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## Final Project Overview

### Sign up for in-class presentations at 

#### Projects must accomplish the following:

* Demonstrate a thorough understanding of course materials and concepts across multiple units, including optional readings when relevant
* Synthesize and apply multiple course concepts, approaches, and/or techniques from the course, demonstrating proficiency with these concepts
* Reflect independent work (this can be a literature review, a survey, data analysis) beyond material introduced in class

The topic is entirely up to you, as long as you can demonstrate the above. If you have questions/comments about the appropriateness of a topic please reach out to us. Below are some example ideas, but we highly encourage you to choose your own to ensure that it fits your area of interest and expertise as much as possible:
* Analysis of the ethical/legal/policy implications of an educational platform, application, or market sector (policies, data flows, sensitive populations, exclusions, etc.)
* Assessment of ethical/legal/policy implications of a class of IoT devices (i.e., fitness accessories, in-home assistants like Google Home or Echo, video surveillance and/or facial recognition, etc.)
* Development of a proposed policy or privacy framework for social media algorithms, "fake news," etc.
* Examination of the impacts of GDPR implementation for a given company or industry
* Analysis of the use of social media in employment decisions or credit worthiness determinations

### Write-Up Requirements

* Projects may be done individually, or in groups of up to three. If you have a group of two or three, your work product should be longer/more substantial and reflect the intellectual contributions of a larger team than a project of one. 
* This constitutes a large portion of your grade, so the final written product should be formal (though you do not have to use third-person! follow the conventions we saw in academic course readings), and of a quality appropriate for this portion of your grade. There are no page minimums/maximums; however, a well-written paper between 12 and 25 double-spaced pages of text (excluding title page, images, and references) should be appropriate. If you are concerned about writing too much or too little, please talk to the teaching team (e.g. there may be appropriate shorter papers if a substantial data analysis was conducted within the context of the assignment, but it would be a good idea to discuss this with the instructors). 
* You should bring in both class materials as well as outside material. Most successful projects either incorporate multiple weeks of class material and/or engage deeply with not only the required readings but the recommended readings of one week's topic. 
* Please also include a one-paragraph Positionality and Reflexivity statement, tailored specifically to your project topic. You may use your Positionality and Reflexivity assignment as a starting point for this. If you are working with a group, please incorporate the positionality of each of your group members.



### Final Project Phases (see due dates in syllabus)

#### Phase 1 - Project Outline.
Submit a detailed outline **via ISVC** that lays out your proposed topic, arguments, and ideas, with clear connections to specific course materials. PDFs are strongly preferred. No word limit. The goal is to provide enough information about your topic and be able to explain how you will use ideas from the course in exploring it at this point. _If you are working in a team, please only have ONE team member upload an outline, but make sure the FILENAME includes all team members' names - for instance, "Jared_Maslin_Morgan_Ames_final_project_outline.pdf"._ Be sure to include: 
1. your name(s)
1. a descriptive title
1. a brief abstract describing your topic and proposed contribution
1. 1-2+ pages where you flesh out your ideas, which can be in outline form, outline plus text explanations, or a mix of both. We will be sharing these with your peers, so the more detail you provide, the more detailed feedback you can receive. 

#### Phase 2 - Peer Feedback.
Provide a constructive review of another student's outline. See [the Peer_Feedback_Assignment file in this directory](./3_Peer_Feedback_Assignment.md) for more.

#### Phase 3 - Final Project Presentation.
Prepare a brief overview of your project for class, followed by questions you would like the class to help you answer (exact time varies based on enrollment and number of project teams, but you typically have around 5 minutes for your presentation and 3-5 minutes for questions). I encourage you to be strict about the time limit _and practice_ to allow time for questions and comments.

This presentation is designed to be a second benchmark (after your outline) of your project; your project does not need to be complete at this point but you should have done substantial work already and be nearing completion. Based on the feedback you receive here, you will have around one week (depending on the course calendar and grade due dates) to revise your project.

Remember that your performance in this presentation is NOT a part of your grade, so please don't stress about this! We hope this is a safe place to practice a skill that some may find to be challenging, but is a common part of being a data scientist and also important for doing advocacy work. If you would rather pre-record your presentation instead of presenting live, please let us know and we can accommodate that instead.

#### Phase 4 - Final Project.
Your final write-up should build on the steps above to be a *deep and substantive* exploration of your topic using course materials for your analysis. See "Write-Up Requirements" above for details. 

Final write-ups AND slides should be submitted **via ISVC**. PDFs are strongly preferred. _If you are working in a team, please only have ONE team member upload an outline, but please note all of your names clearly at the beginning of all files._ 

### Grading Rubric

This applies specifically to the final write-up. The outline and the presentation can also follow these principles, but are meant to be milestones toward developing the final write-up, and as such are graded very forgivingly.

Description | Great | Average | Needs Work
-|-|-|-
Use of Course Materials | Thoroughly and carefully applies course materials from multiple units to the chosen topic. Application of the materials is appropriate to the topic, and reflects a thorough and nuanced understanding of the course. Includes summaries of the arguments of key course readings to bolster the paper's argument. | Integrates course materials, but misses opportunities to connect additional material that is clearly relevant to the topic and argument. Integration may be missing nuance or detail, or may draw from too narrow a slice of the course (e.g. just one unit or just a few more peripheral readings). | Cursory or incorrect use of course materials.
Topic Choice | Topic is original, carefully described, and compellingly presented. Connections to course materials are natural and insightful. Includes an explanation of why the author finds the topic compelling. | Topic isn't well-motivated, and connections to course materials seem somewhat contrived. | Little or no connection between topic chosen and course materials.
Appropriate Scope | Scope is substantially broader than class assignments, but still bounded enough that concrete examples can be applied. | Scope goes beyond class assignments but not by much; or, scope is overly broad/ambitious and the results are vague and ungrounded. | Scope is comparable to or less than that of a class assignment.
Concrete Evidence | Provides persuasive concrete evidence for claims, and cites reliable sources for all assertions. | Does not consistently provide concrete evidence; citatons are inconsistent or not from reliable sources. | Fails to provide concrete evidence (e.g. states opinions with no backing) and does not cite sources. 
Clarity of writing | Clearly organized and persuasive writing. Clear "signposting" throughout the writeup (e.g. providing a clear summary of main points at the end of the introduction, including a conclusion that re-states main points) to guide the reader through the main argument(s). Quotes and citations are used judiciously for emphasis. | Some difficulties following the argument, not as concise as it could be. Text may include long blockquotes from readings when paraphrasing would be more appropriate. | Very hard to follow argument; either lots of filler or much too short/underdeveloped.
<!--Positionality/Reflexivity | Incorporates a paragraph discussing of the author's positionality and reflexivity, tailored to the project topic. | Incorporates a discussion of the author's positionality and reflexivity, but does not tailor it, or discussion is cursory. | Does not include a positionality and reflexivity statement.-->
