The Analysis: People, Positions, & Values (APPV) project presents the evolution of your analytical work on a community conversation. Building upon elements you developed in the AIS project, you examine the key voices in the conversation, including the arguments that define their positions and values they represent. The project culminates in your assessment of the quality and effectiveness of these elements. The APPV is challenging because it requires respectful representation of people, positions, and values, and careful analysis of quality in these same areas of inquiry.
This project requires submissions for two stages: draft and final. All files are submitted to an APPV folder in your shared course space on Dropbox.com.
At the Draft stage, submit the following documents:
The final submission includes the documents from the draft stage AND the following documents:
See the Submission Guidelines for details on how to name, format, and organize files.
Document type: memo, essay
Document length: 150 words (memo), 1500 to 2000 words (essay)
Project value: 250 points (50 for draft; 400 for final)
Evaluation rubric: _ENG111_Eval_APPV.pdf
The APPV continues the work that began with the Analysis: Issues & Stakes project, and thus it too results in an essay that frames a conversation that is ongoing or that has taken place in a community or between communities. The emphasis here is on extending the work of that first essay where you introduced the conversation, its core issues, and what is at stake with those issues. This project completes the intellectual arc by implementing appropriate research processes and scholarly/professional source materials to present the ideas promoted by the participants in the conversation.
Because the APPV project builds on the foundation you established with the AIS project, your first challenge is to make sure that the framework for discussion that you constructed in that first project works well. Assess that work with an open mind. Have you made clear what the conversation is about? Have you identified the people/groups/organizations who are engaged in that conversation, and what is at stake for each? Is it clear what ideas/values are relevant to the conversation for each participant? If you are not absolutely confident of strong, positive yes answers to these questions, then begin your work for the APPV project there.
As with the AIS essay, your principal challenge here is to help readers understand a conversation in its community context. The difference is that you must now draw on source material, your own experience (if applicable), and your conversations with anyone involved (again, if applicable) to present the conversation, its participants, their positions and values in greater depth, and whenever possible, in their own words.
In support of your work for the AIS project, I offered several questions that you might use to guide the development of your work. Those questions are still relevant now.
Your essay should incorporate the following elements.
Once again, your goal here is not to solve problems. Rather, your primary objective is to represent ideas well and in the detail so that readers might understand the issues and the stakes for the conversation you present.
A memo of transmittal introduces the document it accompanies, providing context for its audience(s). You will craft such a memo for the draft and final submissions of the WHST project. Both memos should be addressed from you to me.
Your draft memo should incorporate the following content and design elements.
Consult the sample documents (see SVSU Canvas Files: Project Support) for additional guidance.
Your final memo should incorporate the following content and design elements.
Consult the sample documents (see SVSU Canvas Files: Project Support) for additional guidance.
Recommended tool(s): Microsoft Word
This section offers guidance for how to interpret the project and how to proceed with your work on it. Consider the following strategies.
Readers see the world through your words and images. Ask yourself these questions as you write, and again when you think your draft is complete. Have I made clear what community/communities I am discussing? Have I framed the conversation well? Have I demonstrated the importance of the issues for the participants in the conversation? Have I made clear what is at stake?
This section is designed to help you anticipate and avoid problems as you work on this project. Therefore, as you work, consider the following hints and tips.
You establish your writer ethos with the way you present your discussion. Be as specific and concrete as you can throughout your discussion. The more details you incorporate into your essay, the more reader-aware you appear to be. That helps establish and maintain your credibility and authority. However, it is also important to focus on the details that truly matter for understanding the conversation and its context. Focus on the details that are important to understanding these things.
Remember that academic (and professional) contexts value highly the ability to write and speak with economy, directness, and professionalism. Another way of saying this is to make every word count. Stay focused on the details necessary to understand the conversation, its participants, and its stakes. Write and rewrite until your explanations make sense, and represent careful, concise, professional communication.
Edit carefully, seeking to express your ideas clearly and concisely. Edit out loud with the intent of writing in such a manner that your sentences sound focused and confident. Strive for high levels of professionalism and consistency in your work. Refine your document continuously throughout the stages of development.
The revisions and refinements you make from the draft to the final submission may help you understand your design process, and therefore your professional development in more-sophisticated ways. Archive your drafts of projects throughout your coursework, so you are able to examine your growth and maturation.
Read and attend carefully to these submission guidelines. Failure to do so may result in delays in receiving feedback on the draft of your project, or in points lost on the final evaluation of your project.
Create a project folder inside your shared class folder on Dropbox.com. Remember, I can only view files that you place inside the shared folder. Until you place files in that space, you have not in practice submitted them.
Name the folder APPV.
Note. Do not share this folder with me. By placing it in your class folder, you have already shared it by default.
Convert all files to portable document format (PDF) prior to submitting them. Make sure the files listed below are available to me in the project folder by the draft deadline. Model your filenames on the listed examples:
Note. Do not share the individual files with me. By placing them in your project folder, you have already shared them by default.
Convert all files to portable document format (PDF) prior to submitting them. When you assemble your final submission for the WHST project, there will be 5 files in the folder. Again, model your filenames on the examples listed here.
Note. Do not share the individual files with me. By placing them in your project folder, you have already shared them by default.
Take the time to organize your work as directed here, and to name each file properly. This helps me keep track of your work, and makes clear which files are meant to represent the on-going and final stages of project development.
This section describes the standards by which your draft and final submissions will be evaluated.
There are 50 possible points for this project draft. You will earn points according to the following standard.
There are 200 possible points for the final project. You will earn points according to the following standard: 50% content development and organization, 25% style & conventions, and 25% impact of revision. The specific areas of emphasis for this project are drawn from the description and discussion of the project, and are detailed in the evaluation rubric (_ENG111_Eval_APPV.pdf).
Remember that I will only post the point values for projects on the Grades page in SVSU Canvas. I will post the details relevant to that evaluation in your class folder in a project-specific file.
If you are here because of random chance, or because this content came up in a search, then poke about, and read if you see something useful or interesting. If you are a teacher in any context and would like to use any of this content in your courses, feel free to do so. However, if you borrow this material, please do two things: