One of the things I like about ending 201 with a 5-6 week Social Science project is that it allows me to hit on and/or review so many writing skills/strategies.
All Social Science studies have four major sections: 1. the introduction (with literature review and the posing of inquiry); 2. The methodology (which requires descriptive writing, process-analysis, reporting etc), 3. The data section (which requires primary research collection/design, reporting, summarizing, control of language in terms of remaining–or least seeming to remain–“objective”) and 4. The discussion (which requires students to synthesize/analyze the data and present an evidence-based argument/thesis).
Though I’m always looking for ways to rework it, the Social Science study is a rhetoric instructor’s dream.
The second link below is the rubric for the project. There is a model for this project in the student writing section of the web site. Click here for the model.
Teaching Writing at John Jay College 