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Task 2.3: Complete Research and Create Proposal

You have been asked to finish your research on GM crops and to create a proposal for your presentation to Congress.

The steps below will help you with your task.

• Note: The steps below do not need to be completed sequentially. Work in the order best suited to your style and that will keep you on schedule for this task.
  
  
• Review the General Skills Resources link (in the left menu), particularly on references and citations, to understand what resources are available to you. You may refer to these resources as you complete your work to help keep track of what you find in your research.

Contents of this step-by-step guide: (click an item to jump to that section)

• Project Management
  
  
• Conduct Research and Revise Final Report Outline
  
  
• Revise Presentation Outline, Create Presentation Proposal
  
  
• Review and Submit Your Work

Project Management (back to top)

Your team will need to continue managing your projects and submit a team status report.

1. Meet with your team to discuss what still needs to be researched at this point.
   
   
• If you have not already done so, discuss the findings of the focus groups your team conducted, and about any areas that need further research based on the focus groups.
  
  
• Read the email from Dr. Woodrow to make sure you understand your tasks.
  
  
2. Refer to the steps on project management from previous tasks to remind yourself what is involved, if needed.
   
   
3. Use the status report template your team created in the previous task to document what needs to be completed and who is responsible for its completion.
   
   
   • The project manager needs to submit a status report of the team at the end of this task.

Conduct Research and Revise Outline for Final Report (back to top)

You have been asked to conduct follow-up research based on your experience with the focus group.

1. Identify points from the focus groups. These may have been points you did not have enough information on, viewpoints that your research hadn’t uncovered or addressed, other things you believe weren’t as strong as you will need for your projects, or points you found interesting and would like to explore more deeply.
   
   
• Look through your notes, both for the work you conducted individually and from discussions with your team about their focus groups to get a feeling for what you need information on, and which points to research more thoroughly.
  
  
2. Conduct research to find resources and answers to any open questions or issues that remain.
   

Tip: Members of your team may have come across resources on these points earlier but for one reason or another did not pursue them in depth at that time. Have people look through their research notes to see if they can easily find resources on these points.


3. Revise your outline for your final report to include any information from your additional research that you believe should be in the presentation.
   
   
   • Refer to the General Skills Resources link (in the left menu) under “Writing” for tips on developing an outline.

Revise Presentation Outline, Create Presentation Proposal (back to top)

1. Meet with your team to discuss the information each person found, any questions or issues the research uncovered, any issues that weren’t fully resolved, what needs to be done to answer any issues that still need addressed, and other points as determined by your team.
   
   
• Discuss with your team the information you were responsible for and what you believe should be included in the presentation.
  
  Tip: There can be a lot to learn when one person believes information should be included and another doesn’t. Keep the conversation open to disagreement to uncover important points that may otherwise be missed.
  
  
2. Revise your team outline to include the new information from the additional round of research your team agrees should be included in the presentation.
   
   
   • At this stage your outline needs to be essentially complete in terms of the content and order of information.
     
     
3. Meet with your team and begin to identify what multimedia options your team has available in order to give your team concrete options to discuss.
   
   
   • Review the General Skills Resources link (in the left menu) for information on different types of presentations and what each entails.
     
     
   • Conduct additional research as needed to identify more options or to get more information on a specific option.
     
     Tip: Members of your team may be familiar with methods that aren’t listed here. Work together, discuss options, and be open to suggestions to get a better feel of different ways you can complete the presentation.
     
     
   • Discuss the available options with your team to get a sense of what type of work each would require, how long it would take to complete, and the benefits and limitations of each medium, and what members of your team have experience in and/or are most interested in doing.
     
     

     Trap: All the information to make these determinations may not be available to your team from just discussing the issues. Make sure to do additional research as needed and reconvene so you have accurate answers to these questions before making final decisions.
     

• Use your outline to discuss whether the information there can be effectively represented in each presentation format.
  
  
• Use the feedback you received on your first presentation to consider what approach is best suited for the information. It may be that your team wants to take the same approach and make improvements, or to take a different approach as the improvement.
  
  
  • Refining your existing methods to further develop your skill at them can be just as valuable as learning new methods. Utilize each method as your previous performance dictates and time permits to help your team grow.
    
    
4. Reach consensus with your team on which of the available options are the most realistic given the resources available to you and the amount of time you have.
   
   
   • If your team decides do a presentation that is more time intensive than the original rotation schedule allotted for, you may need to negotiate with your mentor for extra time to complete the project.
     
     
5. Write a presentation proposal of the method your team would like to use and how the method matches up with the information from your research. In your proposal address the following points:
   
   
   • What technical elements your team would like to include in the presentation (prioritized if possible from most to least time/resource intensive)
     
     
   • The estimated time needed to complete the work entailed in these elements
     
     
   • The benefits of using these elements
     
     
   • Any limitations/drawbacks to your selected elements

Review and Submit Your Work (back to top)

1. Review your work.
   
   
   • Did you research all the topics that were identified in the focus group?
     
     
   • Did you revise your individual and team outlines to include the new information?
     
     
   • Did your team reach an agreement about how you wanted to do the presentation and write a proposal accordingly?
     
     
   • (Project Manager) Did you update your team status report to reflect the current state of progress?
     
     
2. Submit your work
   
   
   • Review the checklist located in the Submit Your Work section of this task to ensure completion of the task before submitting your deliverables to your mentor.

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Task 2.3 Resources

There are no new content-specific resources for this task. Use the General Skills Resources link (in the left menu), relevant resources from previous tasks, other resources you have available to you, and/or conduct your own research to find the information you need to complete this task.