Digital Scrapbook (WRD110)
For this assignment, you will create a digital scrapbook that relates to your undergraduate major at UK and incorporates outside research. In this assignment, you will consider and respond to two key questions: What is my intended major, and why am I interested in it? and What are contemporary, real-world applications of my major? Then, we will reflect on the process of gathering sources for this project. If you do not yet know your intended major, browse UK’s (or other university name) undergraduate major offerings (relevant hyperlink) and select one that looks intriguing to you at this time.
Our process:
First, make a free Canva account at Canva.com. We will use this resource to build our scrapbooks. Your scrapbook must be at least five pages long and must include:
- In at least fifty words, a description of your major and why you are interested in it.
- At least one visual image that you located through research and that you think relates to your major/area of study or your experiences as they relate to your major. In at least one hundred words, describe why you selected this image.
- Identify at least two articles/sources that involve real-world, contemporary applications of your major. They do not have to be directly related. Examples: If you are a political science major, you may find source(s) about a current bill on Capitol Hill that interests you. If you are pre-med, you might find sources about a new cancer treatment. A fashion merchandising/textiles major might share designs from a runway show or a favorite designer’s latest collection. An English major might research the press surrounding a favorite author’s latest book.
4. In at least one hundred words, reflect on how these two articles relate to your major and why they interest you.
5. Include a Works Cited page, citing each source you reference in your scrapbook. Cite the sources in the style guide relevant to your major. We will talk about what this means in class.
6. Compose a Reflection Paper in a second document. The Reflection Paper should be at least 500 words and should answer most or all of the following questions: Where did you go to locate your sources? What was exciting or frustrating about the process of locating your sources? Where do you typically go to find information in your everyday life? If you were going to add another component to this scrapbook, what would you include, and why? Based on your research or your own knowledge, what is a contemporary issue relating to your field of study?
You will submit both the Canva scrapbook and the reflection paper to Canvas.
7. After submission, we will have small group, roundtable presentations to share our findings on (date of presentations).
Rubric (out of 100 points):
Uses Canva or another pre-approved software to build the scrapbook. 5 points
Scrapbook is at least five pages. 5 points
The scrapbook considers how and why the student chose the major. 5 points
The scrapbook includes a visual image from outside research. 5 points
The scrapbook reflects on the visual image selection. 10 points
The scrapbook locates two outside sources that relate to their major. 10 points
The scrapbook includes a reflection on the what/why of the articles they chose. 10 points
Sources cited and in the style of your major (MLA, APA, Chicago, etc). 10 points
Reflection paper is 500 words minimum and engages thoughtfully with the prompt. 20 points
Attends and participates in small group presentations. 20 points
Note:
This assignment is designed to be a small, opening assignment for a WRD110/similar course. Before we get into the minutiae of research–primary and secondary sources, Library Research Day, databases, call numbers, ILL, learning to read academic sources, citations and bibliographies, etc–I think it can be helpful to have a short assignment that asks students to conduct research in a low-stakes, hopefully-fun way that caters to their unique interests. The key to this assignment, in my mind, is the reflection paper. They will consider their current practices for gathering information, which opens the door to conversations about their past research experiences (in high school and elsewhere) as well as the shortcomings they might see in their own research methods. For example, what tools do they wish they had or knew about when they were searching for sources or information for the project? This gives me the opportunity to see where they are with research before we launch into introductory study. I also hope to pick up on the language my students use when they talk about research, so that I can build lessons that meet them where they are and speak in their terms.
I’ve reflected on your feedback, Jim, and I love the suggestion of using this assignment to teach students about writing in their discipline. To keep this as a mini-assignment and to prevent too many steps, I think this mini-assignment should serve as a springboard into a semester-long endeavor. It might be tedious to execute this, but ideally the course would allow students to research how academics/professionals/artists in their field of study write–and where they publish or otherwise share their work, and how to find and understand those sources–and compose a paper (or lab report, or poem, or memo, or lesson plan, or something else relevant to their major) that model these practices or otherwise speak to relevant, contemporary topics of importance in their major. Students would add these pieces to their digital scrapbooks throughout the term (some components required by me, other components up to them) and then share the final product with the class at the end. Vague for now, I suppose, but I’d love to try something like this if (hopefully when!) I teach freshman composition in a doctoral program.
