Instructions
Independent Study Documents Project
and Proposal
The following instructions provide a blueprint to fulfill two writing requirements in Writing
3160:


1.
Independent Study Documents Project;
Proposal for Independent Study Documents Project.
First, you will plan an Independent Study Documents Project.
2.
Second, when you figure out what you want to do for this project, you will propose to
carry out the actual drafting of these documents.
3.
This proposal will detail your ideas and ask permission to carry out the Independent
Study Documents Project.
4.
When I grant permission, you will then write those documents that comprise your
Independent Study Documents Project.
Independent Study Documents Project:
You will write or compose a series of text like those composed by professionals in the career you
plan to enter. The interview you conducted with a professional has given you some idea of what
types of documents this individual writes. First comes the planning.
You are encouraged to select a variety of texts to compose that are interrelated and of sufficient
complexity to challenge you. Also consider the amount of time you have to complete these texts.
Below are some examples of interrelated sets of texts you might want to think about before you
design a set appropriate for you. You are encouraged to work from expertise you already
possess, using that expertise to produce documents for a variety of audiences and purposes.
In almost all cases listed below, you can choose actual subjects/events to write about. However,
in some cases you may wish to develop your own fictitious scenario. One example would be
criminology students who devise a crime scene, investigation, arrest, trial, etc. In any event,
interrelating the documents usually makes it easier for you to think of the types of documents
you can produce and furnishes you with more subject matter to think about.
Of course, an option for every student is to write an extended research paper. This eliminates the
need to “figure out” types of texts and levels of difficulty.
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History: A critique or review of an article in a journal, an annotated bibliography, a
newspaper article, a literature review, a research paper.
Sociology: Critiques of several articles in the field, a text summarizing several articles
on single or related subjects, a newsletter piece or handout for parents or professionals,
written materials for a public presentation, lecture copy.
Political Science: A set of campaign documents, including candidate biography, news
releases, public letters, speeches. If your bent is towards practicing politics, you may
want to compose legislation or documents written by politicians to constituents, fellow
politicians, or lobbyists.
Anthropology: An annotated bibliography of materials related to local site study,
literature reviews, newsletter, proposal for site study, journal article resulting from site
study.
Psychology: A case study done from written case materials, letters related to case study;
critique of journal article; notes and written materials for a public education lecture you
might do, reports to a course, client, treatment center, etc.
Criminology: Establish a fictitious “scenario” like an accident or crime scene.
Complete a serious of documents related to this scenario; investigative notes, witness
reports, policy officer reports, follow-up investigations, reports to the prosecuting
attorney or defense attorney, recommendations to a court or probation officer.
For more ideas, read Chapters 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15 of Writing in the Social Sciences. These
chapters provide excellent ideas while explaining the relevance of each document. Especially
consult the “Suggestions or Writing” section at the end of each chapter for further ideas.
Guidelines:
1.
Twenty pages of edited, finished text.
2.
Double spaced.
3.
Two of the texts must be 4-5 pages of continuous written text.
4.
The documents you compose must also have the level of difficulty assessed. For
example, documents considered “easy”, like fill-in-forms, handouts or notes, must
comprise no more than 10% of work submitted. The two documents of continuous texts
must be in the medium to medium/difficult range, and one document should be in the
difficult range. Below is a partial list of what some texts would be considered in the
level of difficulty range:
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Type of Text
Handouts/notes
Fill-in forms of all types
Pre-formatted letters/legal forms
Interviews
Witness reports
Newspaper releases
Letters or memos
Classroom lectures or lesson plans
Newspaper article
Annotated Bibliography
Magazine article
Reports/research paper
Case Studies
Professional Journal Article
Workshops/demonstrations
Proposal
Biography
Historical Text
Literature Review
Level of Difficulty
Easy
Easy
Easy
Easy/medium
Easy/medium
Easy/medium
Easy/medium
Medium
Medium
Medium/difficult
Medium/difficult
Difficult/medium
Difficult/medium
Difficult
Difficult
Difficult
Difficult
Difficult
Difficult
Note that there are many considerations for your Independent Study Documents Project. That is
why planning is vital, which brings us to the proposal, a document that will help you plan your
Independent Study Documents Project and gain permission to proceed.
Proposal:
The proposal is actually fairly easy to write, for it contains little writing. However, because it
forms the basis of your Independent Study Documents Project, you should give it much
consideration. Follow these instructions carefully. Refer to them during the composing process
and as a final checklist to be certain your proposal contains all the necessary elements.
Carefully read Chapter 10 of Writing in the Social Sciences to get a clear idea of the general
aspects and reasons for crafting proposals.
To be effective, your proposal must accomplish the following:
1.
Provide an introduction that explains why composing the texts for the Independent Study
Documents Project will be valuable to you as a Social Sciences writing student;
2.
List the texts you will then complete for your independent study;
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3.
Identify the purpose of each document or an overview of what it is used for;
4.
Identify the intended audience of each document;
5.
List the number of pages; List the level of difficulty.
6.
Request permission to undertake it.
Refer to the attached worksheet to help you plan and organize your ideas.
The deadline for submitting your proposal is stated on the syllabus schedule. Once I have
granted you permission to proceed with your Independent Study Documents Project, you can
begin work on it.
Research Paper Option:
If you decide that you would like to do one large research paper to fulfill your independent study
requirement, then you can do the following:
1.
Read Chapter 10: Proposals and Prospectuses in your textbook.
2.
Starting on page 167, there is a detailed account of what a research prospectus contains.
Read it carefully.
3.
Starting on page 174, there is an example of what a research prospectus will look like.
You can follow this example in creating your own proposal. This prospectus will be done
instead of the proposal assignment given above.
4.
As always, ask questions if you are not clear or sure of what you want to do.
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Proposal/ Independent Study Documents Project
Worksheet

State the field in which you wish to write:

List the written documents a person in this field may produce:
Name of document
Purpose
Audience
#Pages & Difficulty
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.


Mark the above texts that will satisfy the Independent Study Documents Project
requirement.
State what you hope to accomplish by producing each of these texts.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
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