Topic Selection

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TOPIC SELECTION GUIDELINES - SAMPLE

A Senior Project is about doing and learning something that you want to do and learning more about! This is your chance to choose a topic that will be interesting and worthwhile and will extend your knowledge. However, making the decision may not be easy. Choose carefully, consult with your Faculty Advisor, and remember to keep your project manageable. Carefully choose a product or process that you can build or produce or a community-based service you can provide. Answer these questions as you decide your topic:

Is there a clear connection between the research topic and the product/process you want to produce?
Does the product/process represent significant amounts of time, effort, and appropriate complexity? Does it go beyond what you already know how to do?
Is the project something you will do outside of your regular class or co-curricular requirements?
Will the product involve tangible evidence of your work – either something physical that can be seen and touched, a community-based service that can be documented as beneficial or something that can be written, produced, taped, or presented?

The following guidelines may assist in choosing the subject to be explored.

1. The research topic should be one in which the student is interested, but not one about which the student is already an expert.

If a student has been a diabetic for ten years, worked closely with the Juvenile Diabetes Association, and has been a volunteer in the children’s diabetic ward in a local hospital, he or she probably knows a great deal about the subject juvenile diabetes. Unless that student pursues a new angle to diabetes, that topic might not yield much new learning.

2. The research topic may be one that requires cumulative knowledge across grade levels and content area.

It should be a natural outgrowth of interest and combined skills of all, or most content areas. For example, a student who researches the changes in the ozone layer is using cumulative knowledge from at least English, math, science, and history.

3. Some preliminary research may be helpful to the student.

By reading about a certain topic, the student may expand his/her areas of interest. Possibilities for new areas of exploration may surface.

4. The research topic should be one that is challenging to the student academically and creatively.

The student should take care not to choose a topic that is limited to relatively simple ideas or one that has little application or extension possibilities. The topic should require an academic and creative stretch/risk.

5. Students should avoid choosing topics that might involve expenses they are not prepared to handle.

For example if the research involves travel or long distance calls, the student may want to make another choice. If the product that grows out of the research will require materials, the student may want to make another choice. Remember, the student is not required, encouraged, or advised to spend money in order to complete the project. Expenditures will not enhance the evaluation of the project.

6. Primary research is a valuable component of any inquiry.

It may be wise, therefore, to explore the possibilities for personal interviews, informal surveys, empirical observation, etc., before making a final selection of topic.

7. Students should avoid choosing topics that might endanger themselves or others.

For example, experiments which are potentially explosive or activities such as handling poisonous snakes are not appropriate.

8. Students should use good judgment to be certain that the topics they choose are appropriate for presentation to a review panel and the general public.

Remember that the student must have Project Proposal Approval by the Senior Project Steering Committee and Faculty Advisor prior to beginning the Project.

9. The research topic should be one that is broad enough to allow the student access to enough information, yet narrow enough to make the research scope reasonable.

For example, a student choosing the topic First Aid would find it impossible to include everything about first aid (home remedies, history of emergency services, the treatment of burns, how to stop bleeding, evolution of first aid courses, etc.) On the other hand, a student choosing to research the Application of Band-Aids to Skin Abrasions probably will not find enough information.

SENIOR PROJECT TOPIC SELECTION WORKSHEET – SAMPLE

Use this form to help you in narrowing your choices and to make a final determination as to what your Senior Project topic will be. List two or three possible topics and list resources or sources of information that could be of assistance in doing Project research.

Student Name_______________________

Topic A____________________________

Source 1.___________________________

Source 2.___________________________

Source 3.___________________________

Topic B____________________________

Source 1.___________________________

Source 2.___________________________

Source 3.___________________________

Topic C____________________________

Source 1.___________________________

Source 2.___________________________

Source 3.___________________________

Approved Topic_________________________

Faculty Advisor Signature__________________________

Steering Committee Approval: _____ yes _____ no

SENIOR PROJECT TOPIC SELECTION RUBRIC – SAMPLE

This rubric can be used by the Senior in selecting a Project topic and by the Steering Committee in approving a Project topic.

Component	1-Unacceptable	2-Marginal	3-Acceptable	4-Exemplary
Depth of	Major gaps are	There are major	Reasoning is	Reasoning is
Thought	evident. Little or	gaps in	apparent, but a	clear, concise
	no reasoning is	reasoning.	few minor gaps	and effectively
	demonstrated.	Reasoning is	or flaws exist.	demonstrated.
		somewhat
		apparent, but is
		flawed.
Feasibility	The project	The feasibility	While the	It is clear that the
	solution is	was in question	solution is valid,	method of
	clearly not	until an	it may not be	solution is valid
	possible within	explanation was	easily replicated.	and can be
	the parameters	requested and		readily
	set forth by the	given. The		replicated.
	problem.	solution may not
		be possible
		within the
		parameters of the
		problem.
Attention to	The project is	Only a few	Most of the	Questions are
Detail	generally	questions are	questions posed	anticipated and
	characterized by	answered in	by the problem	addressed.
	superfluous or	detail. The work	are directly
	surface	generally does	answered in
	knowledge.	not attend to the	detail.
		underlying detail
		required by the
		problem.
Creativity	This approach to	The approach is	While the design	The approach to
	the project is a	obviously related	presented may	the design is
	detail replication	to a previous	be similar in	fresh, novel and
	of an previous	design, but some	approach to	unique.
	design. No new	novelty is shown.	others,
	ideas are		unique
	demonstrated.		characteristics
			exist that make
			this design stand
			out.

SENIOR PROJECT TOPIC PROPOSAL

Here are some areas to think about before preparing the Topic Proposal on the following page.

Can you describe the scope of your Project or the steps you need to do in completing it?

What subject(s) or topic(s) do you expect to learn about through your Project?

What skills and understanding will you develop and/or demonstrate?

What kind of product/process do you envision?

Who is the person(s) with expertise in your area of interest that could serve as your Senior Project Mentor? If you do not know of a person, write down some ideas about how you might find a mentor.

What do you hope your Project will contribute to your school and/or community?

What do you hope to learn about yourself?

What most excites you about your proposed Project?

SENIOR PROJECT TOPIC APPROVAL FORM – SAMPLE

Student Name_______________________________

Product/Process Title_________________________

Product/Process Proposal

Description:

Steps for Product/Process Completion:

Special Equipment/Facilities/Environment:

Cost Analysis

Materials List:

Budget:

Approvals

Senior Project Mentor____________________ Date_______

Faculty Advisor__________________________ Date_______

Parent/Guardian_________________________ Date_______

Student_________________________________ Date_______

Steering Committee _________________________ Date _______

LETTER OF INTENT

Once you have selected your thesis, formally declare your paper and process/product in a business letter to the Senior Project Steering Committee. We realize that you have had many conversations about your Senior Project in class, but this letter announces to parents, to teachers, to judges, and the steering committee exactly what your intentions are.

This activity will benefit you in other areas of your education and in life in general. Knowing how a write a business letter can be very important in establishing a favorable image of you to people who have never met. There are certain rules that must be followed for basic letter writing skills.

1. The style of letter that you will be using will be block style.

2. The entire letter is typed at the left margin (one inch).

3. Do not indent at the beginning of each paragraph.

4. The body of the letter is single spaced, with double spaces between paragraphs.

Be careful with your spelling and grammar. Pay attention to the format, following it strictly. You will continue to redo your letter until it is perfect for your portfolio, so make it easier on yourself!

The following page is a template for the Letter of Intent:

LETTER OF INTENT – SAMPLE
Block Style Format

123 Any St. (Your mailing address)

Anytown, SD 57000

May 6, 2006

(Quadruple Space - return 4 times after the date - Leaving 3 blank line spaces)

Steering Committee for Senior Project

School Address

Schooltown, SD 57000

(Double Space – leaves 1 blank line)

Dear Members of the Steering Committee:

(DS)

The first paragraph of your letter should contain the general area of interest (topic) and your background, if any in the area.

(DS)

In the second paragraph, you will describe the specific thesis of your research paper and any sources in which you might have access. You also need to provide your proposed mentor’s name, title/position, place of business, address, and phone number.

(DS)

The third paragraph of the letter should describe the proposed product/process idea and explain the connection between the paper and the product/process. Describe how the research and the product/process relate and support one another.

(DS)

In the fourth paragraph, you will declare your understanding of plagiarism and its consequences.

Sincerely, (QS)

Your Typed First and Last Name

(Be sure to have equal blank space from the first line of your mailing address to the top edge of the paper and from your typed name to the bottom edge of the paper.)

Tip for letter placement: From Print Layout View, zoom out to whole page and check for equal spacing and adjust by inserting or deleting lines.

SENIOR PROJECT TOPIC CHANGE FORM – SAMPLE

As sometimes happens, a student may need to modify the original Senior Project. If that happens, a student should address the following questions as he/she modifies the original proposal and secures the required signatures.

How do you wish to change the proposed project?

What is the purpose of the changes?

How will these changes help to further explore an area of interest?

How will these changes allow better demonstration or representation of learning?

Have the proposed changes been discussed with others, such as parents, Faculty Advisor, and Senior Project Mentor? What were the responses about the proposed change?

How will these changes affect the project time line?

Student Date

Faculty Advisor Date

Parent/Guardian Date

Steering Committee Approval: _____ yes _____ no

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