Visual Essay Exploratory Draft In this essay, I plan to provide commentary on the topic of violenceprevention programs in primary and

secondary schools. This topic is interesting to me not only because I am volunteering for such a program, but also because I am a student. This subject is important to anyone concerned about the well being of the children in our school system as well as anyone concerned with the future of society. These programs shape who the students will grow up to be as leaders of the community. My intended audience is anyone who has a connection with a school or the education system in the United States. It is interesting to anyone with any type of connection to the school system. This could be a student, school board member, teacher, parent, or taxpayer. Hopefully, students will benefit most from my essay. Parents should be concerned, and administrators can be persuaded. I plan to appeal to that audience by presenting the facts alongside a visual argument that connects emotion. In conceptualizing my essay, I plan on using images that create ethos among my audience. I will use images that portray the seriousness of the topic, using juxtaposition to highlight my points. For example, in the intro I will show a classroom full of attentive students, only to flash to a screen depicting an empty classroom. These scenes will correspond to a general statistic, such as the number of public students currently enrolled in the U.S. school system today, and then move to a more specific statistic to my topic, like the number of violent-related crimes in these schools and among these students, respectively. I will get my pictures from the websites provided to us that have images that I am legally allowed to use, as well as do research on my own in finding pictures that I am legally permitted to add. My overall design will be to start slow with juxtaposing images, then create a collage of pictures for the main part of my argument, barraging the audience with a fastmoving show. I want to use a dark color scheme, accompanied with this speed, in order to portray the haste needed when addressing these pressing issues. As far as music goes, I will use only sounds of the classroom in the introduction, then a subdued song when discussing the problem, and a more upbeat song when addressing the solution and arguing for its effectiveness. I plan on using textual evidence in the form of statistics. I will place these creatively on the slides, such as on the chalkboard of the introduction. These hard facts will increase the credibility of my message. I plan on incorporating source material throughout my argument both in concept and facts. The only concern/question I have about this essay at this point is putting it all together. I am worried about finding enough images and textual evidence.