45 Final Culminating Project
Assignment Overview
This is a culminating assignment where you are asked to reflect on your research process this term and share 5 quality sources related to your chosen topic. Please note that I am not asking you to write a research paper. You may submit your work as a word processing document (.doc, .docx, .rtf, or .pdf), PowerPoint/Google Slides/Prezi presentation, or you may compile your work in a more creative manner explained in Part 3, under “Optional”.
There are 3 parts to this assignment that you need to complete, so please read the following instructions carefully.
Instructions
Part 1: Introduce your topic and describe its significance. Please answer the following questions within your introduction.
- What is the topic you decided to research this term? If you changed your topic at any point throughout the term, please also explain that.
- Why is this topic interesting to you? Here, you can talk about how the topic relates to your personal, political, academic, and/or professional interests and goals.
- Why do you feel others should care about this topic? Do you feel educating others about this topic will help raise awareness in ways that may help to solve larger issues within your community or even on a global level? Please explain your answer.
- Your introduction should be a minimum of 5 sentences.
Part 2: Provide citations for 5 quality sources you used to research your topic throughout the term. Also, beneath each citation include a brief explanation how the information source helped learn about a specific aspect of your topic. Please follow guidelines a and b below.
a. Citations:
- Of the 5 citations you include, one must be for a book and one must be for an article published in a scholarly journal. The other 3 citations may include websites, government documents, books, articles, professional blogs, documentaries/educational films, or any other type of information source that helped you understand your topic better and that you feel qualifies as a quality resource.
- You may cite sources used for previous assignments in this class.
- Your citations should be formatted in the MLA or APA style (pleaseindicate in your work which style you are using). As with Week 7, you can use the Seneca Libraries MLA or APA style guide (links provided below) or another style guide you prefer.
APA Citation Guide: http://seneca.libguides.com/apaMLA Citation Guide: http://seneca.libguides.com/mla
b. Explanations:
- Below each of your 5 citations, describe how the information source helped you learn about a specific aspect of your topic. Perhaps it taught you something new, opened your mind to a new perspective or opinion, or maybe it brought up important questions for you that effected the direction or path you took with your research.
- Please do not simply summarize the information source. I want to understand how each source was significant to your unique research focus and process.
- Each explanation should be 2-3 sentences.
Part 3: Finally, discuss how you would like to research your topic further, and include 2 research questions that represent this. Please follow guidelines a and b below.
a. Taking your research further:
- Imagine that you end up continuing with this research for a future class assignment or senior thesis project. Perhaps the research you did this term is something related to the type of profession you wish to go into. Maybe your research topic represents a passion of yours and inspires you to take action in your community. These are just some of many reasons why people research topics and issues. In 3-5 sentences, explain how you might like to take your research further, beyond this course.
b. Research Questions:
- Include 2 questions that represent how you might want to take your research further. You may use questions you created when completing the “Developing a Research Question” tutorial this week.
Optional: If you wish to present the above in a more creative format, you are highly encouraged to do so! Below are some examples.
- Video presentation (some popular video creating/editing softwares are Windows Movie Maker, iMovie, and PowTown (www.powtoon.com/), which is a free software for developing animated videos)
- Zine
- Scrapbook
- Collage
- Comic or graphic novel-styled panels (Strip Generator, http://stripgenerator.com/strip/create/, is a free software that allows you to easily create panels and offeres a variety of pre-made characters and items to choose from. More freeware options are outlined at: http://mashable.com/2010/10/24/create-your-own-comics/#TRlVOszvakq2)
- To creatively enhance your project, you are welcome to include video clips, poetry, music, or artwork related to your topic.
However you decide to format your work, just be sure to include all the required elements of this assignment that are listed in Parts 1-3 above.
If you would like to take a more creative approach to your final project but are not sure how, please know I’m very happy to discuss options with you and help you figure out the necessary technolgy. Please email me as soon as possible if you would like to discuss your project.
I look forward to your viewing your projects and research discoveries!