The formal report is a collaborative project larger in scope than any assignment we've done so far, and its grade counts double what any of the collaborative or individual projects have.

The assignment:

Develop a formal report on paper recycling, with particular attention to recycling programs at Georgia colleges and universities and offering brief recommendations for implementing more comprehensive paper recycling efforts at Middle Georgia State. MGA currently does some aluminum can and plastic bottle and paper recycling, but little extensive recycling of paper. Your report should cover only paper recycling, and you should consider in your recommendations where recycling collection points would be most successful and the least inconvenient for faculty, staff, and students. See report specifics below.

Project requirements:

• You must have at least three meetings, one before Thanksgiving break and two after. Have one of the team email me a quick, one-to-two page memo with meeting minutes within 24 hours of each meeting.
  
  
• You should construct a project planning sheet spelling out all key components of the report with deadlines and specific work assignments. Email me this sheet once it is completed.
  
  
• Compose an audience and use profile sheet, with the audience being various MGA administrators, both in physical plant and in the business office. This one, too, share with me via email.
  
  
• You must conduct significant and moderately extensive research, including brief personal interviews with university staff in areas that make sense (in areas likely to generate significant paper recycling—the library, large academic units such as English, etc.). Your works cited list should include between 8-10 quality sources (use only credible sources from the web, and you'd probably do well to consult scholarly or government publications in addition to merely web-searching).
  
  
• Visuals are not required, but if they are effective in reporting the information you discover, do by all means, include them.  Be sure that any visuals are truly impactful—nothing "cute" or frivolous would be at all appropriate.
  
  
• Do not at this point get too bogged down with specifics of cost, or who will administer and service recycling collections across campus, etc. (could be student-involved, though).
  
  
• Each of you should submit identical final reports in a single PDF document to the Formal Report dropbox in D2L The project leader should email me the planning sheet and audience and use profile as soon as they are completed.
  
  

Report specifics:

As an early step in the process, you will need to determine exactly what questions to research.  You will consider additional matters, but three of particular importance are a) whether paper recycling is truly beneficial to the environment, b) what does the actual paper-recycling process involve (beyond collection of the materials), and c) is the carbon footprint produced by paper recycling outweighed by its supposed or potential benefits to the environment.

The final draft of the report should include each of the following, in order:

Title page
Table of contents
List of tables and figures (if any)
Abstract (100-150 words)
Executive summary (300-350 words)
12-15 page report (the text of the report itself should be roughly 3100 words minimum).
Appendix (if needed)
Glossary (if needed)
Bibliography (Works cited list in MLA style)

Separate from the report, include a transmittal letter addressed to Nancy Stroud, MGA's Executive Vice President for Finance & Operations.

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Use me as a resource to help with any part of this report! Email me if you have quick questions or to set up a meeting or phone call if needed.

Each of you, separately, submit the finished product, comprised of transmittal letter and the full report in a single PDF, to the Collaborative project 3 dropbox in D2L.

 

 

 

After your first meeting, have one of the team email me a fully completed planning sheet, laying out how you intend to structure the work of the project and who is supposed to do what--and when. If any information on this planning sheet changes over the course of the week, email me updated versions.

Submission instructions: each of you, separately, should submit the completed 4-5-page document in PDF format to the Collaborative Project 2 dropbox in D2L.