For the first major project, you will explore and document your own perspectives, experiences, and ways of being in relation to the themes and discussions thus far in the course. “Literacy” in this context includes your background—knowledges, languages, social and cultural influences, and forms of expression—not just reading and writing skills.

The goal of the assignment is to write your own narrative, situating yourself within the spaces, identities, knowledges, and forms of communication with which you engage. Consider how elements such as your neighborhood, ethnicity, culture, languages, interests, and academic goals influence your worldview and ways of knowing. How do they affect the way you move and who you are?

This project is an opportunity to archive your voice and lived experiences, and to reflect on how they intersect with the course theme of Writing as Being.

Submission Deadline: Sunday, October 4 by 11:59 PM
Submission Protocol: Email / Course Site
Weight: 15% of Course Grade
Requirements
– Word Count: 1,500 words minimum
– Formatting: Double-spaced, MLA Format

Building on the personal archiving you participated in with the first major project, this assignment asks you to analyze how your identity, experiences, and ways of knowing intersect with the communities you are a part of.

This project calls for you to position yourself within the broader social, cultural, and historical contexts of the communities that shape your knowledges and ways of being. This can include communities defined by geography, ethnicity, language, interests, academic pursuits, or other shared affinities.

Through this project, you will engage in an analytical process that helps you dissect both written texts and the unwritten norms and values present in the communities that influence you. Your analysis should include, but is not limited to, relevant texts or discussions from our classes, using them to support your insights and claims about community and self.

You are the resident expert of your community. Your “text” for this analysis is a primary cultural artifact from your life (e.g., a specific linguistic dialect, a family tradition, an unwritten neighborhood rule, a workplace dynamic). Your primary analytical tools should be the relevant texts, theories, or discussions from our syllabus. You will use the course readings as the framework to dismantle and explain your community’s norms.

While you are not prohibited from bringing in outside research or external texts if they genuinely enhance your point, your lived experiences and personal artifacts must remain the center of gravity for this essay. Do not let external research speak for you or overshadow your voice; use it only to supplement the friction between your own life and the assigned readings.

Submission Deadline: Sunday, November 1 by 11:59 PM
Submission Protocol: Course Site / Submission Portal
Weight: 20% of Course Grade
Requirements
– Word Count: 2,000 words minimum
– Formatting: Double-spaced, MLA Format

Continuing the explorations of self and community from the previous projects, this research-based assignment invites you to dive deeper into a topic or question that has emerged for you through the course readings, discussions, and your own writing—something that just hasn’t left your mind since we commenced the course. Your research topic should relate to the broader course themes of identity, community, and ways of being.

This assignment aims to develop a well-researched, analytical essay that draws insights from course materials as well as outside sources. You should construct a guiding research question to structure your inquiry and work towards a specific, evidence-based argument or conclusion. This project provides an opportunity to delve deeper into themes and issues that resonate with you from the course, while also honing your skills in research, critical analysis, and academic writing.

Unlike Major Project 2, this assignment requires you to step outside of your own localized expertise and enter a broader academic conversation. You must utilize university library databases to find external, peer-reviewed sources, historical data, or cultural theory that help explain, complicate, or contextualize your research question. You will synthesize these outside sources alongside your own voice and the foundational course materials.

Submission Deadline: Friday, December 18 by 11:59 PM
Submission Protocol: Course Site / Submission Portal
Weight: 25% of Course Grade
Requirements
– Word Count: 2,500 words minimum
– Formatting: Double-spaced, MLA Format