ENG 215
Emergency Preparedness Guide for the Zombie Apocalypse
Purpose:
As we have seen this semester, the CDC has developed an emergency preparedness guide for the zombie apocalypse. Their purpose in doing so is to educate the general public about the need to be prepared for any kind of prolonged, life threatening emergency. The final project for the class will be your opportunity to design your own emergency preparedness guide.
Choose Location:
First, you will need to select a specific geographic location. You could choose your home town, your house, the local mall, a movie theatre, a building at the BCC campus, or any other location that you deem to be appropriate. For the purposes of this assignment, this will be the place where you will be locked down until the zombie apocalypse has passed.
Considerations:
As you design your guide, you will want to consider the supplies that you would need, how you would secure the building, how you would remain connected to the outside world, and how you would address possible unexpected occurrences that might compromise your safety.
Alternative uses:
Lastly, you will want to select one other emergency and show how this guide will also be useful in that situation. You may choose a weather event, such as a hurricane, tornado, or earthquake, or a social event, such as a riot.
Document design:
Your have complete creative license for how you lay out this particular document. To be a true technical document, it will need to blend together visuals with text. If you choose to use photos, they must be ones that you have taken. Consider using charts and graphs as well in ways that are appropriate and meaningful to the guide. Overall, there needs to be a healthy balance of text and visuals in the guide. You should use the sample recommendation report in the Markel text on p. 360-383 as a model for constructing your document. (Note: the model does not include any graphics, but it gives you the sense of how to lay out the document overall).
Research requirement:
In addition, you will need to conduct academic research and integrate information from a minimum of five sources. You may use the CDC as a source for the assignment. Your remaining sources should come from the library reference databases, credible web pages, and books. A reference librarian will be coming to class on two occasions to assist you with the research. All sources will need to be cited according to current APA guidelines. You will need a References page for this assignment. Consistent with APA guidelines, you should also paraphrase rather than quote from your sources.
Final draft requirements:
The final draft will also need a transmittal letter, an executive summary, a bibliography that lists other sources that were not cited as part of the actual guide, and an appendix (you determine what goes here.) The model referenced above shows you where each of these components fits in.
This project will be assessed on the following:
- Appropriateness of the formatting
- Quality of the information provided
- Appropriate and relevant use of visuals
- Clarity and precision of the prose
- Relevance of the research and accuracy of APA format
- Inclusion of all the relevant sections of the finished document
- Creativity and ease of readability
- Grammatical precision
Your finished product should be no longer than 25 pages, excluding the transmittal letter, executive summary, bibliography, References page, and appendix.
Stages of the project:
Aside from this final document, you will have 3 other assignments that are related to the project. You will need to submit a Research Proposal and a Progress Report. During the last week of the semester, each of you will be required to give a 5-7 minute presentation about your guide. You will receive separate assignment sheets for each of these. All of these are self standing assignments that will not directly impact the grade that you receive on the emergency preparedness guide itself.
Draft Reviews:
You are all required to have a partial draft of this assignment reviewed by the Writing Center. Please see the syllabus for additional directions about this requirement. This stage is worth 10 points of the assignment.
Due date:
All stages of this assignment are due when they are due. Late assignments will not be accepted. Please budget your time accordingly so that all work is completed on time. The guide is due on the last day of class and must be submitted electronically through our Blackboard space.
