Career Extension Project English IV

2013-2014

This project requires you to choose an area of current interest or career path you wish to pursue. Through “shadowing”/ working with a trained professional in this area of interest, outside of the classroom/school hours, you will have the opportunity to gain a greater understanding and appreciation for this chosen field. You will need to complete ten hours of “shadowing” / internship work and an extensive research project,t which correlates with the chosen field.

This senior project is an opportunity to conduct research in both the areas of humanities and a myriad of career interests that are of personal interest. One goal of the project is to allow seniors to learn about a topic that may be of great interest, but only covered briefly or not at all, in the regular academic curriculum. Therefore, the selected topic should be one about which the student currently has a great amount of interest in but very little knowledge, regarding the inner workings of the aforementioned. Broadly speaking, a topic that would fall under the umbrella of “humanities” might include topics within art, philosophy, cinema, photography, history, political science, career interests and literature. The second goal of this project is to create a professional portfolio, with all of your research material included, to be used in interviews after high school, in a field of study/profession you wish to pursue such as, but not limited to: automotive, cosmetology, business, food services etc. etc.

Once a topic is selected, students will conduct research to ensure that appropriate research materials are available. Although students will utilize the high school library’s resources for this purpose, students will also have to go to other public libraries and industries for appropriate source material. This includes but is not limited to: interviewing professionals in your chosen area of research, shadowing/volunteering with the aforementioned, and researching the rigor/process involved with obtaining a job in your area of interest.

As it is a research project, the amount students’ learn and accomplish is largely dependant upon each individual’s effort. This project requires students to complete an intensive research paper. This research paper will be completed, once all hours of “shadowing/internship” have been completed.

Much of this project’s research will be completed outside of class; it is important that seniors enter it with a disciplined and self-motivated attitude. However, a large portion of the writing will take place in class, in conjunction with your English IV responsibilities and our partnership with Bryant and Stratton. Hence,do not procrastinate; you will need to have the necessary materials to optimize the time and assistance you will be afforded in class, during our weekly workshop. Individual teachers may require additional material for classroom instruction.

Requirements:

1. Research Paper Proposal

  • A proposal is a description of the work the student plans to do for the senior project. (a brief example with guidelines will be provided to participants)
  • A proposal must include a working thesis and suggest areas of research, as well as what one hopes to learn and accomplish from this research.
  • The proposal must be typed, two pages, double-spaced, Times New Roman Font, 12 points. This will be do by the ninth week of the first quarter for 100 points

The Proposal Process

Submit your one page proposal as described in the requirements portion of the project outline. Upon submission of the aforementioned students will earn:

APPROVAL: The thesis proposal is approved by the student's English teacher.

RETURN FOR REVISION: The teacher may feel that the project has merit, but revisions may be necessary to the proposal before it can be approved. Those revisions may include clarifications, rewriting, or addition of details to the proposal. Revisions will be due on a scheduled date.

DENIED: The teacher has not approved your proposal. Meet with the English teacher to discuss how to proceed. Students will be required to submit a new proposal on a scheduled date.

2. Onsite Research

Students are required to volunteer/shadow a minimum of ten hours with a professional/organization in their area of interest. All ten hours must be completed outside of the school day.

  • Students must record and incorporate their findings and description of their experience into both their final paper and presentation
  • Verification of completed hours is due by the ninth week of the second quarter for 50 points.

3. Reading List Submitted as an Annotated Bibliography

  • Students will also be required to submit a reading list that indicates the use of three primary and three secondary sourcesthey plan to read and study for their project with their hour verification sheet by the ninth week of the second quarter for 50 points.
  • Definitions/Examples of both primary and secondary sources follows:

Primary Sources

A primary source provides direct or firsthand evidence about an event, object, person or work of art. Characteristically, primary sources are contemporary to the events and people described and show minimal or no mediation between the document/artifact and its creator. As to the format, primary source materials can be written and non-written, the latter including sound, picture, and artifact. Examples of primary sources include:

  • personal correspondence and diaries
  • works of art and literature
  • speeches and oral histories
  • audio and video recordings
  • photographs and posters
  • newspaper ads and stories
  • laws and legislative hearings
  • census or demographic records
  • plant and animal specimens
  • coins and tools

Secondary Sources

A secondary source, in contrast, lacks the immediacy of a primary record. As materials produced sometime after an event happened, they contain information that has been interpreted, commented, analyzed or processed in such a way that it no longer conveys the freshness of the original. History textbooks, dictionaries, encyclopedias, interpretive journal articles, and book reviews are all examples of secondary sources. Secondary sources are often based on primary sources.

The chart below illustrates possible uses of primary and secondary sources by discipline:

Discipline / Primary Source / Secondary Source
Archeology / farming tools / treatise on innovative analysis of Neolithic artifacts
Art / sketch book / conference proceedings on French Impressionists
History / Emancipation Proclamation (1863) / book on the anti-slavery struggle
Journalism / interview / biography of publisher Randolph Hearst
Law / legislative hearing / law review article on anti-terrorism legislation
Literature / novel / literary criticism on Desolation Angels
Music / score of an opera / biography of the composer Mozart
Political Science / public opinion poll / newspaper article on campaign finance reform
Rhetoric / speech / editorial comment on Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech
Sociology / voter registry / Ph.D. dissertation on Hispanic voting patterns

Develop this list carefully as these are texts that will be important for the thesis paper and defense. Changes may be made to the reading list as the project develops. This reading list must be submitted as an annotated bibliography. Students must be able to explainhow any text on the reading list helped to inform the thesis argument .

  • Use a minimum of 6 print or electronic resources, as well as interviews with professionals in your area of interest. You must interview at least two professionals in your area of study.

4. Rough Draft

Participants will be required to submit three pages of their final paper for their teacher’s suggestions. The rough draft must include the use of three pieces of research, and clearly illustrate the direction of the paper and the writers’ argument. This will be due the ninth week of the third quarter for 100 points.

5.Research Paper: Due the week of April 23. The final part of the senior project, involves seniors writing a 6-8 page research paper on the topic stated in their research proposal. Students will need to do a significant amount of research, planning, and pre-writing (your rough draft) in order to write an effective research paper of this length. It is expected that the paper introduce a thesis that can be supported through sound analysis of primary and secondary sources, for the entirety of the work. This paper is not one that can wait until the last minute to complete.

  • Your paper must include a works cited page. This works cited page is in addition to 6-8 pages of text. Follow MLA/APA guidelines for the in-text citations and the works cited page. The paper must fulfill the following formatting guidelines: 1-inch margins, Times New Roman, 12 points, double-spaced.
  • Passing the senior project is a requirement for English IV

The Final Exam Grade is (1/5 of course grade) as well as 100 points towards the participant’s fourth quarter grade.

  • The project presented in writing must be original work completed for this assignment. Under no circumstances are you permitted to use any component of a previous research project.