Assignment 1: Current Knowledge | Proposal

syllabus | calendar

Purpose

The purposes of this assignment are for you to...

  • establish a subject that you will research for the semester,
  • introduce your subject to your peers to stimulate conversation throughout the semester,
  • do some preliminary research,
  • learn how to make informed decisions,
  • demonstrate current knowledge,
  • start thinking about questions that you will answer throughout the semester.

Choosing a Subject

  • Start with an argument that you have an invested interested in.
  • Think about global issues (e.g., politics, religion, the environment) or local issues (e.g., majors, the university, Tippecanoe county).
  • Then analyze the argument to look for the components of the argument.

    For example, if we develop the following argument:

    The 2000 US Election demonstrated that the nation's electoral system is not superior to other nations where US representatives oversee the election process.

    Then there are five possible subjects that you can represent: 1) 2000 US Election, 2) the United States, 3) the US electoral system, 4) a specific nation that is not the US, and 5) elections in general. The subjects are the major concepts, people, places, and events discussed in the argument. Although you can discuss the US or other nations without discussing elections, while you do your research you do not want to lose sight of the context (i.e., elections) in which you would represent these nations.

  • Once you have chosen the subject that you want to study, do some preliminary research to determine whether there is enough information to sustain this research project (see Annoted Bibliography). Remember that you will working with this subject for the length of the semester.

The PowerPoint Presentation

For your proposal you will be doing a ten minute PowerPoint presentation for the class. In this presentation you will explain the research you plan to do throughout the semester and elicit feedback and questions from your peers.

The Content

As you draft your PowerPoint Presentation, take into consideration the time constraint––ten minutes–– and the assignment's purpose––introduce the subject to your peers. As a result, you will have to make choices what you will talk about here, and what you discuss in later assignments. Your presentation should cover the following:

Introduce the subject  Explain to your peers the subject that you will be researching throughout the semester. Give brief background information, especially to help your peers that may not be familiar with your subject. You will also want to explain the subject's personal relevance.

Provide current knowledge  Explain to your peers some of the arguments related to your subject and the various ways that your subject is represented in these arguments. These lists do not have to comprehensive. You may choose to explain how you would represent your subject and explain why.

Justify researchability  Argue that there is enough information to sustain this project and fulfill the research requirements of the Annoted Bibliography. Although quantity of sources will be good evidence, demonstrate that the quality of the sources as well.

Develop research questions  Develop research questions that you will attempt to answer throughout the semester. Research questions are questions that you develop about your subject that represent what you currently do not know––although you may have a hypothesis––and you plan to learn by conducting research (e.g., library, internet, interview,observation, survey). Research questions are NOT the specific question that you would ask in a survey or a interview.

The Logistics

As you develop your slide presentation, you should consider the following:

  • you only have ten minutes to do the presentation
  • do not spend more than 2 minutes on one slide; try to do one slide in 60-90 seconds,
  • therefore, for a ten minute presentation you should have five to seven slides,
  • design your slides appropriately for the subject that you are talking about,
  • when your present orally, use the PowerPoint presentation to organize your talk,
  • slides should not be text-heavy,
  • do not read from slides only; create notes to fill in the details that are missing on the slides, but remember you should only spend 90-120 seconds on each slide,
  • speak loud so the whole class can hear you,
  • practice, practice, practice,
  • use this example to draft your presentation.

Criteria

In this presentation you should...

  • inform your peers and instructor about your subject.
  • cover the points listed in "The Content" section briefly, but with detail (in other words, choose the important details).
  • pose interesting questions; makes attempts to go beyond the questions posed by the general public and the media.
  • You will present on the day that you are assigned (June 19, June 20, or June 21). On the morning that you will present, send your PowerPoint Presentation as an attachment by 8am.