For Kim Woods only.

Final Research Project

1800-2200 words (6-8 pages)

Researching and then compiling information effectively is probably the most important skill you will develop in this class and in your college career. This, your final assignment for the semester, will bring together everything that you’ve learned about reading analytically, organizing your thoughts effectively, and writing rhetorically.

For our final essay, the research project, you will be working from the topic you selected for the Cause and Effect Analysis. Part of this essay is a revision of your Causal analysis.

While the Cause and Effect analysis asked you to examine the causes and/or effects of college completion, the final research paper will ask you to use the information you found about the challenges students might face completing college and propose a feasible solution for the PGCC campus or for PGCC students.

What could the campus or other students do to improve the college experience—and the completion rate—here at PGCC? Select ONE solution and explain how it could reasonably be implemented and why it has a strong chance of success.

Where the Cause/Effect analysis was an informative argument, your final paper will be a persuasive argument. This means that you will need to address the audience’s specific emotions and provide compelling evidence to prove that your proposal

· Is reasonable

· Is feasible (i.e., able to be implemented)

Your evidence must prove that the proposal you suggest has a reasonable expectation of success. This means you will need to learn a little about PGCC and possibly about how other, similar institutions have improved for the sake of their students.

Your proposal must also acknowledge that other solutions are possible and provide information that convinces your reader that your proposal is the best possible solution. Therefore, you will need to use some of the skills you developed in your compare/contrast essay.

You must complete this assignment to pass the course.

You must find and use FIVE LIBRARY-BASED SOURCES for this assignment. Sources may come from any of the PGCC library resources

You may use information from up to THREE additional non-library-based sources. Please be aware that these sources must be appropriate for a college-level essay. If you have any questions about a source, it’s best to have it approved by your professor before you use it.

Your essay should have an intro, well-organized body, and conclusion.

Body paragraphs should use one of the logical organization patterns and develop a clear line of thought.

Your paragraphs should follow TED paragraph formatting, and contain a focused topic sentence and a single idea.

The essay must be at least 1800 words in length, not counting title, works cited, or header information.

Essays must be submitted to the Blackboard website the due date/time. No late will be accepted.

All essays may be submitted to plagiarism detection software. Essays that use words or ideas without proper citation will receive failing grades and may be reported to the college.