final project
You have explored four major forward-thinking, creative trends this semester. Now you are going to focus more closely on one of them.
But before we actually get to the projects, this one has some different options, so lets visit those first.
presentation of the project
Include lots of pictures! They don’t count as text pages, but they make your ideas clearer and a lot more fun.
The "paper" itself can be done a variety of ways:
You can type it up in MLA format, add the Works Cited page at the end (which is standard), and submit it like any other paper. Just add your pictures to the paper.
Or for those of you who are Websavvy, you can put this all on a (free) website or a blogsite, with images and text and maybe audio/video. Some easy sites to work with are WordPress, Wix, Weebly, and SimpleSite (there are many others). Put up a tab for the Works Cited page.
NOTE: If you choose to do this as a blogsite or website, you have to determine the length by word count, rather than pages. You still need to have about 1500 (or more) words of text. You can easily figure page count and/or word count if you compose the text in Word and then copy/paste the different parts of the paper into the different sections of your site. I do understand that the spacing, margins, etc. will not conform to MLA manuscript (paper/essay) format. The Works Cited information and all parenthetical citations, however, should conform to what you see in your MLA Works Cited file and on the Purdue OWL MLA site. E-projects should not be printed out; instead, you will e-mail me the URL of the site, so that I can access it (and be sure it is set to Public viewing, or I won't be able to access it).
a few additional requirements
This paper is 5-8 pages (not counting any picuturs or the Works Cited). To be accepted at all your paper must be a minimum of five full pages (trying for a "C") and at least six full pages (trying for a higher grade).
That may seem lengthy for you (it's standard for a freshman research paper), but Remember the first 3-4 pages are already done. The first 1/2 of this paper is one of your 100-point essays. You are adding to that paper here, adding a new, longer ending which will showcase both your creativity and your practicality.
If you are turning this in AS a paper, it must be in standard MLA format; if it is being done as a website, then it will not be in MLA format.
You have already done some research for all of these topics. Super! You will probably need additional sources for the part of the paper you are adding here. The minimum number of sources you must have (and quote from, parenthetically cite, and put on your Works Cited page) is three. I strongly recommend you find substantive, detailed, text-rich sources. Short web articles with lots of pictures are not going to get you a very good paper or good grade. BOOKS are actually your best sources, though they require a bit more effort to find.
You must have direct quotations in your paper from each of these sources, and every direct quotation must be followed by a parenthetical citation (yes, I am making sure that you know how to do this; it is central to the course).
All of these should have pictures, of course, though pictures do not count as pages of text.
ok, now choose only one of the following topics for your project
they may look oddly familiar
Topic 1 - Repurposing/Upcycling
This topic is ideal for those of you who have the DIY bug, who love making/crafting things, who have the urge to transform spaces in clever ways, who like to do things hands on. If you choose this topic, you will actually be creating a space that incorporates several repurposing/upcycling projects (or you will, at least, be getting a start on it).
The first thing you will be repurposing is your Too Much Stuff paper. All of that work you did won't go to waste. So unless you need to make some imporvements on that shorter paper, it could be word-for-word the first 1/2 of your Final Project.
So what's the second half?
You are going to apply those principles to an actual makeover of a significant space--your room, your living area, your back yard, your study area, your _______. And you are going to do it economically and creatively, in a way that suits your needs, by upcycling/repurposing some of that "stuff" that you have lying around. Yes, you can go out and get more stuff (wine crates, pallets, bricks, etc.), but you are trying to show you can convert unused things into useful and maybe even beautiful things.
So for the largest part of your paper, the entire second half, probably, you will have pages of detailed, step-by-step projects (which you actually do and photograph at each stage) showing your transformation of that space.
Create an overall theme or goal for your space. One student did several projects to create a romantic dining area by an outdoor fireplace. Another student wanted to create an entire storage wall for ZERO DOLLARS (and she did); fortunately, she had quite a lot lying around her house. A description of that space and the theme or goal will begin the second half of your paper (don't forget to have a transition from the first 1/2 of your paper, something like,
So repurposing has now reached a point beyond trending; it is a revolution, and looking around at all of the junk in my house, I realize it is time for me to join the revolution. My goal is to create a relaxing, beach-themed dining area by...
And off you go.
Here are some tips:
THIS TOPIC TAKES TIME. You are actually physically creating this upcycle project and photographing each step; do not choose this topic if you do not have the time.
be creative; do not just copy common, existing projects (there are, for example, over 1000 wagon planters and ladder towel racks on Pintrest--that is NOT showing your imagination)
do feel free to apply your VARIATIONS to existing projects (if you love hockey, than making a towel rack from old hockey sticks MIGHT just work as one part of your project)
be sure that for each project in your space makeover that you give enough step-by-step instructions (with pictures) for your reader to be able to duplicate it at home; if there is not enough information for a reader, then it's not really useful
if you have a HUGE project (you want to transform a broken-down pickup truck into an outdoor seating area with the wheels serving as the base of a water feature, well, you may not be able to finish that in this class, but you can start and write up (and draw) how you envision the REST of the project will turn out)
be sure that any project you do take from another source is given full credit (citations and a Works Cited entry)
ALSO NOTE: Repurposing is not the same thing as refinishing. Please don't refinish a table or chair and show me a new version of a table or chair. Instead, find a new way to use that table or chair. Here are a few links you can look at to get ideas (remember, though, this is just for ideas; you are doing your own original upcycling with your own "stuff"):
Topic 2 - Alternative Housing
As I noted in the "a few additional requirements" section above, you really have laid the foundation for this project. You will use your 100-point Altenative House paper will as the first 1/2 of this Final Project. You already (should) have an opening, some historical background, some thoughts on trending, and a general idea on what your own dream house would be. You've got some research worked into that part, and you will want to get additional research material for the rest of your paper.
Which is?
In the second 1/2 of your project, which comes after you've given the reader some background, will be an expansion of the last, short paragraph in your original paper. You will describe the alternative house of your own design that you would like to live in and why (consider ecological reasons, economic reasons, lifestyle reasons, and so on); is your goal to be self-sustaining? mobile? surrounded by nature or fantasy? compact and uncluttered? mortgage free? Describe the kind of house that will give you all of those things you want; your transition from an earlier section of the paper might be
My goal is to live a simple, uncluttered, efficient life that allows me to travel the country and pursue my passion for rock climbing; to do that, my idea house would be a converted bus.
And then off you go. Design it.
Yes, the larger part of your paper (with pictures, drawings, a floorplan (absolutely required) will be your house design. There are lots of things to consider:
Why are you wanting this particular kind of house (does it fulfill a fantasy? are there economic reasons? is it particularly eco-friendly or high-tech? all of these?
A description of the design and build process. IMPORTANT: that means you will be doing additional research on costs, building obstacles and how to overcome them.
So how do you deal with electrical and plumbing in a tree house? What are zoning restrictions on a container house? What are the costs of finding a place to park a mobile tiny house? etc.
If the space is limited or far away from "civilization," what special furnishings or appliances or storage or power devices will you have?
If you have luxury items (maybe a cat bed), how will you work that in?
What is it like actually living in an underwter house? a converted school bus? a cave home? AGAIN, IMPORTANT: this will require research; you will want the actual words from people who live this lifestyle here.
What you IMAGINE it would be like is not enough.
FINAL REQUIREMENT: regardless of which format you choose, you must include a floor plan (you could use free floor plan software on the Web, or you could sketch it out and scan it or take a photo of it). If you can also include images of "things" (maybe a wind generator you will have in the front of your house), please feel free to include those as well. Pictures do not count as text pages, but they sure make the project look better and more fun.
Here are a couple of links you can look at to get ideas:
Topic 3 - Intentional Community
Once again, you really have done the first half of this assignment. In your shorter intentional communities paper you incorporated an opening hook, explained what Intentional Communities are (including a quoted/documented definition), gave some background information on a range of communities (which you got from your research), and briefly speculated on what sort of community you might possibly like to join in or create. And, of course, you provided a correctly-formatted Works Cited page at the end.
The last paragraph of your shorter paper explained what sort of intentional community you would imagine designing..
Now you will expand on that last short paragraph and make it the second 1/2 of your project (with pictures, drawings, a community map--absolutely required) which will describe an intentional community that you design. This is not you moving into an existing community (though you can borrow ideas from many existing ones). It needs to show your unique philosophy or passion. It needs a clear, narrow, practical focus (it cannot be something as general as "It will be filled with Mormons"). However, if you have a particuarly unusual group that falls into a small religious-or-spiritual niche (such as practitioners of Reiki or people devoted to Zazen, then that will work. If you are unsure about this, please ask. There are lots of things to consider:
Where will it be located (why?), and what is the unifying principle and guiding philosophy of the community? Do not give some general, abstract, cliche answer to this; something such as, "Everyone will be peaceful and respectful" is NOT a unique or defininig principle/philosophy. You need something unique, clear, focused, exact. So you want somethign like this:
orThe community will center around live theater arts
orThe entire community will focus on abandoned pet rescue
Everythiing from farm-to-table will be a micro-community that supports and surrounds a handful of organic pop-up restaurants
VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: all of the following details of your community must be researched, so, yes, you will likely need more sources.
Things such as costs and obstacles that other communities have experienced and what life is like in similar communities are not just what you IMAGINE them to be; you need to look those things up, quote, document.
What materials used to build it (why?), the electrical and plumbing systems, and any problems you would have dealing with nature or legal limitations or just engineering?
What determines who is included and/or excluded? What are all of the needs of the community? How will you keep it going? How will it be self-sustaining? For example, if you have a theaer arts community, you will need people to do tech, others to do the productions, others to do maintenance, advertising, front of house, accounting, etc. You will need actors, writers, directors, etc., and you have a lot of equipment and sets to pay for (and a community to feed), so will you support the community with play productions? What sort? How often?
How will the community be organized? Who goes where and why? How are community responsibilities divided? How is the community financially stable?
What would a day in the life in this community actually be like.
FINAL REQUIREMENTS: regardless of which format you choose, you must include a Community Map showing housing, landscaping, key buildings, etc. You also definitely want to include pictures, even though pictures do not count as text pages, but they sure make the project look better and more fun. Last comes that Works Cited page (which you may have added to for this second part.
Topic 4 - Google Projects
Just like the other topic choices, this one will be built onto work that you have already done. Unless there were problems that need fixing in your Google Projects paper, then much of that will serve as the first 1/2 of this Final Project. You ended that by considering one specific project you would pitch to Google if you could; YOU WILL NOT BE EXAPNDING ON THAT; that is actually far too difficult for this paper because you would have to research how to make that project a reality, but it still is one possible way to conclude this project with an interestingh twist. The part you are going to expand on with a lot more detail is the part just before that last paragraph, the part where you focused on one Google Project that seemed particularly useful or inventive or necessary or creative or _______ that you thought was worth supporting. That last section might change (if you wanted to focus on a different project), or it will just be greatly expanded upon. It made up about two paragrahs in the shorter paper; here you will expand that to at least two pages with a lot more detailed examples.
This should not just be a personal opinion (such as, "I don't believe in warfare"). Instead, consider the actual implications of the project; imagine (and logically describe) what some of the positive or negative consequences might be and the impact the project might have (plus or minus). Try to be objective. Some projects are "neat" but impractical, beneficial but cost-prohibitive, tantalizing but outside the reach of current science/technology. Here is one instance (this is an expansion of an existing project; actually, it is now a discontinued project):
If the Waymo driverless car is successfully developed, one of the logical applications would be to eliminate the need for drivers of long-haul trucks. This would potentially eliminate accidents and the need for trucks to be out of service as drivers rest, but it would also eliminate hundreds or thousands of jobs. The effect to the economy might be...
You would need to research (use authoritiative, documented quotations in much of this section) that shows (in detail) some of the safety projections, some of the instances that have made the news. Do some research on the cost in jobs, etc. Make comparisons with driverless Uber cars, etc.
Here are some tips:
The most obvious is not necessarily the best; yes, there is a ton of information on Waymo and Project Loon and Ara, but those have been done a lot. There are loads of smaller projects that are quite intriguing, even things like Ingress as a proof-of-concept for Pokemon GO which is likely a proof-of-concept for _______.
On the other hand, be sure that the project has enough information on it to build a detailed, supported argument (for or agains keeping the project).
Be sure that you give plenty of information about the project and its goals.
Consider as many things as make sense in this argument to fund/defund the project (how many does it serve? is it practical? what are the benefits/costs? what are some of the technical problems? are there actual incidents to back up your claims? Project Loon, for example, is currently WORKING in Puerto Rico).
Yes, present both sides, but WEIGH which things seem most important and base your QUALIFIED decision on that.
SPECIAL NOTE FOR THIS PROJECT: With the possible exception of a personal example in your short opening, DO NOT use first person ("I" or "me" in this paper). Avoid anything like "I think" or "I believe"; instead, let the examples and the research lead logically to the conclusion. Use actual evidence (not opinion) to convince the reader.
And here are a couple of sites on the Google Mural Project (just so you can see some examples; you must pick a different project):
sample assignments
Check out the Sample Student Papers folder in the Files section of Canvas :)