State of Science Project

Begin with a subject you are already interested in or curious about.  There is a good chance your initial topic will be too broad, so keep the 1250-1500 word limit in mind as you think about your scope and area of focus.  As you do your research, you will come across facts, common knowledge, or aspects of your topic that are well established.  While this can be part of what you talk about, you want to find interesting questions to guide your research.  But what is an “interesting” question?  Consider what is new, unexpected, controversial, or unsettled about your research question.  Interesting content will also be relevant to your audience; you should be able to show your audience how your topic impacts their lives and ultimately, why they should care.

A note about COVID-19 topics: Given the amount of coronavirus-related information we encounter daily, we might all appreciate a break from this subject. While I’m not enforcing this as a hard rule, and we will certainly talk about COVID-19 communication in other aspects of this course, consider picking a science topic unrelated to COVID-19 for this project.

Do your research.

Now that you’ve decided on your topic, and probably already done some preliminary research, it is time to get serious about researching your topic.

DETAILED ASSIGNMENT

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