Paper Two: Investigative Report

Purpose

Identify a local person, problem, or issue that interests you and merits your investigation. Write to a specific audience, one who can appreciate, act upon, or respond to your investigation. In addition to a specific audience, write with a specific purpose in mind (what it is you want your audience to do or think).

In this assignment, an exercise in community engagement, you’ll learn about your surroundings by exploring, listening to, absorbing, and questioning what others say and do; conducting limited research; and, most importantly, interviewing. You may choose one of two options to fulfill this assignment:

1.     Profile – Interview a local professional and spend some time with her or him (a significant portion of a work day) in the workplace. If you choose this option, you should be tactful, generous, and humble as you approach someone to request their time and energy—and as you observe them closely and pick their brain.

2.     Report – Select a nearby location, institution, or campus issue to investigate. You may be attracted by some glaring or not-so-obvious problem (exigence). Or you may be simply curious about it. Learn what you can about both the “historical” background of your topic and its “contemporary” life today.

Invention

Keep in mind as you brainstorm/draft:

-  Choose a specific person, problem, or issue to investigate. Be specific.

-  Bring together a variety of observations, research findings, and judgments in order to stimulate your investigation.

-  Synthesize the most appropriate of them in order to reach your reasoned/logical conclusion or solution.

-  Think about how your investigation might be informative, entertaining, or persuasive for a specific audience.

Expectations

A successful investigative report will:

1.     Introduce why the subject merits investigation;

2.     Approach the subject from various perspectives, with the use of concrete examples, evidence (including anecdotes), and direct quotations to develop your purpose;

3.     Tell a compelling story about your subject by expertly incorporating source materials into your narrative

Length: 4-5 pages (double-spaced)

Rough Draft Due: October 3, 2011

Final Assignment Portfolio Due: October 10, 2011