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Examples:

You might begin by looking at a few examples of infographics (if you haven’t already). For example, check out the links below:

• Pew Research Center, Online Dating: http://www.pewinternet.org/Infographics/2013/Online-Dating.aspx
• The Oatmeal, How Much to Cats Actually Kill: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/cats_actually_kill

There are lots of other examples on the web, so feel free to peruse and look for ideas.

Creating Your Infographic:

The infographic you create for your portfolio can be about whatever topic you’d like (perhaps related to your blog niche, the same topic as your website and/or Google Map, or it could be something completely different).

I would like for you to use the program Piktochart (www.piktochart.com) to create your infographic. If you do not already have an account, you will need to create one.

Remember our discussions from class: infographics are rhetorical; in other words, they can make an argument. Also, they have a focus (or thesis) and supporting evidence, much like a traditional academic essay, even though they are presented in a very different medium. What this means is you should take a few minutes to plan out what you want to say in your infographic. This may even require you to complete a bit of research to find statistics you want to use (which you will need to cite in your infographic).

Evaluating Your Infographic:

What I’ll look for in your draft (and in the final version) is that you’re using the genre of infographics effectively to visually display data. In particular, I’ll look for the following:

• Your infographic makes a point or argument (perhaps even a thesis of sorts),
• That point or argument is supported with evidence (which will likely take the form of statistics, examples, photos, websites, and/or narratives),
• That your infographic includes some numbers / statistics (infographics typically have “data” – though you don’t need a lot, you need to have some “data”),
• That your infographic is clear and well-organized, transitioning from point to point, and
• That you cite your sources. Any data that you use must be identified. If you collected the data (for example, maybe you conducted a quick, informal survey and use the results from that), you need to note that it’s your data. If you pull statistics or other information from other sources, you must list where you got your information from. I’m not requiring that you use a particular citation style (like MLA or APA), in part because these are academic formatting styles rather than styles that are most fitting for online publications. That said, I (or other readers) should be able to track down your sources, so make it clear, however you decide to do that.

Saving and Submitting Your Infographic:

Within Piktochart, when you are finished with your draft, you will need to save it and then publish it. Press the “publish” button in the upper, left corner, and then choose to save your document as a “.jpg” or “.png” file. I can open either of these.

The draft version of your infographic is due as an email attachment to Dr. Holmes (aholmes@gsu.edu) by midnight on Friday, Nov. 8^th.

If you choose to revise this for your portfolio, you will need to open the file within Piktochart again (go to “My Saved Piktocharts”), make updates, resave, and republish.