English English Homework

English 1120/1121 College Writing and Critical Reading

Final Project

Argumentative Research Essay

For your final project, you will be writing a Grant Proposal in the form of an Argumentative Research Essay. The purpose of this assignment is to provide you experience designing a research study, writing a research proposal, and putting together a grant proposal—all the while teaching you how to write argumentatively.

Studies show that students who engage in original scholarly research were better prepared for research in higher education and on the job, their communication skills improved, their confidence in writing improved, and they had a competitive edge in job applications.

In general, a research proposal explains why and how a study will be conducted. It is useful for planning a study (and for getting critical feedback before undertaking the study) as well as a resource to mine while conducting a study.

Think of your Research Project as a kind of study. You are using this project to create some kind of statement. Your Research Project will tell us something about the world just like a study or research of any other kind tells us something about the world.

I want to remind you that this essay will explain an idea for a project. You WILL NOT need to complete the idea of the project to get a grade for the class. You simply need to complete the essay. If this assignment inspires you to complete your project idea, let me know!

Successful project ideas have included:

· creating youth athletic camps for an under-served community

· free art classes for senior citizens

· community recycling projects

In choosing an idea, don’t be afraid to choose a project that connects to something real and substantial in your life such as a hobby, passion, career goal or interest. You will submit a project proposal to me for review. Please make sure to get confirmation from me that your project proposal is okay before you begin writing this essay.

Some things to consider when writing your essay:

· The best and most successful projects are PLAUSIBLE (realistic) and are focused on a serving a specific community

· How important is the proposed project to furthering knowledge and understanding within its field and possibly across different fields? For example, if your project’s theme is healthcare, how well does it do something to help the community understand their health better?

· Does the project explore and/or suggest creative and original ideas?

· How well is the idea conceived and organized?

· Does the proposed activity use sound methods to produce effective results?

· Are the methodological details (data collection details, timelines, interviews, questionnaires, archival research methodology) thorough and clear?

· Is the work plan well thought out?

· Does the work have a community component?

· What will be the impact on the community?

· Can the proposed activity be completed within the specified time frame under the specified budget?

Your essay must contain the following components:

1) Executive Summary (aka, the introduction) – An umbrella statement of your case and summary of the entire proposal.

2) Background & Rationale/Statement of Need – An explanation of the community that will be served by this project and why this project is necessary. This would be a good place to include primary sources such as interviews of the community—gauges of what the community would think of such a project. This would also be a good place for secondary sources demonstrating how similar projects had success. Why is this community particularly well suited to implement this project?

Let’s say you want to provide free art classes for seniors experiencing dementia in living facilities. You could research the benefits of art therapy for the treatment of dementia and provide the results of that research in your essay as a positive argument for your project idea.

Let’s say you want to provide free computer coding classes to at-risk youth. You could research other types of programs that are similar and discuss how effective these programs.

Let’s say you want to provide a clean-up service for trash along the coastlines. You could research the effects on wildlife and marine sustainability. If there is a topic you are interested in, this is your opportunity to learn more about it in a constructive project-focused research-based manner.

3) Program Objectives – what is the purpose of your intervention? Be specific about the types of outcomes you want to achieve!

4) Project Description – What methods will you be using to implement your project? This should be the nuts and bolts of how the project will be implemented, and how it will be evaluated. Here is where you can use sources to show that other similar projects used similar methods with success.

5) Budget - financial description of the project plus explanatory notes.

6) Discussion – What are the anticipated challenges and opportunities that will confront this program? How feasible and sustainable is this program? What are the implications for future work?

7) Conclusion - summary of the proposal's main points.

FORMAT & SOURCES: Your essay must be in MLA format, 4-5 pages in length, double-spaced, 12-point font. You must integrate AT LEAST FIVE OUTSIDE SOURCES. One of those sources MUST be primary which means YOU did the data collection yourself. Three of the sources must come from the Library Database, and two (of those three) must come from Peer-Reviewed Journals.

Final Project Clarification

Contains unread posts

Subscribe

Part 1: Read the assignment sheet for the final project. If you had to explain the project to someone not in our class- how would you do that? Use your own words to PARAPHRASE what this project is all about. Tell me in your own words: What is the final project?

The final project is to craft a grant proposal, supported by an argumentative research paper, for a project that will fulfill a community need. We don't need to follow through with the submission of the grant proposal to the relevant authorities but we can, if we feel inspired to do so.

Part 2: Ask me any questions that you might have about this project.

What are some recommendations for our primary sourcing? I was thinking of submitting a survey at S.A.C.'s, the local senior activities center, that asks a few questions about community engagement, how much is a reasonable cost for a pottery course, including options for wheel thrown, glazing, and firing of projects, and where they would like to have such a class hosted at. I don't have a venue for a similar survey that would ask disabled adults and/or their caregivers the same questions. Do you have a recommendation?

less

Project ideas

Contains unread posts

Subscribe

Since I work in a gym that is open to different classes and ideas and encourages the staff to present these ideas to management to hopefully make this happen I have had a few ideas in my head. The main one I want to focus on and develop would be a Weightlifting for Life class that focuses on improving confidence through strength training, functionality, athleticism, and building healthy habits for life. This would focus mainly on middle school and high school ages, but older ages can sign up as well if they are interested. We would cover proper form, how to create a program, how to eat properly and sustainably, how to include cardio, how often and how long to train, and sport-specific training for the athletes among the participants. I would also have the participants train together to build the community aspect among the participants under the supervision of a trainer to correct any mistakes made to avoid injuries. A few of the gyms of the franchise I work for already partner with schools to allow them to come in after school and train and over the summer offers a free membership to older middle school grades and high school ages it would not take too much to more to have a trainer to supervise as well as teach these young adults healthy habits and proper technique so they can succeed in their health goals throughout life.

less