For this Remix project, you will be choosing one of your previous papers to remix into a new genre with a new audience. The new genre will still convey some or most of the information from your original paper, but will be written for a new audience and purpose and in a different genre.
Process Steps:
Choose which paper you want to remix.
Choose a genre to remix this paper into.
Gather samples of your new genre to analyze.
Write the content for your new genre paying attention to style, tone, and other written conventions.
Design your work to fit with the design and formatting of the new genre.
Step 1: Choose Your Paper to Remix
First, determine which writing assignment from this semester that you want to remix. You may want to think about Step 2 (below) to determine which assignment will work best for this.
Step 2: Choose Your New Audience, Purpose, and Genre
Once you’ve chosen which former paper that you want to remix, you’ll choose a new audience, purpose, and genre. Your new genre must:
include writing (i.e. it cannot be a visual-only genre),
include a design or visual element,
be written to a clear and logical audience,
be written for a clear and logical purpose.
be significantly different from your initial genre (i.e. a letter cannot be remixed into an email).
Both the audience and purpose should be different than your initial paper.
Example
Let’s say that you chose your Genre Analysis Essay for this paper, and your Genre Analysis had been on Instagram posts. You could create a video tutorial for young teenagers who are new to Instagram on how to create engaging IG posts. The audience is now other young teens and your genre is a video tutorial. The purpose is to teach teens who are new to IG how to create engaging posts.
Step 3: Find Genre Samples
In order to understand how to write and design this genre, you’ll need to look at samples before you create your new genre. For this, you will want to find samples in the wild (this will most likely be the internet). For example, if you are planning on creating a Quick Reference Guide, you will want to find samples of quick reference guides.
When searching for results, consider using a regular internet search (i.e. Google) and image searches. By searching for images, you might be able to more easily find samples at a glance. Also, consider being specific when conducting your search. If “example news article” is too broad, something like “local news article school district change” might give you some examples that are more similar to what you are looking for. If you need help with your search, please ask for help or make an appointment with the Reading and Writing Studios!
Once you locate your samples, look for trends with the writing and design conventions. Figure out what you need to do to write and create this genre.
Samples Requirements
- Save at least 4-6 samples.
The samples should be similar to what you plan to create. The content doesn’t need to be on the same topic, but they should be similar in style, length, etc. to what you want to create. (Some genres have a lot of variation, so pick samples that will help you).
- Annotate the samples to point out the conventions of the genre. Make sure to look for BOTH written and design conventions.
Saving Your Samples
If your genre is online, I recommend that you save the webpage as a PDF. You can also take screenshots if some of the formatting is getting lost on the PDF. If your genre samples are on paper, I recommend taking photos of the genre.
For either, please make sure that you get the whole document and not just the first page or top of the page.
To save a PDF, go to File > Print and then select PDF as your printer.
Annotating Your Samples
To annotate your samples, I recommend using software like Adobe Acrobat Reader (free). This will allow you to draw shapes over your PDF and add notes in the comments area. See this tutorial
for more information.
Step 4: Write Your Content
Once you get a good sense of how your genre is written, I recommend starting with writing the content. This will help you not become overly focused on the design elements first. Pay close attention to style, tone, length, and organization of information while you are writing. You may need several drafts before you are ready to move this into the design.
Step 5: Design Your Remix
Next, you’ll need to design the remix project to fit with your new genre. Pay close attention to the fundamentals of design when you are looking at your samples. Don’t overcomplicate the design; focus on using the design elements effectively.
What software you use for this project will largely depend on what genre you choose. For a web page, blog, or online news article, you may want to use something like Google Sites to create a free website.
For things like newsletters or more complex designs, you might want to use something like Canva. If you search “newsletters” in Canva, you will find many starting templates. Just make sure to click on templates that are free for use and not the paid ones. (Look for the $ symbol in the corner of the preview image).
For images and photos, if you do not have your own to use, Pexels and Pixabay are two free image sites that allow people to download and use their stock photos.
If you are unfamiliar with the software you are using for this project, I strongly recommend looking for a tutorial (or two) in YouTube before you get started. Additionally, if you are struggling with something about the technology as you are working on this project, try searching online for the solution or help. Chances are that if you are having a problem, someone else has also had the same problem before.
Requirements
Once you’ve finished the design, check that the content you wrote is working with the design. You may need to make some adjustments for everything to fit without too much white space or being crowded.
Length will vary depending on the genre of choice. The length/word count should fit the genre but there is no specific length requirement across the board.
The remixed genre must:
include writing (i.e. it cannot be a visual-only genre),
include a design or visual element,
be written to a clear and logical audience,
be written for a clear and logical purpose.
fit the conventions of the genre both with the writing and design.
As a reminder, both the audience and purpose must be different than your initial paper.
Your Remix Project Final Draft will need to include the following:
- Annotated collection of example genres including:
Copies of 4-6 samples of your chosen genre.
Annotation of all samples
Upload as a separate file from the rest of the project.
Revised Remix (the final revised draft of the genre you created after peer review)
Remix Project
For my remix project, I chose to transform my literacy narrative, Navigating College Literacy as a First-Year Student, into a digital newsletter designed in Canva. In my original essay, I reflected on my personal experience beginning college online and learning how to navigate new academic expectations, digital platforms, and writing at the college level. My audience was my professor, and my purpose was to analyze and reflect on my transition into MCC as part of an academic assignment.
For the remix, I changed the genre into a first-year college newsletter titled The First-Year File: What No One Tells You About Starting College. My new audience is incoming and first-time college students, whether online or in-person. Instead of writing an academic reflection, my new purpose is to encourage, guide, and normalize the challenges students face when transitioning into college. The tone of the newsletter is supportive, motivational, and informative rather than formal and analytical.
In designing the newsletter in Canva, I focused on clean formatting, bold section headers, white space, and simple visuals to match the conventions of modern digital newsletters. I used short sections, bullet points, and a pull quote to make the information easy to read and engaging. This remix keeps the core ideas from my original essay but presents them in a more accessible format for a broader audience.
I created a newsletter , attached below