Sample Honors Contracts

Describe the work that you will need to complete to earn Honors credit for this course. What will you be doing that is qualitatively different from the “regular work” in the course?

For my project, I will be reading "The Making of the Unborn Patient: a social anatomy of fetal surgery" by Monica J Caspe. I will write a report of the book from a sociological perspective, drawing main points from the book and demonstrating my learnings of sociology in my report. We picked this book and assignment because I want to attend medical school to become a fetal surgeon.

All students in this course learn about sociology, and how to apply it to the concepts we discuss in class. This assignment will allow me to explore my learnings of sociology, and then apply it to something I am so interested in. In my report, I will be examining medicalization, reproductive rights, fetal healthcare, and differences in fetal healthcare. I also will be drawing from other scholarly sources to examine research and statistics on different perspectives of the social structure within fetal surgery.

The report will be in a similar form to a review. I will be applying my knowledge of sociology to gain a deeper perspective of the fetal-surgery world, and also summarizing the book. The book is 250 pages, so I will have plenty of content to analyze and summarize. I will point out aspects of the book that are strong indicators of a sociological perspective, and if there are topics I am interested in exploring more, I will use outside scholarly sources to learn more and report my findings. I hope to gain some experience in terms of my sociology-application skills (in terms of this course) and also a deeper understanding of the field I am interested in. There are a lot of social downfalls and triumphs within fetal healthcare, so being able to learn about them more and develop a new perspective will not only help me in my undergraduate studies but also in my future career as a fetal surgeon.

How often will you meet with the faculty to review and discuss this Honors work?

I will be able to email Franziska whenever I have any questions. Any time I need more support, I will be able to request and see her in person. Whenever a question comes up we will communicate this and determine which is better.

Describe how your work will be assessed at the end of the semester to determine if the Honors credits have been earned, including any quantitative or qualitative thresholds the instructor will apply.

At the end of the semester, my instructor and I will meet to review my report. My report must be formatted with a cover page, reference page, and all in the appropriate font (Times, 12 point, double spaced). My report must be between 10-12 pages or 5,000-6,000 words. The report should be professional, well written and sent to the instructor via email by December 8th. My report should have aspects of sociology in general, as well as content derived from the class. It will be a demonstration of analysis not only from a medical perspective but a sociological one as well.

Describe the work that you will need to complete to earn Honors credit for this course. What will you be doing that is qualitatively different from the “regular work” in the course?

The work that I will need to complete to earn honors credit for this course will be a paper describing my findings and reactions to my project. This paper will be 7-8 pages long and describe what I did, who I spoke to, and what ideas I discovered. I will also create a visual project such as a PowerPoint that includes pictures and videos of my findings in the student union. My project includes analyzing the student union to see how disability is portrayed by the media posters and how the accessibility in the union limits students from being able to access the main hub on campus. I will find both good and bad examples of accessibility and analyze the message that is being portrayed to U of A students. I will start by walking through the union and taking pictures of any non-accessible places that I see and any posters that I see. These pictures will help me get a better understanding of the messages that are being sent to the students from the student union. I will then relate my findings from the U of A to disability in the media by analyzing the representation of posters along with the representation of social media posts. I will analyze both the physical aspects and the marketing side of the union and relate it to topics discussed in class. To complete my understanding, I will use the textbook from this course and vocabulary learned through in-class discussions to relate it to accessibility and media that I observe in my project. With the completion of my project, I will present it to my classmates by using my visual representation. This presentation will be a summary of the research paper that I complete. When presenting my project to the class I will also share my experiences.

How often will you meet with the faculty to review and discuss this Honors work?

I will meet with the faculty 3-4 times throughout my project to discuss how it is going and get feedback on ways to better my project. The meetings will be done through phone calls.

Describe how your work will be assessed at the end of the semester to determine if the Honors credits have been earned, including any quantitative or qualitative thresholds the instructor will apply.

At the end of the semester, my work will be assessed to see if I have made the connection between how disability is portrayed in the student union through accessibility and how it relates to disability in the media. I will have to thoroughly analyze my findings in a written paper along with a visual project that will be presented to my classmates. My paper will have to be 7-8 pages in length and fully address what I did, who I spoke to, and where my ideas came from. My visual presentation will include both pictures and videos of the union and things found in the media. I will complete the project with a presentation sharing what I did and my experiences.

Describe the work that you will need to complete to earn Honors credit for this course. What will you be doing that is qualitatively different from the “regular work” in the course?

To earn Honors credit for this class, I will be taking the concepts from the class and diving in-depth to further explore, specifically, the environmental effects of food. My efforts will include research on two common food products to learn about the multitude of environmental factors that accompany food production (e.g. water use, land use, animal welfare, petroleum use, waste, etc.). I will present this research in the form of a food "advertisement" that would represent the unseen environmental factors that were involved in the production of that particular food product. The advertisement would serve as an illustration, encouraging the viewer to recognize the impacts of their food choices on the world. Following my at-home work, I would then present the complete advertisements and the research used to create them to the class.

Regular work in this course involves learning from a limited number of sources in a generalized way so as to understand the "big­ picture" concepts in the course. The extra work that would earn me Honors credit would be more of an application strategy; using the vocabulary from the course, I would be able to extensively research and explain two real-life examples to further and deepen my understanding of the course content. By presenting my findings to the class through a meaningful and thought-provoking visual medium, I can also improve my classmates' understandings of the content and practice my presentational skills, again reinforcing and enhancing my own learning.

How often will you meet with the faculty to review and discuss this Honors work?

I will meet with Professor Gladstone three times throughout the semester to check my progress; perhaps more meetings will be arranged if any specific questions arise.

Describe how your work will be assessed at the end of the semester to determine if the Honors credits have been earned, including any quantitative or qualitative thresholds the instructor will apply.

I believe that Honors credit can be attained if I sufficiently investigate two examples of food products, seek out at least three to five credible sources for each, and cite them appropriately using APA format. Following the completion of the research, I would then construct the advertisements, which should be visually attractive, sufficiently informative and substantive, and effectively illustrative of their respective environmental consequences. Overall, each of these components should show my comprehensive understanding of the course content as well as my ability to apply the material in a creative and effective way. Finally, my presentation to the class should be evaluated based on my presentational skills (properly addressing the class, answering questions) as well as the substance of the presentation.

Describe the work that you will need to complete to earn Honors credit for this course. What will you be doing that is qualitatively different from the “regular work” in the course?

The work of this honors contract focuses on the creation of a 'ready-for-air' broadcast script using information obtained from research and interviews that answers the research question, "Does the sport of hockey belong in Tucson?" The finished script will contain enough content for an 8-10 minute television broadcast piece. To complete this task, I will need to conduct interviews with personnel who are important to the hockey community in Tucson. Such as, Tucson Roadrunners General Manager Steve Sullivan and Tucson Junior Roadrunners (the leading youth hockey program in Tucson) Board President Jeremy Bow. Additionally, on-site reporting will have to be conducted at locations such as the Tucson Arena, the Eric Micheal Ogden SkatePark, and the DEK outdoor hockey rink at Doolen Middle School. All interviews and location visits will be appropriately documented through audio, and if possible visual recordings, in order to verify the work has actually been completed. Once the appropriate information has been obtained, it will have to be compiled into a 'ready-for-air' television broadcast script. Theoretically, this script could be provided to a news station alongside video packages of interviews and could be used immediately.

Qualitatively, the honors contract is far different than the "regular work" of this course due to the nature of having to go into the real world and practice actual journalism. This class requires very little journalistic work to be completed outside the class. For example, non-honors students will not have to venture out and conduct multiple interviews to compile a broadcast script. It is also expected that the broadcast script made as a result of this honors contract will be much more detailed and content-heavy than the majority of scripts created in class. Additionally, the broadcast script will contain more advanced technical broadcast speech learned from Professor Ellwand in monthly meetings than the "regular" scripts assigned in class.

How often will you meet with the faculty to review and discuss this Honors work?

Biweekly meetings will be scheduled between Professor Ellwand and me. Additional meetings during Professor Ellwand's office hours or scheduled appointments will be made and conducted as needed throughout the completion of the honors contract.

Describe how your work will be assessed at the end of the semester to determine if the Honors credits have been earned, including any quantitative or qualitative thresholds the instructor will apply.

The work of this honors contract will be evaluated on the basis of completion, professionalism, and quality of work. A large part of the assessment of this honors contract is the completion of real-world, investigative journalism. To ensure that my work meets professional journalistic standards, Professor Ellwand will be given all audio recordings, video recordings, and photos gathered during the semester. The work will also be assessed on the basis of whether the quality of work is superior to the general work expectations of the course. It must also clearly demonstrate a level of work above the "regular work" of this course. Quantitatively, it is expected that the finished broadcast script will be between eight and ten minutes in length. This time requirement being the general length of a television broadcast feature.