Research Project

This Final Research Project is your chance to add your own perspectives, voices, interests, and research to the class. This project is worth 20% of your final course grade, and it is an individual, researched project developed in consultation with your professor (that’s me!). Each student will design her own project, but regardless of the project, each student will incorporate research, an abstract, reflection (Cover Letter), and in-class presentation.

The Final Project as a whole accounts for 20% of your Final Course Grade: the presentation is worth 15%, and the Cover Letter + Abstract (together) are worth 5%.

*Click the links below to learn more about the various aspects of this project:

Below is an outline of the project, along with my expectations / guidelines / requirements / and due dates. There is also important information here about grading & feedback.

[Important Deadlines for the Proposal Drafting/Review/Revising]

Th 11/29: Exploratory Research + First Draft of Proposals
Minimum of 2 paragraphs and 4 (annotated) sources. Post to our OpenLab course site as “Proposals, Drafts” & bring 3 printed copies to class. List sources at bottom with full bibliographic information (MLA format) and provide a brief annotation for each, which summarizes the source and explains its usefulness for the project. [Note: If you do not submit this on time–both digitally and as hard copies in class–you will lose 5 points off the final project grade]

Provide as much detail and explanation as possible so that your peers and I can ask intelligent questions and help you to further focus/refine/improve your topic and approach (read carefully through the Proposal and Research section of this assignment for more guidance about what to research and then include in your proposal).

Tu 12/4: Additional Focused Research + Second Draft of (thoroughly revised) Proposals
Minimum of 2 (revised, more specific) paragraphs and 7 sources (two new ones). Post to our OpenLab course site as “Revised Proposals” & bring 4 printed copies to class. As with the previous draft, list sources at bottom with full bibliographic information (MLA format) and provide a brief annotation for each, which summarizes the source and explains its usefulness for the project. [Note: If you do not submit this on time–both digitally and as hard copies in class–you will lose 5 points off the final project grade]

When you will revise your proposals for this next class, you will further refine your topic, add more detail and sources, and shape it in a more focused way. I will provide feedback, point you to additional resources/things to think about, and then (hopefully) will officially sign off on each project in our individual conferences.

Tu 12/4 & Th 12/6 (after class): Individual out-of-Class Conferences with Professor Belli
Click here for the schedule of conferences (and to schedule your own conference)

  • Note: The classes on 11/29, 12/4, and 12/6 are BYOD (bring your own devices). We will peer review your drafts of proposals  in class on those days as well, so please bring any notes, research, and devices (laptops, tablets, etc.) to work on in class. Please also bring notes, research, and questions to your conferences with Professor Belli.

*Tu 12/11: In-Class “Lightening Presentations”
In-class, do a 2-3 minute “lightening” presentation summarizing your project & presentation (bring your presentation files & notes to class). We will peer review these presentations

*Tu 12/18 + Th 12/20: In-Class Presentations (worth 15% of Final Project Grade)

  • We will also have end-of-the-semester celebrations on Th 12/20 (yay!), I will bring in some goodies for the class, and I encourage you to do the same.