6 Topic Proposal Assignment

Introduction:

Now that you have spent time thinking about some of the communities to which you belong and have completed a multimodal personal narrative/reflection on one of those communities, it’s time to write a proposal for community change. Please choose ONE topic from the following list. Over the next few months, you will explore this topic and how it affects your community through a variety of lenses.

List of topics to choose from:

1. Homelessness
2. Mental health
3. Commercial fishing
4. Recycling
5. Sex trafficking
6. Student loan forgiveness
7. Technology addiction
8. Technology privacy
9. Texting and driving
10. Addiction
11. Artificial Intelligence

Pick a topic that interests you and that you know you want to take some action on. This topic will be one that you will explore in depth throughout the remainder of the semester. In fact, the rest of your major writing assignments (image analysis essay; synthesis essay; summaries of eight sources; proposal argument; letter to the editor or a congressperson; and reflection/portfolio) will all build upon the topic you choose, so when deciding on a topic, try to think about it in a meaningful way. What do you want to find out more about? Why do you care? Why should others care?

What is writing for community change? It means digging into ONE topic, a process that includes aligning the issue you choose with your sense of community (multimodal personal narrative), analyzing your issue from a visual, rhetorical perspective (image analysis essay), understanding how sources ‘talk’ to each other (synthesis essay), reading about and exploring your topic from multiple perspectives (summaries), and arguing for solutions (proposing solutions essay) with a call to action (letter to editor/officials).

Assignment:

Craft a 3/4-page (200-300 word) proposal on one of the topics from the above list. Your proposal should include the following information:

• Description of/justification for your topic. Explain in a few sentences why you are drawn to this topic and why this topic matters to you and to others. If someone were to respond to your topic with “so what?” what would you say? How does this topic affect you and members of your community?
• What do you already know? On a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being a lot), how much do you already know about this topic? Specify what you already know in a few sentences.
• What would you like to learn? In thinking about this issue, what are three questions you have that you would like to have answered?
• What concerns do you have? When dealing with a new topic or controversial issue, it’s natural to feel some concern and trepidation. What, if anything, are you most nervous or uncomfortable about this topic?
• What are you excited about? It’s also normal to be energized about learning or embarking on something new. What are you most looking forward to learning or improving as part of this exploration and research process?

Requirements:

Use the MLA formatting guide to format your proposal. Double-space it, use Times New Roman 12-point font, etc.

Instructions for Use of Topic List and Digital Resource Folders:

1. Don’t just pick the first topic you see. Read the entire list and review all of the Digital Resource folders on Canvas (this will take a few minutes). As you’ve probably noticed, the 10 topics on the “Topic List” are quite large in scope; therefore, you’ll likely need to find a specific focus/direction/angle about that topic to explore. The Digital Resource folders contain valuable information, including government sources, pros/cons, poems, songs, videos, art, and more. In each folder, you will also find a list of possible directions/angles for your topic to help you focus. For instance, if you’re interested in mental health, you could possibly explore one of the following subtopics: mental health of teens, mental health of children, mental health days in school, social media and anxiety/depression, etc. If you’re interested in technology addiction, you could explore smartphone addiction or gaming addiction or Fitbit addiction, etc.

2. The subtopic lists in the Digital Resource folders are not entirely comprehensive. So, if there is a subtopic related to one of the 10 approved topics, which you feel strongly about or want to engage with that is not listed, you may submit that subtopic for approval. Please do not pick an issue that you have written an essay about before. This topic should be new to you because part of the writing and critical thinking processes is working through all the stages of exploration: excitement, grief, confusion, joy, anger, and engagement when it comes to finding ways that you can impact change.

3. Pick wisely. Once you have made your final decision, you are pretty much stuck with it–not because I’m trying to be mean but because every assignment from now until the end of the semester will flow from this topic/issue. You don’t want to be two weeks down the road and realize this is not the issue that you want to be engaged with/promote because by then you will have already completed your image analysis essay and will be working on the synthesis essay.

4. Have fun and be excited! We are at a pivotal moment in history when so much is in flux; it’s the perfect opportunity to really plug into your community and take a stand for something that you believe strongly in and want changed.