Infographic Assignment

By Karenza Sutton-Bennett, adapted from an assignment by Kelly Plante

This activity is suggested for undergraduate and graduate students at any level.

Student samples (Fall 2022, Karenza Sutton-Bennett, PhD ENG 1120: Selected Topics in Literature and Composition)

The Lady’s Infographic

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What is the purpose of an Infographic? An infographic (information + graphic) gives us the opportunity to share information and data with visuals. Of course, they’re a little bit more complicated than that. But at their core, infographics allow us to take data-driven complex ideas and arguments and share them with our audiences in an easy-to-consume, inviting format! For this group assignment, you will work with your pre-assigned group to create an infographic using free software such as Canva or Piktochart to argue the effectiveness of one of the 11 images in the Lady’s Museum. Groups will also create a short video to present on their infographic and their experience with the creation process. The point of this project is to practice your analyzing skills and writing debatable thesis statements. There is potential for students to get their infographic and/or videos on the Lady’s Museum Project.

Minimum Requirements

  • An original Infographic, 1 page 
  • 5-10 minute video

Instructions

  1. Pick an illustration from Lady’s Museum you want to close read. You will use your critical reading skills to analyze the chosen image and the associated article in the periodical to come up with a debatable argument about the image.
  2. Write a working debatable thesis statement that argues the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of the illustration. Be specific as possible (who, what, where, why, when and SO WHAT).
  3. Create an infographic to visually depict your argument with these guiding questions:
    • How does the illustration represent one or more aspects of the periodical?
    • What does the illustration do to portray visually the associated article?
    • What does it do that is different from the text?
    • How does (or does not) the illustration you picked reflect the themes of the periodical? 
  4. Make a 5–10-minute video that describes your group’s rhetorical decision-making process used to draft the infographic. Address the following questions:
    • Why did you pick the illustration? 
    • What did you learn in the process of creating the infographic?
    • How will you use what you learned in this process going forward in academic contexts?
  5. Post your Infographic and video on the discussion board.

What I am Looking for

  1. Clear, simple (but effective) graphics
  2. One major argument with a clear thesis
  3. Quote(s) from the associated article in Lady’s Museum to back your thesis
  4. Clean writing (academic tone, no contractions, no personal pronouns, no grammar mistakes, etc.)

Research Resources

Infographic Resources