| spch 324 | Project Details | ||||
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introduction |
These instructions are designed to provide detailed information on the individual written assignments and the procedures incorporated in the project. The assignment descriptions provide you with a clear indication of the criteria I will use in grading the written assignments for the project. The breakdown of weight for individual assignments will give you a clear indication of the relative importance of each project activity to your final project grade. Read this entire document carefully. |
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written |
This is an upper level class. It is expected that you are familiar with expository writing, basic research skills and university writing requirements, including plagiarism guidelines. If you are not, please refer to the list of online writing resources at the end of this document. You can always email me in connection with specific, concrete problems relating to the writing assignments. |
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project assignment |
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reflective essay (1000+ words) |
You are required to read and write a reflective essay on one special topic article for presentation to the class. This essay should serve the purpose of connecting the ideas in your selected article to your own observations and/or the concepts introduced in the first phase of class and thereby show a connection between the author's ideas and your own perceptions and knowledge. All generalizations based on personal observation or reflection should be explained, qualified and supported where necessary. The reflective essay should present ideas which will naturally lead to peer discussion. It should make explicit reference to concepts and principles that we have studied in Phase 1 wherever applicable. |
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discussion questions |
When the
reflective essays have been posted, you will be
required to read each one and to respond to at least three
articles/essays by either
1) posing a
question to the author of the summary (about the article content) or 2) posing a question to the
class that makes some kind of connections between the
article discussed and either the content of another article, a communication concept
introduced in the first part of class, or a point in
Wood's chapter on the relevant topic area.
In order to create relevant and thoughtful questions, you must not only read the 3 essays you've selected, but also thoroughly investigate the 3 articles on which they have been based. After all questions have been posted, I will go through the list and consolidate these into thematically related groups, for the first round of discussions. In this manner, your own interests will determine the course of the special topic discussions. |
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| discussion leadership | Project participation is reliant on peer interaction and co-leadership. For this reason, during the project the general participation grade (a separate grade that assesses general participation throughout the course) will be augmented by a discussion leadership grade within the special topic project discussions: the leadership grading criteria will focus on 1) your timeliness in presenting materials to the group, 2) your responsiveness to the questions and ideas of your peers and 3) your general support in keeping the discussions going. | ||||
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additional information selection of readings |
About the selection of sources: The
Project Webliography
provides you with list of appropriate, academically responsible
sources. It enables you to move directly into the first assignment without
having to spend hours, looking for academically responsible and topic-relevant
resources. You may, however, use another web-based resource, if you get the article approved by me
during the article reservation phase of the project. The article
must be comparable in length and degree of difficulty to those in the webliography. The class must have access to all materials.
Thus, you
may NOT use printed material for the project. |
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| project grades | Your project grade will be based on the reflective essay, the relevance and effectiveness of your questions, and your discussion leadership. The reflective essay will be graded on its adherence to the guidelines provided above, as well as on its overall precision, accuracy and coherence. As in all university papers, clarity and effective writing skills will play a role in your grade. The discussion questions will be graded on their relevance to the article, their specificity, and their originality. While the first criterion is rather obvious, I'd like to provide examples of what I might mean for the latter two criteria. A question which is specific and original does not ask: "What is this article about?" A specific question might ask: "How do you reconcile what the author of this article said about X with what our textbooks states regarding the findings of other studies?" or "How does X relate to concept Y, as we discussed it in class?" A thoughtful, relevant and specific question shows evidence of the attempt to make a connection with material or concepts from other discussions or readings in the course; question assumptions while supporting the reasoning for questioning them; suggest further implications of what has been presented in the article or further areas of developing the ideas in the article. Questions are a very challenging assignment! Don't underestimate them! Discussion leadership will be graded according to the stated guidelines. As is the case with the questions, I will attend to evidence in contributions of their accuracy in portraying the content of other student responses, the initiative taken in moving a discussion forward by adding follow-up questions or further thought, and the manner of supporting peers by answering questions or encouraging an open, friendly, but precise critical discussion. This can be an extremely fun and dynamic phase of class! |
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posting procedures |
The reflective essay should be submitted to the special topic project area (for reading and discussion) and also to the assignment folder (for grading). For the classroom posting of your reflective essay, you will be asked to paste the text into a WT text box. In the assignment folder, you will have the option of pasting the texts into a single WT text box or attaching your presentation document to the conference area in rtf or file format. |
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writing resources |
UMUC Online Writing Center
Grammar Lady
Purdue University Writing Lab
Guide to Grammar and Style
The Writer's Complex
Grammar Handbook
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