TWC 551 Intellectual Property and Copyright
Technical Communication Program
Graduate Assignment Fall 2009
As graduate students in this course you will
complete all of the work for the undergraduate TWC451 section of the course as well as an additional research report.
Discussion Board
As graduate students, your level of
participation should be higher than that of the undergraduate students. You
should take on a leadership role in discussion board participation by engaging with
others and contributing more in-depth discussion of topics. The number of
points will be the same as undergraduates; however, I will grade your posts
based on expectations that your contributions are more in-depth.
Graduate Assignment
In addition to work required as part of
TWC451, you will also complete an additional research assignment. You may select topic one or two below or
propose a topic that is more relevant to your major, career, or interests.
Topic One: The “Sports Rule”
If you are a sports fan, you know that
broadcast of major league sports is subject to blackout rules. Blackout rules are the object of
confusion and frustration for sports fans. They are also intertwined with intellectual property. For your research project, investigate
the intersection of major league blackout rules and broadcasting in the context of intellectual property. For this
research project, we are interested in broadcasting only, not licensing
associated with memorabilia and products or trademark issues associated with team or league
logos or other marks. Instead,
your research should focus on licensing related to broadcasting major league
sports (and related areas of local, national, international broadcasting via
television, radio, and the Internet) and, in particular, the “sports rule.”
Your purpose for this project is not to argue
for or against black rules and provisions. Instead, your goal is to present a
clear and objective explanation and analysis of the link between IP and
blackout rules.
Topic Two: Scholarly Publishing
The publishing industry has undergone major
transformations due to changes in technology. One of those transformations is
related to intellectual property and how scholarly information is produced,
stored, and disseminated. Research
an aspect of scholarly publishing and intellectual property. You will need to refine this topic. For example, you may want to investigate new legislation currently pending in Congress related to publication of research.
Topic Three: Your choice
Choose a topic of your choice related to IP.
Research Proposal
(due Friday, September 18th, 10 pts)
Outcomes met by successful completion: R1,
CRW1
You should confirm your topic with me before beginning background research for your proposal.
- Submit a proposal in memo format for your topic.
Your proposal should include:
- A summary of your background research
- What you currently know: at a minimum, you
should include the topic and some background (with sources cited) to
provide context to why you chose it
- What do you want or need to know: your
background research should raise questions for you. These questions will
guide your research--what and how you will find information. Your
research plan. Stating that you will use online sources (or even throwing
in that you will use library databases) is not a research strategy or plan and is unacceptable. Think through how you will
find the information you need, how you will go about finding it (whether
that be primary or secondary research or both), what problems and
limitations you may have for conducting the research.
- Your research plan
should show some thought about the types of information you need based on
your questions for "what you want or need to know" and how you
believe (at this point) that you can find it. Obviously your plan and
strategy may change as you find more information and alter both the
"what" and "how" but at this point, you should be
formulating ideas about which methods will help you locate what you need
to know and there should be a logical connection between methods and questions.
- A timeline for completing the project. Use
assignment due dates to help you work out a plan for completing your
report and presentation. Your timeline should go beyond listing the
assignment due dates, however, and should demonstrate that you have
thought through a research plan and strategy.
Grading will be based on:
- comprehensiveness of your background summary, research plan, and
detail of your timeline
- formatting and mechanics
Progress Report (due
Friday, October 16th, 10 pts)
Outcomes met by successful completion: R1,
CRW2, CRW3, KC2
Your progress report must include:
- a narrative of the work you have completed to
date. Your report should include details rather than be a brief overview.
Use the research plan and timeline from your proposal to help you identify
what you have completed and what remains to be done. Include any
alterations you have made in your research plan. To do this, you must
summarize what you have found so far and HOW that has impacted your search
strategy. No research strategy is perfect or without problems; I expect to
see an honest and comprehensive assessment of your strategy and work. In
fact, if you have done your research well and analyzed the information you
have found (rather than merely collecting it), you should have new
questions that have emerged as you have read and analyzed your sources.
- an annotated bibliography of sources you have found to
date. Your annotations should include a summary (in your own words) of the
source and an analysis of how it is appropriate for your topic
- an updated timeline showing work completed, work
still to be done, and changes made due
Submit your progress report as an informal report.
Grading will be based on:
- comprehensive and clear report on your progress
- assessment of
your work to date and your strategy, including problems and
limitations
- comprehensive and clear bibliography that consists of a
reasonable number of sources reflecting the scope of your research (in
other words, not just sources from websites)
- formatting and mechanics
Report Draft (due
Friday, November 20th, 10 pts)
Submit a draft of your final report.
Final Report (report due Tuesday, December 8th, 30 pts)
Outcomes met by successful completion of
this assignment: R1, CRW1, CRW2, CRW3, CRW4, KC1, KC2, KC3
Submit your final report. Your report can be
in any format you’d like: formal report, video presentation, manual, white
paper, etc. Regardless of format,
your report should be well-documented with sources
appropriately cited in APA style.
Grading will be based on outcomes
Back to Syllabus | Email the Instructor
Page last modified: 19 August 2009