Research DUE + Time to begin essays

 Starter

1. Share your research notes with me
   
2. Write your name on the white board under the appropriate topic/issue.  If you don't see your topic represented, write it up there and put your name by it!

Create Focus Groups
Purpose: The purpose of these groups will be to share resources and AFTER you write your essay, to develop a sales pitch to present to the class next week to try to convince them to choose your topic.  You may work alone on this, but if possible, I prefer you group up to reduce the # of sales pitches made and to be able to share ideas with one another.

FORM FOCUS GROUPS: Form a group either with people doing the same issue as you OR at least a closely enough related topic/theme.  Groups should be between 3-5 students each.

Write FOCUS Groups on the white board:  Please record the groupings on the whiteboard!

Focus Group Discussion: Meet with your group and do the following

1. Share your strongest piece of evidence from your research notes
2. ​Share your biggest takeaway about your issue that you learned while researching
3. ​Share resources with each other to help each other write INDIVIDUAL essays
4. ​Discuss or point out gaps or holes in each other’s research and suggest ways to fill those holes

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Review the following essay guidelines then begin writing your individual essay
Your essay will be written in three distinct pieces, each of which has a different purpose.  Read on for details about each.

GOAL of essay: Convince the class that we should pick your issue to work on as a whole class to bring about a more sustainable end result.  You are not presenting solutions right now. Just the problem and why it is unsustainable and why we should choose it!! You are essentially answering these three questions in your essay

1. What is the problem? How is it related to sustainability?
2. What are the consequences of NOT addressing this problem?
3. Why is this the most important issue we choose?? You can choose the angle you take to answer this question, but here are some options:
   • Convince us this is the biggest problem or most unsustainable issue in our community
   • Convince us this is the issue we can make the most difference on
   • Convince us there is a ton of political and social mobility on this issue
   • Convince us that you are passionate enough about this to inspire us for the next four weeks or so!

ESSAY OUTLINE
Essay Part 1: Introduction

• Goal:  To hook the reader, make them understand what you are researching and why it is important.
• Length:  Should not exceed 1 page (double-spaced).
• Purpose/Content: What are you researching, and why do we care?
  • Put your research into context
  • What is happening right now that spurred your research, or created an important angle for your to pursue (short and sweet, more of this coming in Part III).
  • Why does your research matter?  Why is your topic relevant and important to our community?
    
    
    
• Thesis Statement:  Give a concise and one sentence statement about why you think we should choose this issue to focus on for our project.  This thesis needs to answer the question: What needs to be sustained more holistically in our own community?

Essay Part 2: Problem Description

• Goal:  To describe, in detail, what the issue is that needs to be sustained and to show the research that supports this.
• Length:  Should not exceed 3 pages (double spaced)
• Purpose/Content: What is the problem?
  • Describe the problem or issue, drawing upon the research you have done.
  • You should describe how this problem manifests in each of the three spheres (environmental, social/cultural, economic), drawing heavily upon data and research.
  • At the end of this section, I should understand exactly what the problem is, where it comes from, and how it manifests in our community.
  • IMPORTANT- Your opinion should not come into this section.  Lay out the research, but don’t offer commentary just yet. That will come in the next section!

Part 3: Conclusion

• Goal:  To convince us that this is the issue we should choose for our class project.
• Length:  Should not exceed 1 page (double spaced)
• Purpose/Content: Why is this issue the issue we should choose?
  • Make your argument for why this issue is the one we should choose:  WHY IS THIS SOMETHING WE NEED TO SUSTAIN? WHAT ARE THE CONSEQUENCES OF NOT ADDRESSING IT IN A SUSTAINABLE WAY?
  • Reference your research from Part 2, but this should be mainly your own reasoning.
  • There are lots of different kinds of arguments you could make here--think about values, impact, pragmatic concerns, community connections, etc.
  • You must be able to clearly connect the dots to your reader between the issue you want us to choose and how it relates to sustainability!