Zine Format & Sections:
Your zine should be a minimum of twelve pages and contain the following elements and sections:
Cover: A cover that includes a title that is descriptive enough to give your audience clues about its content and includes your name.
Introduction Section: An introductory section that describes your intended audience your purpose. This section should also introduce your topic and purpose in the form of a thesis statement.
Several Sections Sharing your Research: The bulk of your zine will be pages in which you share your research on the topic. You must include some narrative writing that incorporates quotes, paraphrased information and/or summarized information from your sources. Every time you utilize a source, you should include an accurate in-text citation (usually author’s last name and year). Some ideas of ways you might present information.
Written paragraphs
Creative non-fiction
Poetry or stories
Lists of bulleted information
Images with descriptions
Drawings or other artifacts created by you
Further Resources: A section that includes further resources on your topic that you suggest your audience explore if they’d like to learn more about the topic. This could be books, articles, websites, videos, anything you think is credible and relevant (based on 5W criteria). This section must include:
At least five sources that are different from the sources you use to create your zine
A short description (in your own words) of the resource so your audience knows why they might want to explore it
References: A References section that includes an APA citation for each of the sources you used to create your zine. You must use at least five sources, though you might find you need to use more than five sources to fully explain your topic. Remember, these should be different from the sources you include in your Further Resources section.
A Note about Sources
There are no restrictions on the types of sources you must use for your zine. You will choose the types of sources based on your intended audience and your purpose. You should be choosing sources that you think your intended audience will value and respond to so that your zine will have the most impact on that intended audience. Regardless of type, you should be choosing high-quality sources based on the 5Ws of source evaluation and your critical reading. You will be responsible for articulating this in part two of the assignment in the annotated bibliography.
On a separate document that will be turned in separately from the zine, you will complete some self-reflection writing on the assignment and complete an annotated bibliography. Your self-reflection should be a minimum of two pages (not including your annotated bibliography). It should be double spaced and include the following elements (in any order you choose – your self reflection does not need to be in the same order listed):
Describe Your Topic Choice: A description of your reasons for choosing the topic. Why did you want to explore this topic further?
Describe Your Audience: A description of your reasons for choosing your intended audience. Why do you think it’s important this audience hear what you have to say about this topic?
Describe Your Research Environment: A description of the research environment you used. Why do you think the types of sources you choose will have a greater impact on your intended audience? Do you think they value the types of sources you choose more than they’d value other types of sources? Why?
Describe Your Research Process: A description of your research process including searching techniques, the search terms that got you the best results, and the resources (e.g. specific library database or search engine) that helped you find sources to create your zine and connect with your audience.
Describe Your Feelings: A description of your feelings toward the topic both before and after you completed the zine. Did your feelings change after doing your research and completing the bulk of the assignment? Did what you learn and share make you feel scared? angry? hopeful? something else? What do you wish others knew about the topic?
Annotated Bibliography
After you’ve written at least two pages of self reflection, you must include an annotated references section that includes the five sources you used to create your zine. You may decide you need more than five sources to fully explain your topic. You will choose the types of sources based on your intended audience and your purpose. Follow these guidelines for your annotated references section:
Each source should be listed in alphabetical order and cited in APA format. APA format applies to the citation part not the annotation. You already did this to include in the actual zine, so this part should be easy.
Each annotation should be at least five sentences and include:
A summary (in your own words) of the information included in the source
An explanation of how you used this source (use your critical reading skills to decide). Examples: It gave me a good foundational background on the topic. Or, It gave me good evidence to back up claims in my thesis. Or, it helped me present the lived experience of those affected by my topic.
An explanation of why you think this is a high-quality source (use the 5 Ws).
An explanation of the rhetorical style you used in your zine (ethos, pathos, logos). In other words, how are you trying to appeal to the reader? Did you use an ethical appeal , emotional appeal, logical appeal, some combination? Give some specific examples.
Submitting the Self Reflection/Annotated Bibliography and Accessing the Grading Rubric
When you are finished, you should do the following:
