C120 Professor Zavita Summer Session 1, 2023 Final Project Instructions Overview of

C120 Professor Zavita

Summer Session 1, 2023

Final Project Instructions

Overview of the Final project:

Your final projects are a creative and wholistic opportunity to demonstrate what you have learned throughout the term and to further develop your knowledge of a topic you care about. You will evaluate, analyze, apply, or seek a deeper understanding of your topics’ connection(s) to law and inequality, and then tell that story using a medium of your liking This flexible structure may be different from any other final project you have done before, and I encourage you to think outside of the box. This project will require you to review course material and conduct additional outside research on your topic. You may choose to work individually, or in a group of no more than 4 people.

Objective of the Final project:

In the product that you create, you will connect ‘a’ to ‘b’ using ‘c’:

a) course topics (race, gender, immigration)

b) a subtopic(s)of your choice, while explaining how these topics relate to law and inequality

c) a medium of your choice also (see ideas list).

See next pages for topic and medium ideas

a) Main Course Topics:

Race

Gender

Immigration

(^as they all relate to law and inequality)

b) Subtopic ideas

Race and crime

Hot spot policing

Body worn cameras

Racial profiling in arrests

Mass incarceration

Wrongful convictions, exonerations

Privatization of prisons

‘School-to-prison pipeline’

Education in prison

Domestic violence (DV)/Interpersonal violence IPV): mandatory arrests, rights of victims, homicide

Specific identity groups: veterans, people with disabilities,

Roe v. Wade, reproductive rights

Campus sexual violence

‘Pink tax’

Surrogacy laws

Terms ‘criminal,’ ‘illegal,’ ‘alien’

Book banning

Trans rights

Media depiction of (insert topic here)

Food justice

Climate justice

Foster youth system

Juvenile Justice

Technology and surveillance

Gun laws, mass shootings etc.

Substance use

Mental health

Wealth

*(Note: some of these below need to be broken down further. Example: ‘Race’ and ‘climate justice’ is too big of a topic, but perhaps ‘race’ ‘and ‘access to clean water’ is more appropriately specific enough).

c) Final Product-Medium Ideas

You will propose your idea, receive peer review input, and input from the teaching team before getting it approved. Below are some ideas, but I encourage you choose something you enjoy doing and that plays to your strengths.

Traditional Research Paper, Critical Theory Paper

Write a traditional research or theory paper on your topics. This should be a minimum of 5-7 pages, not including diagrams, images etc.

Recorded Presentation (individual presentations, 7-10 minutes, Group presentations are 3-5 minutes per person- everyone must talk)

TedTalk style presentation

News broadcast on an event, academic paper, topic etc.

Traditional academic presentation

Organize a debate between peers in your class

Give a persuasive speech

Poster* (conference style, digital)

Mind map/ Concept map/ Infographic*

Policy Memo

Write a Policy Memo about a current or proposed policy/law or program. Is there a law you think should be changed? What would you change and why? What evidence is there to support your claims? What law do you think should exist but doesn’t?

Social Media Campaign*

Legal Case Study Deep Dive or History of a Law/Policy

Make a Podcast or Radio Excerpt

Movie Review & Critique

Book Review & Critique (I have recommendations)

Real World/Lab Project Ideas*

Interview 3-5 people who work in the field related to your topic and subtopic (perhaps this is a non-profit that does work addressing the issue you are focusing on, perhaps these are people who have been affected by your topic etc.)

Do a ride along with someone in law enforcement

Do field observations or tour a courtroom, jail, etc.

Create a photo journal project of a neighborhood or organization

Volunteer

Coding projects* -make a website, make a game etc.

Make a Board Game*

Write an Annotated Bibliography

Write a Literature Review

Write something creative*

A choose-your-own adventure story or the steps/answer key for an escape room

A play

A song

A poem

A comic

Visual art-painting etc.

Children’s book

Magazine pages

A Zine

A blog post

An op-ed piece

A newsletter

Make and design a final exam, and key for this course*

Thinking about all that we’ve learned this term, if you were to design a final exam for this course, what would that look like? Would it be multiple choice questions? Essay format? Word banks/matching etc? Get creative and use a variety of different types of questions

Data/Statistics-focused projects* Use real data to statistically analyze and understand your issue. Perhaps you present your findings in a presentation, or

Non-Profit or Business Proposal

Conduct Your Own Research Project

*Indicates that if this creative element does not explicitly discuss/explain/cover the requirements of the final project, you must provide an additional write-up, explaining to your reader how the project relates to each of the categories in the requirements. Think of it as a guide for your reader.

Required Components of the Final Project:

Topic and subtopic

Relate the topic and subtopic to law and inequality

Some Historical contexts of your topic

Statistical information that highlights your topics

What is the intersectionality of your topics. How do they relate?

Course materials (2-3 elements):

Video lecture materials, key concepts

Readings, articles

Book materials

Video materials

Lab/Real Life Exercises

Frames from your toolbox

4 Other sources -outside of course materials

At least 2 pieces must be academic journal articles or books

The other 2 pieces can be anything media, op eds, reports, podcasts, newspaper articles etc

Notes about the Final Project:

The project needs to be original work of yourself and/or your group. AI tools may be used to develop ideas and pull together resources, but the final product must be created by you. Turnitin will be activated and will check for originality and plagiarism.

The project topics and ideas are to be peer-reviewed, and pre-approved using the benchmark assignments from class. Projects not approved ahead of time may not receive credit.

When necessary, complete a write-up to support your reader in understanding the project and how it met each required component.

The written elements of the project should be in a consistent academic format (such as APA or utilizing footnotes) and all citations and references need to be included

Final Project Rubric (as appears on Canvas):