STEP 1-FINDING SOURCES
You’ll ultimately need to identify at least four sources (not counting your textbook—you can use that in the final project, but for this part of the project you need outside sources). At least two of them must be peer-reviewed journal articles.
For each source, you’ll need to provide:
- A reference, in APA format
- A short explanation (2-4 sentences) of how this source will be helpful in your work.
What sources do you need?
- Source #1 needs to support your claim that your problem is a significant one.
- Don’t just give a general statement about your problem; instead, you’ll need to highlight one or more statistics that come from this source.
- Source #2 needs to explain why your selected age group is particularly at risk: How does this problem relate to what we know about social, emotional, cognitive, and/or physical development at this stage of life?
- Source #3 needs to support your claim that your proposed solution is likely to make a difference.
- In order to answer this question, you’ll also need to include a 1-2 sentence summary of what your proposed solution is. Remember that it can’t be general advice (“teens should cut back on social media usage”), or something that’s already commonly done. It needs to be a policy or program. You can create it yourself, or find something that’s currently done on a small scale and explain why it should be more widely adopted.
- Source #4 may address any of the above criteria (showing that your problem is a big one, how it relates to a particular stage of life, and/or supporting the efficacy of your proposed solution).
- You are not required to include more than four sources. But if you have additional ones you’d like feedback on, feel free to list them at the end. It won’t impact your grade, but I’ll let you know if they look appropriate.
Other requirements to note
- Your sources may be no more than 10 years old.
- At least two of your sources must be peer-reviewed journal articles.
- For any source that isn’t a peer-reviewed article, you need to also include a 1-3 sentence justification as to why it’s a reliable source. You’ll need to consider variables such as the expertise of the author or the organization.
STEP 2-creating a infograph
It’s a way to present data using a lot of graphics and relatively minimal text to convey information. Key components of successful infographics include:
- Informative headings and subheadings to highlight your main points right away
- Telling a story: Readers should be able to read from top to bottom and get information quickly.
- Meant to be read in about two minutes or less.
- Using graphics to either illustrate a point, or simply provide visual cues.
Infographic design notes
- This is not a graphic design course. When it comes to grading, I’m going to be looking primarily at the information you include, and whether you’ve chosen graphics and a layout that help convey your message. I am not, however, going to be focusing on the picky details like the specific font you use or the precise color scheme. That’s one reason I suggest using Canva (more on that site below) and just starting with one of their pre-made templates.
- Having said that, your grade does include an assessment of appearance and organization. So you do need to make sure that your font and colors are readable and understandable. Make sure the font is large enough, not hard to read, and that there’s enough color contrast (no pale font on a white background, for example). You’ll also have to make sure that you make good use of space, that your graphics somehow contribute to your message, that you don’t have huge blocks of text, and that there’s an organized flow of information from top to bottom and/or left to right.
- Your infographic should be all one image. It should not be split up into multiple pages. If you choose a template and you’re running out of room, then you need to make the image bigger, not use Canva’s “add page” option.
Within your infographic, you need to have in-text citations for any information that is not common knowledge.
You also need a reference list that will be turned in separately as a Word file. You can get more information about this at Formatting reference lists in APA style.
