Research+Project

For your final project, you will make 4 groups of 4 people each, and 2 groups of 3 people each and conduct research about the presidential candidates, John McCain and Barack Obama, for the November 2008 election. __ Directions __ : The research project will have __2 writing__ components: 1. Individual paper- each member of the group will research 1 platform/issue that the candidate supports and write an argumentative paper. This paper will get an individual grade for that person. 2. Group writing project- This will be your final paper assignment. Each student will use the information from their individual paper above to write an informational brochure about the candidate. The brochure will be presented to your other classmates so they can learn about each candidate and their platforms. The brochures will be a synthesis of the information you find out about their issue and their personal background. __ Grading:- __ The individual writing project will receive a grade for the student only. The group writing project will be graded for the entire group.
 * Make your groups. Pick people that you can work well with.
 * I will assign the candidates and their vice-presidential running mates by group according to lot (picking out of a hat). This is the fairest way to ensure that not everyone does their favorite candidate. There is a list on another page of the candidates’ websites.
 * Each candidate has a platform- this means, the issues that they believe in. On each candidate’s website, there should be a link to their issues.
 * Each group will research the candidates issues or platform for each candidate. The platform is what each candidate believes in. These are some of the major issues that the candidates are discussing on the campaign trail: Education, the War in Iraq, Immigration, the Economy meltdown on Wall Street, the Housing Crisis, etc.
 * You will also do a brief biography of the candidate- their political careers, their personal life as it relates to their political campaign (not gossip!), wife, children, educational background, previous jobs, etc.
 * Some groups will research the Vice-Presidential candidates. For this task, you will research the same issues for them as for this candidate, including a biography.
 * You will use the candidate’s websites, and also the news websites listed on the links page to do your research.

This assignment will be Essay #4. The essay #4 final grade will be the average of the individual writing grade + the group grade. The brochure you will use to complete the project is available as a template in Microsoft 2007. This template is easy to use and you do not have to have great computer skills to make your own. Please click on the link below to see an example of the “Brochure Template”. [|project brochure.doc]

[|brochure presentation guidelines.doc]