Description
SCS 100 Project 2: Observation Journal Guidelines and Rubric
Overview
Your second longer-term assignment in this course is to complete an observation journal, where you will use the previous information collected in your comparison template to apply social scientific observations to help you to develop a question about the ads that a social scientist might ask. The work you do on this observation journal will directly support your work on your third course project, the final reflection, which is due later in the course.
This observation journal assignment will assess the following course outcome, which you focused on throughout Theme 2:
• Develop questions about fundamental aspects of human behavior that inform personal assumptions, beliefs and values using evidence from the social sciences
Prompt
Your second course project is an observation journal. You have already gathered your advertisements and completed your comparison template to determine the social science approaches that are relevant to your ads. For this assignment you will use that information to write an observation journal that will ask you to draw conclusions from the ads and, eventually, devise a social science question that you might like to investigate. The critical elements of this assessment will be evaluated in your observation journal.
Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed and will be graded using the rubric at the end of this document:
I. Explain why you chose these advertisements for social scientific and personal study. For instance, what aspects of them intrigued you and made you curious?
II. Explain the assumptions and observations about human interactions and behaviors you made about the advertisements. These are some questions you might want to consider in your explanation:
a. Who do you believe the audiences for the ads might be?
b. What messages do you think the ads are sending?
c. What do you think the nature of the relationship is between or among the people in the ads?
d. What relationship(s) do you see between or among the people and the product or service being advertised?
e. How effective are the ads in influencing your own consumer decisions?
III. Identify topics in this course that are relevant to the human behaviors in your advertisements and explain how they are relevant. This is your social science evidence for your observations. For instance, what ideas and people have you studied so far that apply to your observations?
IV. Taking all of your observations and objective conclusions about human behavior in your advertisements into account, assume the role of a social
scientist. What question would you ask about the advertisements that you, as a social scientist, could seek to answer? What observations and objective conclusions lead you to this question?
Supporting Work and Resources
The observation journal is due in Learning Block 4-3. Throughout Theme 2, there are three opportunities to work directly on different elements of the
observation journal.
- In learning block 2-4, you submitted your comparison template. You will use this to create your observation journal.
- In learning block 3-2, you participated in a discussion using the ads you chose in support of your summative work. You can use your answers from this
discussion when completing your observation journal. - In learning block 4-3, you will work to finalize your observation journal and submit it to your instructor for grading. This learning block also includes an
Observation Journal Checklist that you can use to ensure you have met all the requirements of this project. You can also review the Observation Journal
Exemplar for guidance in how to complete this assignment. Your instructor is available to provide guidance and answer any questions you may have as
you work to finalize your observation journal.
Rubric
Guidelines for Submission: This submission will contain your completed observation journal. Submit your observation journal as a Microsoft Word document.
Critical Elements Exemplary (100%) Proficient (85%) Needs Improvement (55%) Not Evident (0%) Value
Chose Meets “Proficient†criteria and
details demonstrate insight
into the connection between
the social scientific and the
personal
Explains why advertisements
were chosen for social
scientific and personal study
Explains why advertisements
were chosen, but social
scientific and personal
connections are overly
generalized
Does not explain why
advertisements were chosen
23.75
Assumptions and
Observations
Meets “Proficient†criteria and
details demonstrate a mature
awareness of human
interactions and behaviors
Explains the assumptions and
observations about human
interactions and behaviors
made about the ads
Explains the assumptions and
observations about human
interactions and behaviors
made about the ads, but is
overly generalized
Does not explain the
assumptions and observations
about human interactions and
behaviors made about the ads
23.75
Topics Meets “Proficient†criteria and
connection between topics and
ads shows a strong grasp of the
social science evidence
Explains how topics from the
course are relevant to the
human behaviors in the ads
Explains how topics from the
course are relevant to the
human behaviors in the ads,
but is overly generalized or has
inaccuracies
Does not explain how topics
from the course are relevant to
the human behaviors in the ads
23.75
Question Meets “Proficient†criteria and
connections between question,
observations, and conclusions
demonstrate insight into social
scientific study
Poses a question a social
scientist could seek to answer,
supported by observations and
conclusions about human
behavior in the ads
Poses a question a social
scientist could seek to answer,
but lacks support from
observations and conclusion
about human behavior in the
ads or is overly generalized
Does not pose a question a
social scientist could seek to
answer
23.75
Articulation of
Response
Submission is free of errors
related to citations, grammar,
spelling, syntax, and
organization and is presented
in a professional and easy-to read
format
Submission has no major errors
related to citations, grammar,
spelling, syntax, or organization
Submission has major errors
related to citations, grammar,
spelling, syntax, or organization
that negatively impact
readability and articulation of
main ideas
Submission has critical errors
related to citations, grammar,
spelling, syntax, or organization
that prevent understanding of
ideas
5