POLY PUNCTUATION
Purpose
Poly Punctuation is a didactic bot intended to remind Cal Poly students of basic punctuation rules everyone should follow in their academic work using Cal Poly-themed sentences. Our bot uses a light and somewhat patronizing tone to present commonly overlooked punctuation rules in a humorous and memorable manner that helps users improve their writing skills.
Persona
We chose the somewhat snarky persona because we wanted to imitate a stereotypical English snoot or grammarian. To put this into practice, our bot gives examples, provides common punctuation rules, and questions its users to put their knowledge to the test.
Epic User Story/Audience
Our bot is designed to be helpful to all students at Cal Poly, assuming they have basic knowledge of punctuation rules and terminology. At a polytechnic university where nearly 70% of students are STEM majors, many students practice/review very few prescriptive punctuation and grammar rules in their major courses. Though many students will not spend their college career writing essays, Cal Poly requires that all majors take a course in writing and/or literature, and pass a Graduation Writing Requirement in order to complete their degree. These requirements prove the necessity of being well-versed in basic grammar and punctuation, which is why we felt this bot would be a valuable resource to students across the board. We are confident that all majors can find value in this bot: while it informs those lacking knowledge of punctuation, it also entices snoots (read: Liberal Arts majors) with its comedic tone.
Revisions
Revisions for our bot involved personality and variety in content. Namely, we created more snarky introductions, addressing the reader in a more informal and playful manner. Further, we expanded our bot’s knowledge: it now tests users with a variety of different sentences, and describes less-known grammar and punctuation rules (e.g. hyphens, semicolons, oxford comma).
MEET THE MAKERS
Bridget Butler-Sullivan
Rachel Carlson
Conor Walsh