Each Student will compose a brief Explication Paper about his or her document that explains its effectiveness. The paper should establish the traits displayed by successful documents of the corresponding type, referencing works identified during the Research Activity where appropriate. Then, it should discuss how the document uses those traits effectively. Papers should apply terminology from Document Design and other concepts discussed in class. Consider this paper an opportunity to discuss the document's function from the perspective of a designer.

Formally, papers should be written in third person and should discuss how the document functions, not how the designer created it. They should follow MLA formatting guidelines (the Purdue OWL is a useful resource for this), be approximately three pages in length (plus Works Cited, if necessary), and be submitted in a print format. I am the audience for the Explication Papers, so they should display academic mechanics, language choice, and tone.