (your classmates and me), but can also be a more
specific group of people you want to reach (the people on your floor), or a wider group (SUNY
Sullivan students, college students in general, etc.).

Requirements:
- Target word count. 500 words
- 5-7 paragraphs
- Polished and largely free of errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation by the 2nd draft
- Attention to effective design using a combination of visuals and text
- Final packet: 2 drafts and 2 peer reviews + peer review report form
Self-evaluation checklist:
- Does your page have a focus topic and main idea about that topic?
- Have you included vivid examples and illustrations of your topic?
- Have you polished and edited your web page(s)?

Have fun!