Students will be placed into groups of 4-5 students. Each group will then work together to create a special issue of an academic journal that addresses a single topic from multiple perspectives. Each student will write one article for the journal. As a group, you should also supply 1) a title page for the journal that includes the journal name, the topic of the special issue, the issue’s publication date, and a table of contents with the article titles and author names; and 2) a two-to-three page introduction to the special issue that previews the issue’s articles and how they contribute to analysis of the shared topic. This introduction to the special issue can be submitted by any one member of your group but should be co-authored and/or approved by all. We will review sample journal introductions in class and have time in class to work on these.
For your group proposal, write a substantial paragraph that makes a “call for submissions.” Below this paragraph, include the tentative titles of your respective essays.
Each student will author his/her own separate article (your synthesis essay, 3-5 typed, double-spaced pages in length 1000-1500 words, excluding references and required abstract) to be included in the journal’s special issue. Write your article from the perspective of your academic discipline or profession (education, advertising, business, engineering, history, literature, biology, etc.), using the academic writing conventions of your discipline.
Find at least four scholarly articles from the library online databases and two books (print or e-book) (library books, textbooks, etc.) that provide various views and perspectives on your topic for a minimum of six sources.
After considering your research, come up with a unique, new, original, or different perspective or position based upon a creative combination of the ideas and information you have discovered in your research.
State your unique point of view on the topic in a clear thesis statement and then explain and support your opinion using clear logic and compelling evidence from your sources and personal experience.
Consider, discuss, analyze, and evaluate multiple perspectives on your topic and build toward your unique position or point of view. You can begin with a question, discuss and evaluate various answers, then settle on your answer and defend it.
Format your article according to the conventions of your discipline (we’ll discuss this more in class) and provide in-text citation and a bibliography page for your sources as per the style sheet for your discipline (APA, MLA, Chicago, ASME, IEEE, CSE, etc.).
Your final essay should be 3-5 typed, double-spaced pages in length (1000-1500 words excluding references).
You will submit this essay individually through my.gcc as you will for all other essays. For the essay you submit for grading, use double spacing and one-inch margins unless otherwise specified by your style sheet; use the documentation system of your discipline.
Assemble the articles from each group member into a special issue journal.
- Choose a name for your journal, and the special issue will be your chosen topic.
- Create a front and back cover for your journal, modelled after academic and/or professional journals.
- Develop a table of contents.
- Include a jointly written introduction for the special issue that provides an overview of the topic, a brief explanation of why this topic is important, and then a brief summary of each article (the overview and significance should be about 300-400 words, and each article summary should be 200 words). Each student should write the summary for his/her article contribution.
- Your articles can/should use graphics, images, and charts as appropriate. Any graphic, image, or chart that you do not create must be attributed to its source.
- Assemble all the materials into a single document. Use document formatting as per journals in your discipline. For example, you should use single spacing. Also, you may wish to use double columns, as some professional journals do. Each student will submit his/her individual article for grading.
- E-mail the final assembled journal as a PDF to Dr. Bilbro.
Rhetorical skills: definition, description, summary, analysis, critical thinking, evaluation, persuasion, argumentation, and synthesis thesis statement.