Final Project Write-Up

*As you revise, consult these revision guidelines/suggestions and critique your own report with the peer review assignment provided in Dropbox.

Writing Task/Purpose
Your goal with this research project is to produce an argumentative (thesis-driven) researched/documented final report of 12-15 pages in which you present a focused, engaging, and fully-developed report on your project. Your goal is to enter into the conversation surrounding a debatable/complicated issue and, through traditional academic research and fieldwork (ethnographic/qualitative research) to stake out an informed position on this issue and present a series of realistic, context-specific recommendations for improvement.

Your write-up should be double-spaced, with Times New Roman 12-inch font, 1 inch margins, and page numbers (with group members’ last names on each page).

The Final Report should include the following components (in the following order):

-Cover Page
-Table of Contents
-Written Report (12-15 full pages; images can certainly be included if they are relevant/discussed, but they don’t count towards this length, and neither does the Works Cited pages/s or the Appendices); written in the 3rd person; use a mix of quotation, summary, and paraphrase for your sources

  • Introduction (overview of issue, relevant background info./context, with research/sources/citations)
  • Presentation/discussion/analysis of sources/data (remember, your fieldwork–observations, surveys, and interviews–are sources too!)
  • Conclusions/Recommendations: these must be local/context-specific, supported, realistic, and discussed/supported adequately (they should emerge from your discussion of the issue/research in the previous sections). Your conclusions/recommendation/s can be multi-tiered (such as including both short-term and long-term recommendations, suggestions that involve both individual responsibility and systemic changes).

-Works Cited page/s

  • Use MLA style for the Works Cited and also your in-text citations. Remember that as a City Tech student you have access to EasyBib for citation, if you chose to use it. You should also consult the Writing Resources on our course site. And, of course, you have already done a lot of these citations from your annotated bibliography, so if they are already correct, you can cut/paste from there.

-Appendices (clearly label these, and refer to them within the body/discussion of the write-up):

  • Agendas, Minutes, Progress Reports, for Each Week
  • Survey (if applicable): link + survey questions (use original format, from the online survey tool)
  • Survey (if applicable): stats & results
  • Instructional Manual (if applicable)
  • Branding (infographics, advertisements, logos, flyers, etc.), if applicable
  • Updated Annotated Bibliography (for this, refer back to the guidelines provided earlier in the semester). This should be revised from the earlier version, and should include more recent research.

Due Dates
Tu 12/9 by 11:59pm: complete first drafts (including Cover Page, Table of Contents, Works Cited, and Appendices). Submit to Dropbox (all as one file) and bring six printed copies to class.

*This first draft is ungraded, but it is important you submit a solid first draft. If your group does not turn in a complete first draft by the due date (Tu 12/9, 11:59pm), you forfeit your right to all feedback (including conferences with me and peer review) on the project.

W 12/18: Final Drafts are due no later than the start of class (2:30pm), though of course your group may submit it before if you do not plan to be on campus that day. Submit to Dropbox (all as one file) and a final printed copy in a portfolio folder (with all prior work, print-out of peer review comments from 12/10 class, and especially first draft of report with my comments). You should also bring any necessary deliverables to class (including games you created).
*If your final draft is not submitted both ways by this due date/time, you will receive no credit for the project. Late submissions will not be accepted.

Feedback
In addition to in-class workshops and peer review, each group will meet with me to discuss its projects and get feedback/revision strategies (either Tu 12/9, W 12/10, or Th 12/11). Keep in mind that this is a cumulative project, and through all the Pre-Drafts you’ve been working on all semester, you already have a substantial portion of the report drafted already. What you should be working on now is synthesis/revision.

  • Pre-Draft #1: planning your group work and proposing your project
  • Pre-Draft #2: Revised Proposals (proposing/refining your topic) as well as an Annotated Bibliography (traditional academic research)
  • Pre-Draft #3: Survey drafts/revisions (with rationale & context) &/or project/deliverables mock-ups
  • Pre-Draft #4: in-progress presentations on your work (W 11/26)
  • Pre-Draft #5: peer review at various stages of the process
  • Pre-Draft #6: individual feedback and conferences with Professor Belli at various stages of the process

Grading
The final draft of the report will be worth 30% of your course grade, and will be a collaborative grade (each member of the group will receive the same grade for the Write-Up).

The quality/thoughtfulness/comprehensiveness of your revision throughout the process is a substantial part of your grade. You should make both global revisions (re-thinking/adding to content, organization, design) as well as local revisions (editing, proofreading, formatting).

Plagiarism of any kind/quantity will result in an automatic zero on the Final Project and possible failing the entire course. Please consult the City Tech Academic Integrity Policy and come see me if you have any questions/concerns.

There is also an Individual Reflection on the Final Project that is worth 10% of your overall course grade (you can read more about that assignment here).