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Overview
Identify a news article that
discusses a current event or social issue that relates to your field of
study.
Follow the instructions below to
explain the issue, provide an additional example of the issue, connect the
issue to your field of study, and pose questions about the issue.
See the Assignment 1 Model in Week 2
Content for an example.
Grading
This assignment is worth 100 points
(10%) of your final course grade.
Earning the maximum possible score
on this assignment will require students to:
Step 1: complete
all assigned components and answer reflection questions in the initial
submission (earning up to 85% of the possible points)
Step 2: revise and
resubmit the assignment and complete revision reflection questions (earning
up to 15% of the possible points)
To see required components and
associated points in the assignment rubric, please view this assignment
through the Assignments area of the classroom and scroll to the bottom.
Due Dates
The deadline for initial
submission of this assignment is the end of Week 2 (Tuesday, 11:59
PM Eastern).
The revision and revision
reflection will be due seven days after receiving feedback on your
initial submission or as specified by your instructor.
Connection to other
Course Assignments
This assignment will help guide you
identify a focus for your research and the remaining learning activities in
the course. You are developing a topic on which your research essay will be
based.
As you complete the tasks required
for this assignment, you will be working toward several of the course
outcomes:
·
- Begin the
writing process by exploring a topic (Relates to course outcome 3)
- Compose
paragraphs that explain an event or issue (Relates to course outcome 4)
- Demonstrate
accurate grammar and mechanics in writing (Relates to course outcome 5)
- Identify a
recent and reliable news source and provide APA documentation (Relates
to course outcome 2)
Step 1: Initial Submission (earn
up to 85% of the possible points for the assignment)
Your initial submission should
include all of the following components:
Source
First, identify your source for this
assignment. It should be one news article, available through the UMGC Library,
published within the past 12 months.
Content and
Organization
Number your answers and/or include
the assignment questions so your instructor can see that you addressed each
part of the assignment.
Respond to each of the following.
- Provide an
APA-style reference for the news article you selected. The format for
the reference is as follows:
·
Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of article in
sentence case. Title of Newspaper in Title Case and Italics. http://www.newspaperhomepage.com
Although the news article should be
available through the UMGC Library, provide the URL directly to the newspaper
that published the article. An APA reference entry does not link
to a library database record. It does include the URL of the newspaper
homepage, such as https://www.washingtonpost.com
- For your
instructor’s reference, provide the URL to the article in the UMGC
Library. This will be listed as “Document URL” in the library
record:
- Summarize the
article. Explain the event or issue covered in the article, assuming
your reader has little or no prior knowledge of it. Answer in 1-2
paragraphs.
- Describe a
specific real-life situation (other than one discussed in your news
article) where the issue at hand has been observed. This could be
something that happened to you or someone you know, or it could be a
related event in the news. Explain the connection to the event or issue
in your news article. Answer in 1-2 paragraphs.
- What is your
field of study and how do you see it relating to the event or issue in
your news article? Answer in one paragraph.
- What do you
want to know about the issue or event in your news article? List two or
more questions that you could pursue as part of your research. Though
you are listing two or more questions here, your research should
ultimately be focused on a single guiding question.
Language Choices
- As a writer,
you are free to decide how you use language, keeping the following in
mind:
- style: your
language choices should result in a consistent writing style that is
purposeful and aligned with your goals
- readability: your
language choices should ensure that your ideas are clear and easy to follow
- When
composing your assignment, think about the conventions for academic
writing, including:
- punctuation: this
includes things such as recommended use of commas, colons, and
apostrophes.
- word-level
accuracy: this includes things such as capitalization,
spelling, word-tense, and usage.
- sentence-level
accuracy: this includes things such as sentence boundaries,
subject-verb agreement, and pronoun-antecedent agreement.
- Take time to
review your language choices after you’ve drafted your assignment. Think
about your goals for the style of this writing and your own writing
habits (like using “text-speak,” omitting capitalization, or writing
sentence fragments). Revise as necessary to accomplish your style and
readability goals.
- Reading your
writing aloud is a helpful technique when reviewing your language
choices for style and readability.
Length and Format
Responses to individual questions
should follow the guidelines above, and the entire completed assignment
should be at least 700 words.
Incorporate these elements of APA
style:
- Use one-inch
margins.
- Double space.
- Use an
easy-to-read font between 10-point and 12-point.
Note: Title page is
not required, but make sure you include your name and a title that reflects
your topic at the top of the first page.
Reflection Questions
The reflection questions are to be
answered separately. Post these in the “comments” box when
submitting your assignment. You can number your answers or write them in
paragraph form. Be sure to address all four questions.
-
- Aside from
simply meeting the requirements, what were your personal goals for this
assignment?
- When
reviewing your language choices, what choices did you make to approach
your goals that stayed within or moved beyond standard conventions for
academic writing? To what degree, if any, did the content in the
Grammar Labs thus far impact your decisions?
- What parts
of your work on this assignment are you most proud of?
- What
challenged you in this assignment and/or where do you need additional
support from your instructor?
Step 2: Revise and Resubmit (earn
up to 15% of the possible points for the assignment)
Students who want to earn the up to
the maximum possible score can choose to complete the following revision and
revision reflection components of the assignment.
- Revise your
assignment based on feedback from your instructor, your peers, and/or
your own writing goals. In your revision, track the changes from your
first draft so that your instructor can easily identify where you made
revisions. Submit your revised essay as a file in this assignment
folder.
- Use
strikethrough to
indicate areas that should be deleted.
- Use bold-face to
indicate areas where you are adding content.
- Complete a
revision reflection. The reflection questions are to be answered
separately and posted in the “comments” box when submitting
your revised assignment. You can number your answers or write them in
paragraph form. Be sure to address all three questions.
1.
- Which areas of feedback did you choose to address
in your revised version and why?
- How did you address this feedback in your revised
version?
- Which areas of feedback did you choose not to
address in your revised version and why?
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