English1130Winter2012/Collaborative Paper

Concept
This unit involves producing a collaborative paper and in-class presentation with up to four other members of the class. You will take the writing and research that you have already done and find a topic that will successfully build upon that work by combining it with that of other members of the group.

I will put you in groups according to the compatibility of your talks. I will use broad subject categories such as science, art, and education and/or find issues that different subject areas approach from different angles. For instance, a social scientist might have a different view of global warming than a physicist.

The point of the project is to find connections between group members' work and make a coherent meaning out of them.

Group Organization
I will organize groups based on the current enrollment in the course after the drop deadline. The maximum group size will be 5.

Each member of the group be responsible for the content of his or her section plus a significant editorial task, which are as follows.


 * Introduction writer
 * Conclusion writer
 * Formatter who makes sure that the paper uses MLA format consistently and correctly.
 * Sequencer who makes sure that the sections are in a meaningful order and that there are effective transitions between them.
 * Presentation manager

Being responsible for a task does not mean that you are the only person who works on it, just that you are person who manages that aspect of the paper. Collaboration means that everyone works together.

Tools
While face-to-face meeting that occur in class time will be important, a significant amount of work for the project will have to be done online. Indeed, all your online work for the rest of the semester will be devoted to this project.

You will need an online tool to allow for virtual meetings and for different members of the group to see what others are doing. You can arrange to meet online at a certain time and/or work independently.

The best way for groups to work together is to use Google Documents (See the informed consent notice on the front page of the syllabus.)When using a collaborative tool like Google Documents, it is a good idea for each writer to choose a unique font colour to identify his or her work. Google Documents also includes a presentation tool, but I recommend Prezi.

Presentation

 * 15 minutes
 * Each group member must present at least one slide/piece
 * Due Date: second to last day of classes

Paper

 * 2000 to 2500 words
 * PDF file
 * 12 point font
 * Double-spaced
 * MLA format
 * Due Date: December 6