This is the course website for English 309, Section A, taught by Quinn Warnick at Iowa State University during spring 2009. Please refer to the policy document and syllabus, found at the top of the center column, for more information about this class. Updates to the syllabus will be posted several days in advance, and any changes to the readings and/or assignments will be reflected in the summaries for each week.
Unit #1 Site and Topic Proposal
Unit #1 Site and Topic Proposal
(Due Thursday, January 22, at the end of class)By the end of the second week of class, I would like you to have selected a site and a topic for your project. You won’t have many of the details yet, but you will need to identify the problem or opportunity and have some idea about how to approach it. To explain your topic to me, you will write a short memo (no longer than one single-spaced page) to me as your instructor containing the following elements:
- A discussion of the organization and the problem/opportunity you have identified as the focus of your project
- A brief discussion of why this problem/opportunity is important to study
- A discussion of methods – how you plan to gather your research and from where or whom
- A brief discussion of who you think the audience for your project would ultimately be and what their positions are in the organization
- Thoughts on possible solutions to the problem based on your initial observations (of course, these are subject to change as your research develops)
- A request for permission to pursue this topic for your Unit #1 project