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Core Capstone Projects

All Core capstones require an integrative capstone project. The project helps students integrate and apply what they have experienced through their studies at ���ϲ�����, from first-year Core courses to this course.

The project should provide students opportunities for reflection on the components of the larger Core mission: ethical reasoning and personal and social responsibility.

The capstone project should have the following characteristics:

• Requires a substantial integrative project that integrates and applies what students have experienced through their studies at ���ϲ�����, from first-year courses to this course (examples include reflective portfolios, integrative research, fellowship/grant proposals, research-based multimedia projects, etc.).
• Provides opportunities for reflection on the components of the larger mission of the ���ϲ����� Core Curriculum: personal and social responsibility, ethical reasoning, and global citizenship.
• Referred to as a “Capstone Project of the ���ϲ����� Core Curriculum” on the syllabus.

Examples

COR 4410: Science & Humanity: War, Peace, and Prosperity

Overview: Your capstone project will be an in-depth analysis on the issues surrounding personalization of care for a medical condition of your choice. You will be expected to draw from multiple perspectives and approaches to the issues learned throughout the full four years of the core curriculum. The research paper must include the following components:

• A scientific description – biological basis of the disease, current methods of diagnosis and treatment, etc.

• An economic analysis – how many people does the disease affect? What is the cost of treatment versus prevention? What market forces are driving the way care is provided for your disease?

• Policy analysis – What regulatory policies should be adopted for a personalized medicine perspective of this condition?

• A social analysis – In what ways are social forces driving the development of personalized medicine for this condition?

• An ethical evaluation – What ethical issues are there with a personalized approach to this condition?

• A global connection – How will a personalized medicine approach to this condition affect people in developing nations? What about right here in Alamance County? Your final products will be an in-depth, scholarly 20-page paper and a 20-minute oral presentation for the class. The paper should provide an in depth discussion of the multiple perspectives listed above using credible evidence from high quality sources, and using clear and logical reasoning. You can get free help from the ���ϲ����� writing center in the library: http://org.elon.edu/writingcenter/.

COR 4330: Coming Home: The Impact of Studying Abroad

Our Capstone Experience will be holding a “conference” on the impact of study abroad on undergraduates. Each student will create a “paper” and poster so that we can hold a mock conference on the impact of study abroad. Each paper will be initiated by the student and reflections upon study abroad. We will settle on individual projects around Spring Break. Prior to then, we want to explore the study abroad experience, so that we can better understand its impact. Then each of us will focus on a specific question we want to explore. Your project will be the culmination of this exploration.

COR 3500: Craving, Desire and Wisdom in the Age of Amazon

This project is the culmination of your work in the class, and it is intended to be a deeply reflective representation of your academic experience at ���ϲ�����. In this class, it will be a project that must integrate at least two media forms: the formal academic essay and image. You may also integrate more media forms, depending on the nature of your proposal. In this project you will offer a definitive scholarly position on the course question. The paper must be between 10 and 12 pages, exclusive of bibliographic information and title pages, doublespaced in 12-point standard font, and employ MLA style. You must provide and use four scholarly sources (books, edited collections, or journal articles) beyond any course texts you use. You are strongly encouraged to begin research during the first week of class. You may write on any aspect of the course question, but you must integrate multiple disciplinary perspectives in ways that demonstrate the full force of your ���ϲ����� integrative experience. You should use your weekly essays to explore issues or ideas that you believe to be useful to the broader project.

COR 3070: The Future Now

Capstone Portfolio Part I: A futures-oriented Expert Briefing (research report) on a topic that ties into your career and future goals. This written report must should be at least 5 FULL pages or more in length, single-spaced, in 12-point Times New Roman, with 1-inch borders. Please be sure to see the separate handout with more of the details on this assignment, the grading criteria and see the course calendar for the deadlines. Expert Briefing Oral Presentation. You will use the material you gather for your written version of your Expert Briefing and prepare a 3-minute oral presentation with 8 or more slides – the first must be a title slide; the last must include 5 key takeaways. You will give this talk in class at the end of the term.

Capstone Portfolio Part II: The Top 10s and Other Futures Elements. You will assemble an annotated series of Top 10 lists of: futures-thinking people; futures-oriented organizations; futures trends and/or issues; futures bloggers and/or Twitter information curators; and futures themed films (or TV series or books or a combination – your choice). If you find a lot to like you can expand your lists to be Top 15 or Top 20 lists. You will be provided with starter lists with some suggestions, but you are asked to tailor your lists to fit your specific future goals. See the course calendar and the Google Drive documents on this for details and requirements of this assignment and your deadlines on the Top 10 lists.

The Core Capstone Project Parts I and II – The Futurist Portfolio – will include 1) your Expert Briefing research report and 2) your Top 10s and any other high-value elements you would wish to include in a portfolio that shows off your interests as a futures thinker. You will combine your Expert Briefing paper with your Top 10 lists in a PDF portfolio you can use as a writing sample and point of discussion in job interviews in your chosen field – this package is your Core Curriculum Capstone Project.

COR 3240: Work and Society Globally Networked Age

The focus of the Course Core Capstone Project is a team-based research project in which each team selects, researches and presents to the class a “perspective” on some aspect of work and society that is of interest to the team, relevant to the material covered in the course and integrative in nature in a way that integrates and applies learning experiences across the curriculum (i.e. research, analysis, critical thinking, presentation, and reflection including reflection on how learning from the research connects with the larger mission of personal and social responsibility, ethical reasoning, and global citizenship).

Each team will have 20-30 minutes in which to present their findings and reflections to the class. There will be a brief Q&A after each presentation and a general discussion after all presentations at the end. Possible topics might be (but are not limited to) the following:

• Generations & Work/In the Workplace

• Work & Family

• Work-Life Issues/Balance

• Work in Different Sectors (e.g.For-Profit, Not-for-Profit, Governmental, Military, Faith)

• Particular Profession(s)

• Working Demographics, e.g. age, gender, race, class, immigration, etc.

• Working Animals

• Work in Other Country(ies), Culture(s)

• Work, Society & Technology

• Working Machines

• Work & Time

• Work & Space/Place

• Work/Employment Trends

• Work, Society & Education/Education Trends

• Children & Work

• Ethics & Work

• Illegal Work, i.e. Child Labor, Prostitution, Slavery/Slave Trade, Drugs, etc.

• The Future of Work

Special Assignments TBD, but may include the following:

• Interviews

• Special reading assignments for class discussion

• Special topic research

*Some will be individual and some will be group assignments. All will include an individual written component consisting of a 2-3 page reflective essay connecting the Special Assignment to course materials and the Mission and Goals of the Core Curriculum.

Course Capstone Paper

The Course Core Capstone Paper should be a typed 4-6 page double-spaced reflection on your learning through the course and how that learning specifically relates to the Mission and Goals of the Core Curriculum along with reflections on the Core Capstone Group Project and what you specifically learned about “work” and “working” through that process and how it might connect to the work you hope to do after graduation from ���ϲ�����. While reflective in focus, the paper should be scholarly in nature with inclusion of citations & references from course readings & materials and other relevant sources using APA or MLA guidelines.

COR 3260: Human Sexuality

The objectives of the group presentation are:

1. To have you become familiar with the literature and research in a topic area related to the Capstone Course: Human Sexuality.

2. To explore the selected human sexuality topic through a global lens (outside the US) and reflect the global impact.

3. To have you link your major/discipline and your liberal arts education to the topic of Human Sexuality.

4. To have you contemplate global citizenship, social and ethical responsibility, and articulate how knowledge and theory will be applied in the real world and guide your future decisions.

An outline of your group presentation and 2 research articles (for your peers to read prior to your presentation) are due electronically, 1 week in advance of your scheduled presentation. No exceptions will be made except for documented illness. If your group does not email your outline and articles 1 week in advance, you may not present and you will not be allowed to reschedule or complete an alternate assignment. The group presentations must be approximately 40 minutes. The presentation must conclude with 2 discussion questions related to the research articles submitted with the presentation outline. All group members must speak in order to receive credit. If you are not in class to present with your group, you will receive a grade of zero.

COR 3570: Rome

Each student will complete a Core Capstone Project that uses Rome as a focal point but integrates and applies what you have experienced in your broader course of study at ���ϲ����� from first-year courses and language study, through Studies in the Art & Sciences and Advanced Studies, to your Engaged Learning Requirements (ELR), to this course. Topics could include science and the Vatican, racism, regionalism, feminism, football, or fascism. As the Capstone Project of the ���ϲ����� Core Curriculum your project should require that you reflect on materials, experiences, and skills beyond your major and minor courses of study at ���ϲ�����. It should connect in some way to your expectations for life beyond ���ϲ�����, especially it can be seen as the sum of your liberal arts education (including co-curricular interests and experiences).

Points to remember:

• How all of these pieces connect will be up to you! For some, the topic of the CCP will be an expansion from your major (or minor) studies at ���ϲ�����. For others, the process of researching, writing, or presenting the CCP will look like the kind of work you hope to do after ���ϲ�����. And for others, the topic and process of completing the CCP will be only tangentially related to your major or minor studies at ���ϲ�����, rather, the experience itself will offer an opportunity to reflect on the breadth of experiences central to a liberal arts education. It need not, and probably cannot, do all three, but the focus on balance is yours to determine.

• The CCP is self-guided (with check points) and independently designed (with the promise of good mentorship and engaged peer review). Consider yourself the “project manager”. Within reason you will decide what success will look like, determine what tasks need to be completed and in what time frame, and argue for why your project meets the requirements for successfully completing the course. As in the world beyond the carefully bricked walls of ���ϲ�����, your success or failure will largely depend on your commitment to doing good work, your integrity during the process, and finding creative solutions to complex trans-disciplinary problems.

• Your CCP can take a myriad of forms. Some examples would be: A traditional research paper with a unique thesis, a UNESCO application, a creative response (short film, dance, score, visual art, creative prose or poem), a travel guide, a business plan for a multinational company. Each of these projects must include:

• a scholarly research process spanning the course of the term.

• a textual component of at least 3000-5000 words (how this will be broken up will be up to the student).

• visual support (not just illustration, but careful consideration of visual and material culture as it relates to your CCP).

• a historicizing component (this may be primary or secondary)

• a connection to the contemporary moment (this may be primary or secondary). Individual Components of the CCP:

• 15 points / What’s the Landscape?: This assignment should include at least three possible. CCP project topics — in other words, you are surveying the landscape that will be your  interaction with “Rome”. As we have done in class you will need to take a bird’s eye view of possible topics. Each version of your project proposal should be no more than one page and should include a brief research question, at least one scholarly source (cited using The Chicago Manual of Style), and the form you think your final “product” and presentation will take.

• 20 points / What’s the Story?: The first annotated bibliography should include at least 10 scholarly sources. You should choose one source to serves as a model for citation practices. Put an asterisk by this model and include an example of in-text citation, an endnote, or a footnote, as well as a bibliographic citation. This will serve as the foundation for your style guide (to be completed later).

• 15 points / What’s Your Point?: Using your annotated bibliography as a starting place, you will *draft* a thesis statement that will serve as a guide for your project, as well as three to four opening paragraphs that explain how your thesis is based on your research and how it will be demonstrated across your project. For assistance crafting a thesis statement you might consult: http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/thesis-statements/

• 20 points / This. This is my point!: Your draft will take a number of forms depending on your final product but from the draft I should be able to see:

•The form your final product will take. For example, if you are writing a formal paper, an outline won’t suffice here. If you are making a film you need at least a script with some images, you get the picture…

•Your unique thesis, clearly marked in BOLD font.

•The “arc” of your project, in other words, you should have a basic intro, parts of your argument, and a conclusion.

•Your citation style in practice. This is the last instance where “accidental” instances of plagiarism can be revised without penalty.

•The draft should reference most of your bibliography.

• 30 points / Presentation: These will be divided between your in-class presentation (which can be NO longer than five minutes) and the formal “poster” presentations that will be open to the public. I will use the following rubric for both the Public and in-class presentations and will add the two grades together.

COR 4400: A Liberal Education: What Is It Good For?

The final project is designed to synthesize the semester’s readings and interpretations, using your own creativity, with your larger Core/���ϲ����� experience. You will design and create/implement a project that demonstrates your understanding of key concepts of liberal education and their relationship to life. For example, you can write a poem, story, play, or filmscript, create a website, video, or piece of artwork, illustrate a book, perform a dance, design and conduct an experiment, present a case, give a convocation speech, publicize the opening of a new college, imagine an interview with yourself after graduation, etc. Use your imagination and be as creative as possible! Sometime after mid-term you will need to set up an appointment with me to discuss your ideas and create a plan of implementation. As a means to ground your creative project you will deeply investigate one or two key concepts of a liberal education. In addition, you’ll investigate a key problem or concern that plagues our 21st century world. In a formal research paper of 14-16 pages, relying on sources from various disciplines, you will situate the core concept historically, as well as connect it to contemporary concerns or issues. Most importantly, you will use the skills acquired from a liberal arts education to provide the multiple perspectives surrounding the problem and pose logical, relevant, feasible solutions to that problem.

COR 4160: Wealth and Poverty

Over the course of the semester you will have the opportunity to put the research skills and creative thinking you have been developing through your Core Curriculum courses and, for some of you, your poverty studies courses into action through the development of a thorough and feasible design of a social change project that would contribute to the alleviation of poverty or address a corollary concern related to poverty.

• Step One: By the end of the second week of class you will be expected to submit a 300-400 word prospectus describing the problem or aspect of poverty that you would like to address in your social change project.

• Step Two: Submit a 250-word description of your preliminary idea for your social change project. These will be shared with the class and used as the basis for class discussion and development.

• Step Three: Submit a final 1250-1500 word plan that outlines your social change project step by step and includes the following: description of the social problem in context description of the social change project and how this project will help address the problem; discussion of staffing/resources, timeline, funding requirements, evidence of interest of community/partners. This project design will require: background research on issue, contact with people directly involved with the issue, the project to be informed by the course readings – intentionally and explicitly, it must provide a deliverable, it must be grounded in the appropriate disciplinary tools for the development of your project, it must be feasible and professionally presented. Next year’s Poverty and Social Justice class will choose one of these projects as their service project for the year.