The Politics of Academic Freedom

Prompt: In a short, formal proposal, you will present a topic that you plan to investigate further in future projects. The proposal should include the following information: A topic related to our course that you want to investigate further. You may choose to build on a topic introduced in your course readings; however, the topic must be significant enough to sustain scholarly investigation appropriate for a second-level writing course but narrow enough not to overwhelm the reader. Very basic information about the topic. If, for example, you choose to investigate Ohio State University as a land-grant university, you should provide a very basic history of OSU, a definition of land-grant universities, etc. A statement explaining how you will narrow your topic to an appropriate, researchable size. This may take the form of a formal thesis, but it doesn’t necessarily have to. e.g., “For this project, I will specifically look at the events that lead to the establishment of Ohio State University as a land-grant university. These events include….” A statement explaining your exigency, or reason for investigating the topic. What makes this interesting to you? What are some factors that influenced your decision? What do you want to learn? A list of 2 or 3 scholarly citations (in MLA style) of preliminary sources. These sources, most likely, will be where you get the basic information requested in #2. Deliverables: This proposal is not a written essay but rather an audio-recorded presentation. You are being asked to produce a slideshow that uses visual elements as well as audio recordings of yourself provided the information requested above. You might imagine that this is a short presentation you give in front of your classmates. This project satisfies the oral communication GE requirement. The presentation should be about 2-3 minutes in total.