Senior Project
Global Studies Academy
Task| Resources| Letter of Intent | Outline | Thesis Statement | Due Dates | Citation within Text
Essential Question/Scenario
Complete a rewarding project that
will challenge your skills, benefit yourself and others, allow you to connect
with people outside of school, and contains all required elements.
During your senior year you are required to complete a Senior Project. The Senior Project has three components:
· a physical project
· a research paper
· a presentation of learning to community members
PHYSICAL PROJECT
The first component of the project is the “hands-on” experience, which is a real-life experience that fulfills a need or provides a service to the community or school. The student will connect with a community member who acts as the student’s mentor and provides some guidance and expertise on the project and will verify that the student spent at least 20 hours completing the project. This project is to be worked on and completed outside the regular classroom time. Students are required to keep a journal or project log. This year you will also be encouraged to choose a project from a list of approved school/community service projects or obtain approval for your own idea. (More information to follow.)
RESEARCH PAPER
The second component is a 10-page research paper. The paper will be your original work and require research and documentation of sources. Papers must meet a high standard and may require numerous revisions and editing. The paper is due at the end of the first semester.
PRESENTATION OF LEARNING TO THE COMMUNITY
The last component of the overall project is an oral presentation before a panel of judges. During the presentation, you will explain your project, the service you provided to the school and community and the connection to your paper.
RESPONSIBLE SCHOLARSHIP| Due Dates: CLICK HERE FOR DEADLINES.
One of the objectives of the Senior Project is to learn to prioritize your time to meet deadlines. You are expected to meet due dates. Not being at school on the day of a deadline does NOT excuse you from the responsibility of turning the item in on the required date. You are expected to arrange to have the item delivered to school prior to the deadline.
A successful Senior Project involves parent and teacher support as well as your own initiative and self-discipline. To graduate in June, you must pass each component of the Senior Project. This is one of the most rewarding experiences you will have in high school.
Click here for an outline of the letter of intent.
Be Brief.
Write about challenges you had to overcome.
Write about important, events, persons, places in your life.
Write about your education and goals.
Topic: What is your paper about. It can be related directly or indirectly to the project.
Direct relationship: Project, teaching dance to elementary students, Paper Topic value of
dance.
Indirect relationship: Project, organize health fair. Paper Topic AIDS in South Africa.
Essential question: The essential questions requires one of the following thought processes:
þ a question which requires the
development of a plan or course of action.
þ a question that requires the student to make a
decision.
þ a question that cannot be
answered with a yes or a no.
þ a question that sparks curiosity and sense of
wonder.
þ a question that derives a deep wish to
understand some thing that matters.
In-School Mentor: Ask a teacher or staff member to act as your in-school paper mentor.
The person should be willing to read your paper, correct errors and make editing suggestions.
Three references: There must be information already available for your topic. (If not, choose
a different topic.) The sources of information can be books, newspaper articles, magazine articles,
or one website. DON'T just say the source in general, i.e., books. Write the author and title of
the resource. You don't need the book or article for the letter, just the reference is required at
this time.
What will you do? Make? Create? Teach? Provide to the Community? Provide to the School? How
will others benefit from your senior project?
The senior project has a school/community component. Click here for a list of approved senior project.
Project Mentor: Find a person outside of school to be your mentor. This person must be an
adult in your selected field of study. This person may provide you with hands-on experiences, job shadow
experiences, interview contacts, and expertise advice. This person may not be a relative.
Write a statement indicating that you understand plagiarism and the consequences. You may use quotes
and paraphrase other's work, but you have to cite your sources.
For more information about copyright see:
http://www.templetons.com/brad/copyright.html
Copyright Basics - http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/bytopic/intprop/circ1.html
Answer your essential question. The thesis statement is your way of stating your position. It is a statement that can be argued. Someone with a different point of view could disagree with your thesis. The thesis statement cannot be answered with a simple yes or no, or by the checking of facts. The main sections of your paper will prove or disprove your thesis. Each section is related to the thesis.
Writing the Outline
Write your outline in WORD. Click here for a template. Change the text to match your specific paper. For example, where it says State Thesis, highlight this text and type your thesis. You can also add more to the outline if necessary.
Tip: Save this outline, you can easily send it to PowerPoint to be used as part of your presentation.
Inspiration software is available in room 208, 209, and 302. Creating an outline in Inspiration is especially helpful for visual learners.
Citations within Text: To practice making a citation within a text, do the following:
1) Open three word documents: The Milgram Experiment.doc
The Man Who Shocked the World.doc
2) The Milgram Experiment is a short introductory paragraph about Stanley Milgram. There are two direct quotes. FIND the two direct quotes and quotation marks to the text and the citation.
3) To find the quotes, read both excerpts: The Man Who Shocked the World and Obediance to Authority.
4) Use the information about the sources to create a works cited page. You may want to go to http://www.landmark-project.com/citation_machine/index.php to create the citations.
5) Print out the correct Milgram Experiment introduction and Works Cited (Contains two citations).
CITATIONS:
http://www.landmark-project.com/citation_machine/index.php
Search Engine
http://www.marcopolosearch.org/mpsearch/basic_search.asp
NoodleTools
http://www.noodletools.com/
Finding
Information on the Internet: A Tutorial
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Strategies.html
alltheweb
http://www.alltheweb.com/
Four NETS for Better Searching
http://webquest.sdsu.edu/searching/fournets.htm
Kids Click
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/KidsClick!/
Evaluating Web Pages: Techniques
to Apply and Questions to Ask
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Evaluate.html
Big6 Research Paper Organizer Process Guide:
http://www.standrews.austin.tx.us/library/ResearchPaperOrganizer.htm
Process Guide:
http://projects.edtech.sandi.net/staffdev/tpss99/processguides/index.htm
More Search Strategies
Four NETS for Better Searching
http://webquest.sdsu.edu/searching/fournets.htm
This site teaches four simple techniques for improving Web searches on Google,
each providing the user a better NET for "catching" information.
Finding Information on the Internet: A Tutorial
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Strategies.html
Librarians at UC Berkeley developed a five-step strategy for conducting
effective information searches, which they call "analyze your topic and search
with peripheral vision."
Web Search Strategies
http://home.sprintmail.com/~debflanagan/main.html
This site provides tutorials on strategies for using common search engines such
as Alta Vista, Google, Excite, and HotBot.
Search Engine Watch
http://www.searchenginewatch.com/
This tool describes how leading search engines work and also offers tips for
conducting effective information searches.
Teacher Tips and Tools
http://www.bcpl.net/~sullivan/modules/tips/index.html
Baltimore County Public Library's list of links relating to information literacy
skills: searching, organizing, evaluating, and presenting.