ENGLISH 102 F FINALPROJECT

Proposal Due Date: April 20

Final Draft Due Date: May 9 (no exceptions)

Presentations: May 9, 11

This project is designed to be a group project (3-5 persons) that evaluates a specific issue by presenting research and developing a clear position. In order to ensure that the issue is fully researched, each group member will be responsible for finding and evaluating 1-2 sources each class session from April 25 – May 4, which includes a citation and a brief description of the source’s main idea and its possible usefulness for the group topic. The group will spend class time negotiating which sources will be included, as well as how they might be used. A clear outline of the project should be drafted by each group on May 4. Failure to attend these class sessions with the individual work ready to be discussed could result in forfeit of the right to receive the group grade, which could cause failure of the course; group discretion will be the main determiner for this action, but the instructor will evaluate each student’s performance throughout the process.

Each group has an option of doing one of the following assignments.

  1. Write a research paper of 9-11 pages (Works Cited pages do not count) and 10-12 sources that argues a position on one of the following topics: a) How TV shapes culture;b) The psychological techniques of advertising; c) The effect of the Internet on learning; d) The current condition of the First Amendment; e) How access to medicine and education has affected the spread of AIDS globally; f) The possibility of alternative fuel sources replacing petroleum; g) How “grocery gap” affects poorer neighborhoods in Chicago and other metropolitan areas; h) How NAFTA has affected American labor.
  2. Write an annotated bibliography of 17-19 sources that will serve as a casebook on a particular social issue, such as public awareness of diabetes or the disparity between the cost of living and minimum wage. The group may decide another topic that must meet with instructor approval. The annotated bibliography must have a 1-2 page introduction that discussed the importance of the topic and defend that organization of sources into subtopics. The citations must be separated into subtopic sections that clearly group like sources. Each citation will include the MLA bibliographic information and a short paragraph of 2-4 sentences that express the main idea of the source, describe the intended audience, and provide key details that clearly explain the citation’s inclusion in a particular subtopic.
  3. Write a deliberative casebook, in which the group members take a opposing position on a particular issue (there are usually more than two sides to any issue, and then each writes a position paper of 3-4 pages with 2-3 sources that support the claim (and a Works Cited page). The casebook must have a 1-2 page introduction that briefly describes the issue at hand and each position that is taken. Here are some possible issues for this project: a) The Supreme Court and Oregon’s recent abortion law; b) The war in Iraq; c) The Civil War in the Sudan; d) Socialized medicine in the United States; e) Alternative fuel sources and Petroleum; f) “Renaissance 2010”; g) Current changes in immigration policy; h) Israel and Palestine; i) TV censorship; or the group may opt for another topic with instructor approval.aaba