Long Report Assignment

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Humanities

LONG REPORT ASSIGNMENT

Your long report will be based on one of the following options:

  • Option A- A controversial issue in your future field.
  • Option B- A challenge facing the field you plan to enter.

If neither of these options work, you may choose Option C, in which you propose a topic relevant to your career and appropriate for the report’s objectives. NOTE: I reserve the right to modify (or reject) topics which are unlikely to result in effective reports.

Your report’s objective may be analytical or persuasive (this will be determined in part by the audience you define). A strictly informative report will be inappropriate for our purposes.

My evaluation will be based on how effectively the report reflects the characteristics described in Chapter 9. An effective report will

  • account for the document’s context, including audience and purpose;
  • reflect thoughtful consideration and detailed development of the subject matter;
  • establish and maintain appropriate scope/focus;
  • integrate research material ethically (avoiding copy/paste or other forms of plagiarism);
  • utilize visuals to represent key concepts;
  • demonstrate command of the language and conventions of writing.

NOTE: You are expected to produce a detailed, well-developed scholarly report, not an “overview” of the subject matter.

Here are the required elements of the long report (which will appear in this order):

  • Title page
  • Table of contents
  • List of illustrations
  • Abstract
  • Introduction (including Background, Problem/Issue, Purpose and Scope)
  • Discussion (roughly 10-12 double-spaced pages)
  • Conclusions
  • Recommendations
  • References

In addition to effectively addressing the basic elements listed above, your report must also:

  • be formatted to reflect the guidelines in the model long report (Chapter 9, 365-80), which reflects the protocols in this class, and your report will be formatted accordingly. Use of MLA or APA will apply to in-text citations and bibliographic entries.
  • utilize a minimum of 8 credible sources in your text (summary, paraphrase, quote). Field research (such as an interview) isn’t required, but is strongly encouraged. Failure to meet the research requirement will result in a twenty (20) point penalty on the Long Report grade.
  • incorporate at least two original visuals (tables, charts, graphs, images created by you, not copy/pasted from source material). Failure to meet this requirement will result in a twenty (20) point penalty on the Long Report grade.

Length Requirement: Your report should be roughly 4000 words in length, which includes all front matter and the references page. A report of fewer than 3000 or more than 4500 words will receive a grade no higher than a C-. This will hopefully provide an incentive to develop your discussion in detail, while maintaining an appropriate focus.

NOTE— A report you’ve previously submitted which generates a Similarity percentage greater than 20% will not be graded (no exceptions).

The following deadlines are established to ensure that necessary progress is made on the long report throughout the semester. Late submissions of any element listed below will result in a single 20 point penalty on the long report’s final grade (late submissions of Long Report rough drafts will not be accepted); missing submissions will result in a single 50 point penalty.

Objective

Deadline

Emailed topic proposal (a)

11:59 pm Saturday, Sept. 1st

Long Report bibliography posted (b)

11:59 pm Saturday, Sept. 29th

Long Report rough draft upload (c)

11:59 pm Monday, Nov. 12th

(a) Do not send a topic email until you’ve read the Email Assignment (available Sunday, August 26th). Topic emails sent before that date will be deleted (no exceptions).

(b) Your list of sources will be posted to a discussion thread devoted to that purpose. The sources will be formatted as bibliographic entries (MLA or APA). See the thread for additional instructions.

(c) Your rough draft will be uploaded to Turnitin for PeerMark peer review, and must be at least 2500 words to be considered a completed submission and avoid the 50 point penalty. NOTE: Your title page should include at least three questions you’d like readers to consider when providing feedback on your draft.

Reply with feedback on your peers’ drafts by 11:59 pm Monday, November 19th.

The long report will be submitted in Portfolio 3 (December 3rd).

The long report is worth 300 points.

If you have questions regarding this assignment, ask them on this thread.