Help with Capstone?

[MissEmily]

Hi all, I'm new to the forum and just started my TESU Liberal Arts Capstone.  I'm really freaking out about Written Assignment 1, which is due in about a week.   I feel like I'm getting conflicting information about what should be included in the paper.  The directions for assignment 1 give a list what should be included in your paper, but the list includes things that I don't think would be included in an academic paper, such as the topic's personal relevancy to me. (I also read in the required text that we should avoid writing about anything personal, then the first assignment seems to be asking us to do just that.)  It was my understanding that the 1st assignment is the intro for your capstone paper as a whole, which would imply needing an abstract, but no mention of that in the assignment guidelines either?  I'm not a strong academic writer to begin with, so I'm really nervous about not even getting the format right.  There were no samples provided, does anyone out there have samples that are available to share, or any advice?  At this point I'm really worried about bombing it.   Thanks!

[jsh1138]

Alot of what you're expected to put in there depends on your professor. I would ask them if you have any questions.

I mean I would be happy to give you my Part 1 or whatever but if your professor wants something different, it's not going to help you any.

[bjcheung77]

Don't fret over the capstone, it's probably your last course and you have 12 weeks to do the entire thing. Many people complete all the assignments before the deadline, just go accordingly to the calendar of when these assignments are supposed to be completed. Don't spend too much time "overthinking" what should be done or second guessing yourself. Search the previous threads and see if there are some samples you may find and then go full steam ahead until you get them done...

[MissEmily]

Alot of what you're expected to put in there depends on your professor. I would ask them if you have any questions.

I mean I would be happy to give you my Part 1 or whatever but if your professor wants something different, it's not going to help you any.

Thanks, I think I probably should just message the professor or maybe post in the class open forum, I can't be the only one confused about this.  I am honestly way out of my depth, I took my Composition classes 10+ years ago and don't do much writing at work,etc.  I'm regretting not taking a refresher course of some sort, but too late now.

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Don't fret over the capstone, it's probably your last course and you have 12 weeks to do the entire thing.  Many people complete all the assignments before the deadline, just go accordingly to the calendar of when these assignments are supposed to be completed.  Don't spend too much time "overthinking" what should be done or second guessing yourself.  Search the previous threads and see if there are some samples you may find and then go full steam ahead until you get them done...

Thank you, I think I just needed to hear that.  Crossing my fingers that the professor is speedy about grading papers and gives helpful feedback so I can learn from his comments on the first assignment.

[allvia]

There was a post very recently that the Capstone course for the BALS (Liberal Arts) changes formats (likely as early as this one you're now in) - so what you're finding here may be the way it was vs the way it is now.  Go by what the course instructions are now - if they want you to present facts and add a bit of your personal take (opinion) then do it. The key to presenting a personal side in an academic paper (when asked for it) is backing it up with facts that brought you to form it.

And of course, if you're still questioning the assignment contact the professor.

[jsh1138]

I felt really overwhelmed when I started my Capstone too. Don't freak out about it, you can do it. Just chop it up into bite sized pieces and you'll be fine