Final Project :: Due April 22

I want to talk about the Final Project now, to get it on your radar with plenty of time to consider your options. Your Final Project is worth 50 points toward your final grade, and is due by 9:00pm Sunday, April 22nd.

For your Final Project, you will choose your favorite Blog Post, and expand it into a final paper, post or presentation. It may be a temptation to just automatically choose the Blog Post 5, as it is due one week later, but I hope you will choose the project that engages you the most, not just the one that is most convenient.

Your Final Project will be more than an expansion; it will be a deeper examination of the same project, and the concepts it addressed. I expect you to fix any problems you had in the original post, incorporating the feedback I gave you, as well as helpful suggestions from your peers. Then I expect you to push deeper with your analysis, showing off all that you have learned, and your ability to engage with your project at an academic level. You may need to conduct additional research, and you will have to use more of the course materials. Instead of using only the materials from the section in which you wrote the post, you will have the entire semester's worth of materials from which to draw.

You must use, explain and fully cite at least FIVE of the course materials (anything from the syllabus) in your project. I will be looking for you to integrate the concepts and materials from the class in a way that shows clear understanding, and an ability to synthesize materials into new knowledge. Remember to explain concepts well, as if the audience reading your post is not me, but someone with no prior knowledge of social deviance. Also remember that if the thought did not originate in your head--whether it be a historical tidbit, a concept, an idea or a theory--you MUST cite the specific originator of that idea. Be respectful, be thorough, and do no plagiarize.

Because I extended the word count for the individual Blog Posts, I need to adjust the word count for the Final Project as well. Where the syllabus says 1500-2000 words, the Final Project should now be 2000-3000 words.

As I said above, your Final Project can be a paper, post or presentation.

• If you want to do a traditional paper, it should be on double spaced pages, with full in text citations and a works cited. The font must be 12 inch (and comparable to a Times New Roman-type font), and the margins 1 inch. No cover sheet is necessary, but be sure to put your word count at the end.
• If you want to do a post, you may want to type it into your word processing software first, for word count, as well as spell check. The expectation will be the same as for the paper when it comes to content, but this will allow you the creative freedom to use images, videos, links and so forth.
• If you want to do a presentation, you have a few options. You can do a PowerPoint presentation, a podcast, a video, a web site, an academic poster, a pictorial...I am open. Please talk to me in advance so we can work out details, but plan on creating a presentation that lasts 5-8 minutes. Note: if you plan to do any of these options, please let me know by Tuesday, April 10th so we can discuss details, and make we leave sufficient time for presentations on April 26th.
  

To submit your Final Project:

• Extended Blog Posts should be posted to your personal blogs.
• Traditional Papers (or anything else you can turn in electronically) should be submitted to the Final Project Dropbox on Angel (under "lessons").
• Presentations will be submitted through Dropbox if possible, or you can email me a URL if it is posted online somewhere. If you create something that is available online, please link to it from your blog.
  

I strongly, strongly suggest you utilize the Writing Center if you have struggled with any of your Blog Posts. This is a Final Project for a 300-level, upper division course. I expect you to have ZERO mistakes when it comes to spelling and grammar, no matter the format. I also expect your citations to be perfect. If you are not 100% sure you can do this, get help. I will be grading with the highest of expectations.