1/24: “Midterm” – Writing Reflection Please go to Google Classroom to see the materials needed for the writing reflection. Working independently, you have until 1:15 to complete this activity and submit it. You will be graded only on how thorough and complete your work is.

Wednesday, January 24th Today, we will begin to work toward our senior research projects (yes, that’s the essay part of the project). This essay will be an analysis essay (not to be confused with the argument or expository essay). To begin, I’d like you to consider your project and what possible topics you might want to research. Picking the right research topic is imperative to your work, as it will enable you to write a strong essay for your Senior Project Portfolio. Come to class with three ideas in your journal tomorrow.

Here are Some Model Ideas: If my Senior Project experience is… I should avoid topics such as… And instead should consider looking up issues such as… Job shadowing a doctor. What a doctor does on a daily basis. What positive and negative impacts is “Obamacare” having on doctors’ practice and patients’ access to care? What potential solutions show potential to help deal with the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and infections? Rebuilding a car’s engine. The process of how to rebuild an engine. What emerging technologies will influence carmakers in the future? What are different opinions about engine structure and efficiency, and what are the strengths/weaknesses of each? Volunteering at a homeless shelter. The numbers of homeless people in America What urban areas have implemented successful programs to deal with homelessness, and what made these programs successful? Which social systems (schools, government assistance, non-profit, etc.) can best prevent and/or respond to homelessness?

Warm up Questions 1/24 What makes the topics to avoid inferior to the more preferable topics? List as many reasons as you can think of. Based on this, what is a reasonable criteria for useable research topics? Do you like the topic ideas you chose for today? Why/why not?

Topic Ideas: Criteria It will explore an issue that individuals may have diverse perspectives or opinions about. The idea will not produce just a report about a topic. It will not be overtly persuasive, where you advocate for or celebrate one “side” over another. The paper that you will end up writing must provide balanced and unbiased research and analysis on multiple (more than two) perspectives or opinions related to the issue; in your conclusion, your paper will “come to a conclusion” based on a thorough analysis of all perspectives, and that conclusion may include the determination that one perspective is preferable to another.

Learning Targets: To distinguish strong topic ideas for senior research project essays. To establish a criteria for strong topic ideas. To annotate the Senior Research Project essay handout. To brainstorm project ideas.

Senior Research Project Find the SRE Overview packet in Google Classroom under SRE Materials. Open it and let’s discuss!

Homework Homework #1 (instructions can be found in Google Classroom under SRE Materials) due Next Tuesday: January 30th!