Jenice Lawrence

For the Final Project (due at the end of Unit 9), you will be writing an academic essay of around 750-850 words in which you serve as a mentor and share your knowledge with someone who needs your help. You can either write to a group of people who have a particular problem that someone in your field of study might be facing, for the purpose of motivating this group of people to overcome this particular problem; or you can write to people who are themselves just entering the field you are studying but who are facing a dilemma and who need your guidance and knowledge to help them with dealing with this issue.
A criminal justice major might for example write to people with a specific drug habit; or an education major may write to a new teacher who has special needs students in her class and isn’t sure how to handle the situation; a student might write an essay helping a family make end-of-life decisions for an elderly parent; a business major might write an essay for the purpose of informing a bank of the benefits of refinancing people’s homes at lower rates instead of foreclosing on them.
Here is a chart of possible topic ideas from five popular college majors. The list is not inclusive, nor should you feel you have to write on one of these particular topics. Choose a topic that is of interest to you, a subject you know something about and that you think is an important issue that someone in your field might benefit from learning about.
• Health Science: obesity; quality of school lunches; cost of healthcare
• Computer Science: hackers and security; cyberbullying
• Business: employee theft; fraud; starting a small business; housing crisis
• Psychology: living with a diagnosis (Schizophrenia, Bipolar, Borderline Personality Disorder); alternative treatments; marriage counseling
• Criminal Justice: addiction to a particular drug; a specific criminal behavior; alternatives to prison sentencing
Your Final Project essay should meet the following guidelines:
1. It must be an essay of between 750-850 words.
2. It must be informative, rather than persuasive in nature.
3. It must have a clear introduction and conclusion.
4. It must have a clear thesis that limits the topic and establishes the essay’s main point.
5. It must develop the thesis with a combination of original thought and resource material.
6. It must use at least three reliable sources appropriately; source material should be used to develop the writer’s ideas, rather than becoming the focus of the paper. At least one of those sources must be from the Kaplan University Library.
7. It must avoid unreliable sources or sources inappropriate for an academic essay, including but not limited to Wikipedia.
8. Source material, whether it is quoted or paraphrased, must be given appropriate credit, including in text citations and a citation in the reference page.
9. It must follow APA format requirements, including an appropriately formatted title page, 12 point Times New Roman font, double spaced paragraphs and one inch margins.
10. It should be written with an appropriate level of formality, avoiding first and second person.
Here is a timeline for the completion of this essay:
1. Unit 5: Brainstorm possible topic ideas and select one that you want to write about. Locate sources relevant to this topic.
2. Unit 6: Move further in the writing process by completing Unit 6 Project, which will require you to draft out ideas on this topic and create a plan for completing your essay.
3. Unit 7: Begin the revision process by posting a draft of your essay in the course and creating a plan for moving forward.
4. Unit 9: Final stages of the process. Focus on editing. Essay is due by end of Unit 9.