This document provides an overview of the major assignments for a course on animal studies: a Historical Conversations Project, an Advocacy Project, and a Portfolio and Reflection Essay. The Historical Conversations Project involves writing a literature review on a topic in animal science research. The Advocacy Project consists of a social media campaign, infographic, and multimodal essay defining an animal-related problem and recommending solutions. Minor weekly assignments build skills to complete the major projects. Completing all assignments ensures a minimum grade of B.

1. WR39C
GETTING STARTED
OR….

2. What did I get myself into?

3. Hopefully by now you’ve
had a chance to read
through the syllabus..
If you haven’t,
then make that
a priority!
This presentation will
go over a few important
points that I don’t want you
to miss…

4. The Major Assignments
(and what they’re worth in the final grade)
Historical Conversations
Project (25%)
Advocacy Project (45%)
Social Media=15%; AP=30%;
Portfolio & Reflection
Essay (30%)

5. As part of the three major assignments,
you’ll have several minor assignments that will all
help you build your knowledge and skills so that you can
complete the major assignments.
Think of the smaller assignments as scaffolding—
they are foundational to your work and
thus, very important!
That’s why the Grade Contract says that
if you complete all the assignments, both major and minor,
you are assured of a B as your final grade
If you don’t know what the Grade Contract is,
go back and review the syllabus at Canvas (it’s
explained at the end of the syllabus)

6. The next slide is a visual
representation of
the basic tasks we’ll be
working on
each week of the quarter,
and how they fit in with the
major assignments:
The first few weeks of the class, you’ll be doing a lot of reading in
order to begin gaining some expertise on the topic of Animal
Studies. We’ll read some articles from a special issue of TIME and
then we’ll read Carl Safina’s book Beyond Words: What Animals
Think and Feel. There will be reading quizzes on this material at the
end of each week.

7. Weeks 1-3 Weeks 4-6 Weeks 7-8 Week 9 Week 10
Starting your
research
Learning
UCI’s
Library
Learning
about your
topic
Choosing,
Annotating
sources
Blog &
Portfolio
Scholarly
Texts:
Animal
Science
Choosing,
Annotating
sources
Draft, Review,
Revise HCP
Beginning
Social Media
Project
Blog &
Portfolio
Social Media
Project
Continues
Asking
Philosophical
Questions
Choosing,
Annotating
Sources
Defining a
Problem
Blog &
Portfolio
Finding
Solutions
Drafting
AP
Choosing,
Annotating
Sources
Counter-
Arguments
and
Various
Perspectives
Blog &
Portfolio
Finalizing
AP
Draft
Reflection
Essay
Review,
Revise
Reflection
Essay
Blog &
Portfolio
Historical Conversations
Project (HCP)
Advocacy Project
(AP)
Portfolio and Reflection
it’s
all
connected!

8. HCP
In this essay, you will write a historical review
of the scientific literature about a specific type
of research in Animal Science
The TIME articles we read in weeks 1-2 will
give you some ideas about the current kinds
of research being done in Animal Science
In every discipline—science, social science,
engineering, computer science, humanities—
scholars begin their texts by first reviewing
what other scholars/scientists have written
about the topic. That’s what you’ll be
doing in your HCP
Before we begin the HCP, we’ll first do a bit of research and reading to find out what kinds of issues
are out there for the Advocacy Project—why? Because your HCP is going to end up as a “Literature
Review” that sets up a foundation for the issue you will define and propose solutions for in the AP.
In other words, although the HCP and the AP are two separate essays, the HCP is really the first
part of the AP. If you want to get a better idea of how that looks when it’s all done, look at the
essays in the student sample portfolios on the home page of Canvas this week (week 1).

9. SAMPLE HCP TOPICS
<you’ll review a specific area of animal science research
and a specific species>
• Intellect and Cognition
• Social Groups
• Emotion and Mourning
• Communication

10. Notice that the HCP is NOT about an issue and it’s not
yet making an argument—it’s a review of what we know
through scientific research, which also provides a bit of
history on how the research has developed.
This review of the science will act as a
foundation for the argument you
will be making in the
Advocacy Project

11. SOCIAL
MEDIA
CAMPAIGN
This is the first
step of the Advocacy
Project, where you
will research about the
issues that interest you
and with a group of
colleagues, create a
social media campaign that informs and persuades

12. As part of your
Social Media Campaign,
you will create an
“infographic”
You’ll research to
find facts and
statistics about
your issue, and
then provide a
graphical illustration
of that info
like this!

13. AP
The Advocacy Project
is a multimodal essay in
which you define a current
problem concerning
the animal-human relationship
and then recommend
solutions to that problem,
making an argument about
why the solutions you are
suggesting are the best
ways to solve the problem
The next page illustrates the basic
structure you’ll follow as you create
the AP—notice that it begins
with material from your HCP

14. Review of the Scientific Literature
Ask Philosophical Questions
based on what we know from the science
Define a Problem—History of the Issue
Recommend Solutions
The Advocacy Project

15. We’ll write the parts
of the AP in chunks—
all the while
continuing our
research and annotation
of sources
This will help insure
that you can’t
procrastinate and
get behind

16. You’ll also build your own website portfolio
You’ll add a little to it each week….

17. Phew! There is
a lot of work ahead—
I’m already tired!
You’ll be fine
as long as you
keep up with
the weekly
assignments!!
My daughter’s husky— “Diesel”

18. This is Watson; he lives with me
He hates it when I put him in costumes
Thanks for taking the time to read through this presentation!

19. LHAAS@UCI.EDU
You can always email me if you have questions
But please check Canvas first
—syllabus, home page, assignments—
to see if your question is already answered there.
Magic Katie< my two cats >

20. —Mahatma Gandhi
“"The greatness of a nation and its moral
progress can be judged by the way its animals
are treated…I hold that, the more helpless a
creature, the more entitled it is to protection from
the cruelty of human kind.”