"do you believe in magic?" / You may NOT use your FREE PASS on this one
The Lovin' Spoonful

Not so much a discussion as a Pitch and another Pre-writing activity

Once again we have a Discussion that is a little different:

The Pitch (worth up to 20 points but only if you do BOTH parts; otherwise, it will be worth 0 points)

If you have ever watched shows like The Dragon's Den and its U.S. re-make Shark Tank, you know what a pitch is, but I am going to assume you have not.

When you pitch something, a product or a project (in this case it is the Creative Paper project), you are trying to get someone to back it, to support it, to give advice on making it happen. It has to be interesting and must seem like a workable idea. You have to explain the projet in some detail, and you need to show you have thought about it, some of the required tasks, some of the pitfalls and how you plan to get over those. It needs to be presented clearly, reasonably, thoroughly.

You will pitch your project as a discussion Post. Explain which option you have chosen and why. Explain the focus of your project (so, yes, in very broad terms, what is in your tent, or what night are you reviewing the circus, or what lost mysterious civilization will you be creating a museum exhibit for. If the project requires research (the museum does, the other two might), be sure you include at least two sources (if you use a generic source such as Wikipedia, then you need two additional sources) to show tht you have done your homework to make sure this is a workable project.

Also explain how you intend to present the project and why. Will it be a blogsite? a journal? a video, just an MLA-format manuscript? Why do you think that makes the most sense for your particular project.

Your Post should be about a page (about 300 words); if you do include sources, they must be complete Works Cited entries, but they will not be double spaced, etc.

The Preview (worth up to 20 points but only if you do BOTH parts; otherwise, it will be worth 0 points)

The Preview goes on the Discussion Board as a Reply to your own Post (your own Pitch).

This is a sample (300+ words plus pictures if you are doing a project with pictures, so definitely if you are doing the museum) of your finished paper. So for the tent, write this as part of a story (not an explanation); for the reveur, make it part of a journal; for the museum, share a couple of the exhibits the way you will present them in the museum. It can be rough (it probably will be). It does not have to be the beginning of your paper (and, in fact, it is actually probably better if it is not). Remember, this is a sample, a taste; you want it to be one of the tastiest parts of your project :)

There are two reasons you are doing the Preview:

  1. This shows me that you have actually begun and thought about it and are not waiting until the last moment (these projects take time).
  2. It allows me to give you feedback.

That last point is important, and I will be leaving feedback as a Reply to your Reply on the board. I will try to offer helpful suggestions, ask for clarification or more informationif it is needed, and let you know if you are wandering off track. And if you need to make changes, you can do so before the Sunday midnight reply deadline.

and so this leaves me with two more very-important points:

If I say you need to redo either your Pitch or Post, you really do need to re-do them if you want credit for the discussion. I am not trying to be an anchor or a bummer here; I want you to be able to demonstrate these skills; they are useful. And so ideally you will get your discussion up early and come back to read my comments quickly. If you do have to re-do something, then I will put more comments on your new Post or Reply or both, and so you may need to come look again. Do not wait until the last minute for this one please.

And if you STILL need to rework your proposal (that is what the two parts together are called) after the Discussion closes, I will contact you and have you re-work it and send it via e-mail.

I will create a Pitch and a Preview sample for you; it will be the first Post on Discussion 9.