In the three interrelated final projects in this course, each student will have an opportunity to explore deeply the relationship between a single communication-focused technology and language.

From the syllabus, these three assignments include the following:

Final Project Research Paper Abstract	Before endeavoring on the final project, students will write a 250-word abstract describing the technology selected and the general arguments/discussion to be made. On a separate page, students will a working bibliography of at least ten article sources they plan to look at as part of their research.	10%
Final Project Research Paper	Students will choose one specific type of digitally-mediated communication and write a 2500-word minimum research essay discussing how the technology and language influence one another. This project requires at least 10 cited journal articles (other sources are permissible in addition to the 10 cited journal articles).	30%
Final Project Presentation	Each student will have an opportunity to present a condensed, professionally delivered presentation based on their research paper. It must be between 5 and 10 minutes in length, and use PowerPoint as the visual component of the presentation.	20%

The following provides more detail on each individual assignment listed above.

Final Project Research Paper Abstract
(Due October 17)

The abstract is a proposal document written to Professor Ellis in a memo format. The abstract should do these things:

• Identify the object of your paper and briefly describe it (what is it, what are its affordances, what are its constraints, etc.). This will be the communications-based technology that you intend to research. Your object should be as focused as possible.
• State your preliminary argument. What do you intend to argue in your research paper? This involves what influence you see happening between your selected technology and language (e.g., spoken language, written language, communication in general, etc.).
• Discuss the evidence that you already know or are aware of that supports your argument. If you can’t come up with convincing evidence with none or some initial research, you should reconsider your argument or the object of your paper.
• Essentially, you are performing due diligence before writing your research paper. You are making sure that you have a good topic, and you are trying to convince me that you have a good topic for your paper. Based on your abstract, I will give you the green light to proceed and/or provide advice about how to focus what you have written in the abstract to help you create a strong research paper.
• At 250 words, it should fit on a single sheet of paper.
• On a separate sheet of paper (and not counting towards your 250 words), title it “Working Bibliography.” Find ten sources through the library databases that you might use in your research, and write bibliographic entries for these ten sources in APA format. You do not have to read these five articles in full or even use them, but they might become useful to you and by listing them, you demonstrate to me due diligence (again) on your part to develop a strong idea for your final paper.
• With your abstract memo as the first page and your Working Bibliograph as the second, staple these two pages together and hand in at the beginning of class on the day they are due.

The three major projects in this class give each student an opportunity to propose a research topic, perform scholarly research on that topic, write a scholarly paper making an analytical argument that is supported by evidence, and finally, present their research findings in a formal presentation before an audience of his or her peers.

From the syllabus, these are the three assignments:

Research Paper	Using what you have learned in our class and research done on your own to write a 2,500-word essay that analyzes a cultural artifact we did not read in class in terms of the issues of law raised within the work. You may choose as your paper’s topic any kind of cultural artifact: a novel, short story, album/song, movie, television series (a single episode or story arc only—do not write about an entire series unless cleared by the professor), video game, art, etc. It should cite your primary source, and at least ten library-sourced resources (these may or may not be what you include on your abstract’s working bibliography).	20%
Research Paper Abstract	Before writing your research paper but after you have thought about the topic you would like to research, write a 250-word abstract that summarizes what you plan to write about. In addition to the abstract, include a working bibliography in Chicago format of at least ten library-sourced resources you might use to support your research paper’s argument.	15%
Research Presentation	Create and deliver a 5-minute summary presentation of your research paper. Use PowerPoint to create your presentation’s visual component. On the day of your presentation, arrive prepared with your presentation’s script and copy of your presentation on a flash drive for quick loading, and dressed appropriately in business or business casual attire.	20%

Each of these assignments is described in further detail in the following.

Research Paper Abstract

Before endeavoring to write an argumentative essay supported by evidence, you should develop a well-thought-out plan. To that end, the first phase of these research-oriented assignments is the abstract or proposal.

In general, the research paper should make the case or argument that a given cultural artifact (a book, short story, poem, song, album, movie, video game, episode of a television series, artwork, etc.) has some importance to our understanding of law, influences or is influenced by law, enlightens its audience to issues of law (rightly or wrongly), or addresses fundamental issues relating to law or jurisprudence.

Your argument must be supported by evidence. One form of evidence will come from your “reading” of the cultural “text.” Explain to your audience what you see in the cultural work that is of relevance to the law and your argument. Another form of evidence will come from sources that you find via the library and library databases of scholarly journals and their articles. Of course, if you do not find enough supporting evidence in the databases, you might reconsider your paper’s topic.

Your research paper abstract should follow these guidelines:

• Identify the object of your study and briefly describe it (include relevant names, production company, year of publication/release, etc). This is the cultural work that you have selected. Keep your selection focused and avoid being overly broad (e.g., an episode of a television series instead of an entire television series–except in cases where a single narrative might arc across several episodes or a season).
• State your preliminary argument. What do you intend to argue in your research paper about the object of your study? How does it relate to law? What do you want to argue, assert, and contend about the object of your paper and its relationship to law?
• Discuss the evidence that you already know or are aware of that supports your argument. If you can’t come up with convincing evidence with none or some initial research, you should reconsider your argument or the object of your paper.
• Essentially, you are performing due diligence before writing your research paper. You are making sure that you have a good topic, and you are trying to convince me that you have a good topic for your paper. Based on your abstract, I will give you the green light to proceed and/or provide advice about how to focus what you have written in the abstract to help you create a strong research paper.
• At 250 words, it should fit on a single sheet of paper. Format your abstract using a basic memo format (see this site for an example).
• On a separate sheet of paper (and not counting towards your 250 words), write “Working Bibliography.” Find ten sources through the library databases that you might use in your research, and write bibliographic entries for these ten sources in Chicago format. You do not have to read these five articles in full or even use them, but they might become useful to you and by listing them, you demonstrate to me due diligence (again) on your part to develop a strong idea for your final paper.
• With your abstract memo as the first page and your Working Bibliograph as the second, staple these two pages together and hand in at the beginning of class on the day they are due.

Research Paper

Using your abstract as a guide, write a 2,500-word essay (about ten double-spaced pages) that analyzes your abstract’s object in terms of the relationship between language and technology, and the co-influence of language and technology. Remember to always bring your discussion back around to that focus on language and technology.

Your paper must include quotes supporting your argument and providing examples for your discussion. In addition to citing your paper’s object of analysis, your paper must include at least ten library-sourced resources. These might come from your working bibliography, or they might be new sources that you find in your research. Your library sources might discuss the object of your analysis, or they might address the issues that you wish to raise about your object of analysis–as long as the citation is germane to your discussion, it is perfectly applicable to cite and include in your paper’s bibliography (remember, do not list something on your bibliography that you do not cite in some way). Use APA style for your quotes, citations, and bibliography.

To ensure everyone progresses toward a successful paper, an outline of your paper will be due on Monday, November 7. Your outline should clearly indicate what you plan to discuss about your object of analysis. I would recommend having each top level heading (I, II, III, etc.) be one paragraph. Your outline does not have to cite any outside sources, but if you want to include notes, such as “include quote from X book” in one paragraph, please do so. The outline is more for your benefit than for mine. It provides you with a plan for the execution of your essay. Of course, you can change your essay as you write it, but at least with the outline in hand, you know that you have a good idea about what you should write about and in what order you should write it.

Research Presentation

Toward the end of the semester, you will present a synopsis or summary of your research paper to the class by giving an oral presentation combined with a PowerPoint presentation. This presentation should only be 5 minutes long. You will need to time yourself giving your presentation in advance so that you present no longer than 5 minutes. As a rule of thumb, reading a single page of double-spaced writing take about 2.5 minutes. So, you will want to aim at condensing your 10-page paper into a 2-page spoken presentation. You may use a printed script for your presentation. Handwritten scripts or notes are not allowed. Your PowerPoint presentation should use images and writing to anchor what you have to say, but it should not include every word that you intend to say. PowerPoint supports your spoken presentation by engaging your audience visually. It should not detract from your spoken presentation. The schedule for presentations will be randomly assigned. On your assigned day, be prepared with your PowerPoint presentation on a flash drive and dress business casual for professionalism.