Long Report Assignment
Your long report will be based on one of the following options:
▪ Option A- A controversial issue in your future field.
▪ Option B- A challenge facing the field you plan to enter.
If neither of these options work, you may choose Option C, in which you propose a
topic relevant to your career and appropriate for the report’s objectives. NOTE: I
reserve the right to modify (or reject) topics which are unlikely to result in
effective reports.
Your report’s objective may be analytical or persuasive (this will be determined in
part by the audience you define). A strictly informative report will be inappropriate
for our purposes.
My evaluation will be based on how effectively the report reflects the characteristics
described in Chapter 15. An effective report will
▪ account for the document’s context, including audience and purpose;
▪ reflect thoughtful consideration and detailed development of the
subject matter;
▪ establish and maintain appropriate scope/focus;
▪ integrate research material ethically (avoiding copy/paste or other
forms of plagiarism);
▪ utilize visuals to represent key concepts;
▪ demonstrate command of the language and conventions of writing.
NOTE: You are expected to produce a detailed, well-developed scholarly report,
not an “overview” of the subject matter.
Here are the required elements of the long report (which will appear in this order):
▪ Title page
▪ Table of contents
▪ List of illustrations
▪ Abstract
▪ Introduction (including Background, Problem/Issue, Purpose and Scope)
▪ Discussion (roughly 10-12 double-spaced pages)
▪ Conclusion
▪ Recommendations
▪ References
NOTE— the transmittal letter is not required and should not be included. If your
report includes the letter it will not be graded, and its word count will be subtracted
from the total.
In addition to effectively addressing the basic elements listed above, your report must
also:
▪ be formatted to reflect the guidelines in the model long report (Chapter
15, 504-20), which reflects the protocols in this class, and your report
will be formatted accordingly. Use of MLA or APA will apply to in-text
citations and bibliographic entries.
▪ utilize a minimum of 8 credible sources in your text (summary,
paraphrase, quote). Field research (such as an interview) isn’t required,
but is strongly encouraged. Failure to meet the research requirement
will result in a twenty (20) point penalty on the Long Report grade.
▪ incorporate at least two original visuals (tables, charts, graphs, images
created by you, not copy/pasted from source material). Failure to meet
this requirement will result in a twenty (20) point penalty on the
Long Report grade.
Length Requirement: Your report should be roughly 4000 words in length, which
includes all front matter and the references page. A report of fewer than 3000 or
more than 4500 words will receive a grade no higher than a C-. This will hopefully
provide an incentive to develop your discussion in detail, while maintaining an
appropriate focus.
NOTE— Recycled content (from a document you’ve submitted in another course)
which generates a Similarity score greater than 20% will not be graded (no
exceptions).
The following deadlines are established to ensure that necessary progress is made on
the long report throughout the semester:
Objective Deadline
Emailed topic proposal (a) 11:59 pm Saturday, August 27th
Long Report bibliography
posted (b)
11:59 pm Saturday, September
24th
Long Report rough draft
upload (c) 11:59 pm Monday, November 7th
(a) Do not send a topic email until you’ve read the Email Assignment (available
Saturday, August 20th). Topic emails sent before that date will be deleted (no
exceptions). NOTE: Failure to send an email by the deadline will result in a 20 point
penalty on the Long Report grade.
(b) Your list of sources will be posted to a discussion thread devoted to that purpose.
The sources will be formatted as bibliographic entries (MLA or APA). See the thread
for additional instructions. NOTE: Failure to post a source list by the deadline will
result in a 20 point penalty on the Long Report grade.
(c) Your rough draft will be uploaded to Turnitin for PeerMark peer review. NOTE:
Failure to submit a draft of at least 2500 words will result in a 50 point penalty on
the Long Report grade.
Reply with feedback on your peers’ drafts by 11:59 pm Sunday, November 13th.
The long report final draft will be submitted by 11:59 pm Monday, November 28th.
The long report is worth 300 points.
If you have questions regarding this assignment, ask them on this thread.
