PHASE 6: RESEARCHING (10%)Due Date: July 29Purpose: To become familiar with social science research and how it is presented i

PORTFOLIO PROJECT

General Education Requirement

CCJ4651.933

Specific tasks for the project

In what ways does decriminalization or legalization of marijuana impact the overall number of drug users?

The tasks

· Assessing the timelines of legalization of marijuana in different states (one hour)

· Evaluate the data on the volumes of Marijuana consumption through amounts from the date of legalization to a year after legalization (three hours)

· Planning an interview with Centre for Drug and Control (CDC) official on contexts of increase in Marijuana consumption (one day)

· Compiling the data (four hours)

· Data analysis (Five hours anticipated time)

Is the U.S. drug control policy’s focus on supply reduction effective in reducing the harm caused to society by drugs?

The tasks

· Assessing the cases of drug control measures related to supply reduction (one hour)

· Prevalent of drug abuse through research (two hours)

· Overall drug abuse prevalence (two hours)

· Interviews on police heads on the change of drug use (one day)

· Reflection of the data provided

· Data analysis (two hours)

Is there a link between illegal drug use and criminal behavior, and is there a link between drug laws and crime?

The tasks

· Research on drug laws and criminal behavior (2 hours)

· Review of online data on arrested persons with illegal drug use background (two hours)

· Reflect on the relationship (three hours) through online research

· Collect data from nearest police on the experience between criminal behavior and drug abuse (one hour)

· Interview the head of the police unit in the local area (two hours)

· Data collection and analysis (two hours)

The approach to interviewing the police head in the local area is aimed at saving time. It is not conclusive but persuasive on the link between illegal drug use and criminal behavior.

Research questions below to be the focus of your portfolio.

1. In what ways does decriminalization or legalization of marijuana impact the overall number of drug users?

2. Is the U.S. drug control policy’s focus on supply reduction effective in reducing the harm caused to society by drugs?

3. Is there a link between illegal drug use and criminal behavior? 4.

Is there a link between drug laws and crime?

PHASE 1: PLANNING (5%)

Due Date: July 5 by 6pm (everything’s due at 6pm on the due date. Everything.)

Purpose: To improve your problem solving skills by developing a multi-step project plan.

Directions: Your task is to develop a Portfolio Plan in which you analyze the Portfolio Project and lay out the steps you will take to complete it. You will do this thusly:

Carefully read the directions for all seven phases before beginning (see below). Develop a plan of action laying out the steps necessary to complete all portions of the project by the due dates listed. Post to the discussion board titled Portfolio Plan. The questions below will be helpful in developing the plan.

a) Identify your short term and long term tasks in regards to the Portfolio Project.

b) Break the problem into specific tasks, listing each task as clearly and precisely as you can.

c) Include the anticipated number of hours to complete each task. Is this estimate of the tasks and hours allotted realistic? Recognize your limitations in terms of time (competing obligations/ due dates).

d) Assess each task to determine what you have to do to complete it.

e) Identify the phases that require skills/information that you will need to acquire.

f) Evaluate your options. What can you do in the short term? In the long term?

PHASE 2 — PROVIDING PEER FEEDBACK (5%)

Due Date: July 11, 6pm

Purpose: Practice critical thinking skills by assessing the completeness and feasibility of fellow student’s portfolio plans.

Directions: Provide feedback on the project plan to TWO fellow students. Select students within your Project Group who do not already have feedback from two others (if, for some weird reason, EVERYONE already has two, you can be the third, but look for folk who don’t have two reviews yet). Read their plan and consider the following questions.

· Does their plan identify all the tasks needed to complete the Portfolio Project? If not, what is missing?

· Does their plan identify potential obstacles/limitation? If not, what does it need to further elaborate upon?

· Does it identify skills or information need to complete tasks? IF not, what are the skills/information they will need to complete the project?

· Is the timeline feasible? If you don’t think it is (or if it’s absent completely), you don’t have to do their timeline for them, but at least one suggestion regarding planning would be helpful.

[General comments about this being impossible during a six-week course are not in fact necessary, as the person writing these words has already noted that it’s challenging. But it IS do-able and hey, Gen Ed course in Summer in 6 weeks! But unfortunately, the course can’t be shortened in content, and it’s 3 hours, so it must be the same course. I feel your pain – 100 students x 7 writing assignments – the math isn’t too hard here to figure out how much grading your intrepid Instructor and TA will be doing. And in high gear as well ]

· Remember, all of this is intended to be CONSTRUCTIVE comment – it’s intended to HELP your peers. “Your plan is bad”, or anything even similar to that, is not collegial, not responsive to the assignment, and will not be scored as such.

PHASE 3 –- INTEGRATING NEW SOURCES OF INFORMATION (5%)

Due Date: July 16

Purpose: To revise and improve prior work by integrating feedback and new sources of information.

Directions: Modify your Portfolio Plan to include: 1) the feedback received from two classmates, and 2) good ideas from the two plans you reviewed (and any other ideas you might have had since submitting Phase One. Post the modified plan on the Discussion Board. Yes, that’s it. Not TOO bad of an assignment, right?

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PHASE 4: KNOWLEDGE (5%)

Due Date: July 20

Purpose: Practice effective written communication.

Directions: 1. Select of one of the research questions below to be the focus of your portfolio.

1. In what ways does decriminalization or legalization of marijuana impact the overall number of drug users?

2. Is the U.S. drug control policy’s focus on supply reduction effective in reducing the harm caused to society by drugs?

3. Is there a link between illegal drug use and criminal behavior?

4. Is there a link between drug laws and crime?

2. In a 6-8 sentence essay, describe your current understanding of the answer to the question you selected. . DO NOT SEEK OUT ANY NEW INFORMATION ABOUT THIS TOPIC BEFORE WRITING YOUR ESSAY. You will have the chance to do that in future assignments.

The focus of this assignment is on your writing. Organization is key. While it is okay to write down your initial thoughts about the topic, you must rewrite these thoughts into an organized and logical essay. Two or three drafts will be required to produce a result that will meet the standards expected (See grading rubric).

3. Looking back on the paragraph you just wrote, does it:

· Start with an introductory sentence?

· Describe your current understanding regarding the topic?

· Indicate the sources of information that have helped to shape your understanding. (personal experience, the media, information learned in a course, etc.)?

If not, go back and revise

4. Reflecting on composing your essay, did you find yourself questioning your knowledge base and how it has been shaped? Learning to interpret and assess information, including how to judge its credibility, is a critical skill. This will be a continuous thread throughout this course, your academic experience and beyond.

I hope that this exercise has sparked your interest in finding out more information about the topic you selected. We will be doing this in the next two assignments.

Phase 5 – Evaluating Credibility of Sources

(TRAPP test evaluation rubric and answer sheet for questions asked in the assignment)

Due Date: July 25 (by, yes, you guessed it == 6 pm)

1. Referring to the research question you selected in Phase 4, identify a WRITTEN online source (e.g. a news or magazine article, a web page—anything except an article published in a research journal). The source should be sufficiently long that you will be able to write 500 words on the topic. Read the grading rubric below before starting the assignment.

2. Provide the URL to your source. This should be a DIRECT URL – that is, if I click it,

I should be taken directly to the page containing the document itself. Any URL which does not conform

to this requirement will not only result in your being downgraded for that part, if I cannot find the article

VERY easily, I won’t have the ability to score much of this part of your portfolio and your grade will reflect this.

. 3. The TRAPP test includes 5 criteria upon which to evaluate a source. Think about the answers to the questions and

then rank your source on each of the 5 criteria from 1 to 10 (1 = unreliable, 10 = excellent). Enter the score

in the textbox below.

Add up the scores to give you an idea of whether you should you use the resource (and whether your professor would want you to!).

45 – 50 Excellent

40 – 44 Good

35 – 39 Average

30 – 34 Borderline Acceptable

Below 30 – Unacceptable

5. Identify which of the 5 criteria your source scored the highest on and explain why.

6. Identify the criteria your source scored lowest on and justify why the source is still a creditable one for learning about your research topic.

7. (Read this next paragraph VERY carefully): Summarize the information in your source that contributes to your increased understanding of the

research question you chose. This should be at least 500 words and WILL BE SUBMITTED USING THE TOOL IN the Portfolio module (It’s called “Phase 5 Essay Submission” or something similar. You will NOT submit anything to that link other than your essay. The “questions” part of PHASE 5 ( everything I have conveniently changed to a deep blue color above this paragraph) you will save and submit to the link entitled “Phase 5 WORKSHEET”. If you get this wrong, there is a very real chance that your submission will not be scored at all and will become a zero on the due date. I cannot emphasize this enough. You will answer the questions in the blue section of this document(as appropriate, respond below each question. Don’t worry about formatting too much–as long as it’s not a total mess, I should be able to parse it. If I can’t, you’ll know… ) and submit it to the “worksheet” link, then take your 500-word essay as a separate document and submit it to the “essay” link. Not really difficult, but failure to follow directions is an indication that you are not mastering critical thinking skills, and it will be penalized separately from the rubric if you don’t pay attention.

GRADING RUBRIC (this is what I’ll use to grade your Phase 5 submissions)

Assignment graded out of 100 points (worth 10% of final grade).

PHASE 6: RESEARCHING (10%)

Due Date: July 29

Purpose: To become familiar with social science research and how it is presented in academic journals.

Directions: In Phase 5 of the Portfolio Project you identified a source of information from the web addressing the research question you selected in Phase 4. In this phase, you must select a research article from a peer-reviewed journal. A peer reviewed research article will report the results of a research study that has been conducted. Conducting research requires following the rules of the scientific method and the collection of data.

1. Identify a peer reviewed research article published after 2010 that is relevant to the research question you selected in Phase 4. I will provide information about what will constitute an acceptable article, and I’ll give you some information on what “peer reviewed” and “research” mean for this assignment. However, you are responsible for ensuring that your article conforms to these rules.

2. Answer each of the items below in writing your essay (see how this is different from Phase 5? In that one, you did a worksheet, then used it and your source article to write the essay. This time, no worksheet – you will integrate the responses to the questions below INTO your essay).

a. Provide a proper APA citation for your article.

b. What is the research question the study was designed to answer?

c. What were the researchers trying to understand or explain? This is the dependent variable.

d. What variable(s) did the researchers think would help them to understand or explain the dependent variable listed above? This is the independent variable/variables.

e. Describe how data was collected (survey of people, data from an official criminal justice agency, analyses of laws, an observation or experiment).

f. Describe the sample that was used. This should include a number in the description.

g. Skip over the section where the statistical analysis is presented, and read the section labeled Findings or Discussion. Summarize the results of the study.

h. Towards the end of the article the researchers will mention the limitations of their study. What were the limitations of their study identified by the researchers?

3. Using the information from above, write 500 words describing the study and its results. Be sure to use your own words .

Grading rubric for this Phase:

PHASE 7: INTEGRATING AND SYNTHESIZING INFORMATION (15%)

Due Date: August 4

Purpose: To revise previously submitted coursework by integrating new sources of information.

Directions: In this final portion of the Portfolio Project you will revise previously submitted coursework and write a final essay integrating the material from Phases 4, 5 and 6.

1. Review the feedback provided in Phases 5 and 6. Summarize the 3 most important corrections/suggestions provided along with an explanation of how you will address these as part of this last assignment.

2. Using the three essays you have written (Phases 4, 5,6) , and incorporating the feedback you received, write a three-page essay answering the original research question you selected in Phase 4.

3. Your final task is to review the Portfolio Plan you created in Phases 1-3. Review your original plan for “solving” this semester long assignment and give your original your plan a grade (A-F, you can use minus and pluses) based on how well it served as an effective tool for assisting you in completing the Portfolio. Identify what parts of your plan were helpful and which parts fell short. Describe what you will do differently next time you are faced with a multi-step project. Note: Your grade is not tied to the grade you give your plan, but rather on your ability to reflect upon the effectiveness of your plan and to identify how you will improve next time. (SLO#4)

Phase 7 Grading Rubric

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