Just a reminder -- on Monday, EL 227 students have a one-page term project proposal due. As I've said in class, I'm expecting more than just "I'd like to do something on popular music." I'd like to see some evidence that you researched your topic and found an area that has not yet been covered. (If you can give me clippings or printouts of articles that are similar to what you want to accomplish, that will help tremendously.)
Here is the relevant section from the syllabus:
Term Project (a well-researched news feature suitable for publication in a news magazine -- this would be more substantial than showing up at a lecture and writing down what the speaker said; or, an issue-driven, academic paper that makes a specific argument about some issue of the practice of journalism (how it is affected by ethics, gender, politics, technology, etc.). 4-6 pages, with an annotated portfolio of research notes (including rough drafts, printouts of web pages or e-mails consulted, interview notes, etc.)
Questions I will ask on everyone's proposal...
What is your angle? (That is, what will differentiate your particualr article from all the other articles that have been written on your topic? You aren't the first person to write on, for instance, the cafeteria food, parking troubles, file-sharing and digital copyright, U.S. policies in Iraq, etc.)
What will your sources be? How will you ensure that your own biases don't affect your presentaiton of alternate viewponts? Will your article be interesting to a wide range of readers (i.e. those who don't eat at Seton Hill's cafeteria, those who aren't college students, those who haven't ever heard of the band you want to profile and don't like that genre of music).
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