Assignments and Projects

Please allow yourself ample time to draft and revise your writing, rather than waiting until the night before an assignment is due. All writings for public distribution must be of professional quality. This means intelligent, thoughtful prose free of any patterns of error. While this principle holds for any work that you submit in this class, it holds even more for work that is circulated to your Community Partner, or for work that you do on their behalf. Plan to spend extra time revising that work.

portfolio (individual)
Positioning Essay (3-4 pages)
In this essay, you discover a critical relationship about community involvement by triangulating two theoretical readings with your assumptions, experiences, and understanding so far. You may also bring some of the “service-learning” perspectives offered by Franklin, Heilker, and Bridwell-Bowles into conversation with the issues that your community agencies face.

Verbal and Visual Portrait (4-5 pages plus visual component)
For this project, you will interview and observe a key person (or “insider”) at your community agency, then compose a two-part portrait that creates a dominant impression of this person while addressing a critical issue from their point of view. Look for what isn’t there, listen to the silences, and weigh other perspectives. Consider how non-verbal cues and physical spaces can help you frame your argument.

Critical Bibliographic Essay (5-6 pages)
By now, you are invested in some issue, problem, or query – no matter how nuanced or small. After an introduction that contextualizes your research, in this essay you will discuss and synthesize five to seven (5-7) reputable academic or field sources that can help you to shape your issue differently. Think of this as an involved conversation with various experts, where you find points of convergence and divergence between their theories and consider what new theories they help you to build.

The “Big” Ethnography (7-9 pages)
This big ethnography gives you the opportunity to synthesize your research in a provocative way. This is not a typical final paper—it is a research-based argument that provides a focused view of your community agency, in which you make a unique observation about how they embody “leadership” or “civic engagement” by drawing on various sources of information you have gathered all semester long. Put more simply, this is your opportunity to write a nuanced response to your issue.

public document project and presentation (collaborative)
In addition to creating your own research portfolio, you will work with a group of your classmates on producing a public document or series of documents to enable your agency further its work. Your agency will help you to determine the need, audience, genre form, content, and structure of this document. In the last week of class, your group will present the project in an informal showcase with poster.

weblog (individual)
This semester, you will keep an individual weblog for posting approximately two sets of fieldnotes reflections and a few other short assignments. The fieldnotes reflections may be some of the most valuable information you gather all semester. The short blogging assignments will vary in scope, format, and method, and I’ll be interested in seeing you take risks, develop skills, and learn new things. Near the end of the semester, you will convert this blog into the portfolio that will feature your other work.