AP Seminar Summer Project

AP Seminar is a class designed to explore multiple, differing points of view and to make multidisciplinary connections to complex, real world issues. The largest portion of AP Seminar is you being able to express your ideas and thoughts through writing, projects, and presentations.

The AP Seminar course is founded on the concept QUEST

Question and explore

Understand and analyze arguments

Evaluate multiple perspectives

Synthesize ideas

Team, transform, and transmit

Through this concept, you will break down topics and issues by viewing them through specific lenses. You will use these lenses to analyze various texts throughout the year. Therefore, you must familiarize yourself with these terms. 

-          Environmental

-          Scientific

-          Economic

-          Political and Historical

-          Artistic and Philosophical

-          Cultural and Social

-          Futuristic

-          Ethical

To prepare for our studies next year in AP Seminar, the following assignment has been created to give you a glimpse of the types of questions we will ask, research we will conduct, and arguments we will write.

Part I: Seminar Glossary

Review the list of 46 glossary terms. Understanding of these terms and concepts is required for the course. Create index cards for the glossary terms. You should also define the above-mentioned lenses and create index cards for them. In total you should have 54 index cards. Take the time to study and understand these words as you will be assessed on these definitions during the first few weeks of school.

Part II: Summer Reading

The first summer read is Night by Elie Wiesel which addresses the ethical and moral sacrifices one must make when in survival mode. Complete FIVE dialectical journal entries for the text. Each entry should be 50-75 words. See the included handout for further details/ instructions. You can find a copy of the book here.

Part III: Summer Reading & Writing (adapted from the 10 Honors Summer Reading assignment)

The second summer read is The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot which addresses many ethical issues. After you read the book, research and find one article or experiment that relates to the ethical issues presented within it. In a well-developed essay, explain how the article or experiment you found relates to the ethical issues that were discussed in the book. Make sure to use specific, relevant, textual evidence from both the article or experiment and the book to discuss how these ethical issues are demonstrated. To help you accomplish this, you will find a worksheet by clicking here. You must complete this worksheet which will help you pull evidence from the texts and create a conclusion based on the ideas presented within the book and your article or experiment. The worksheet should be completed first and can be used as a guide to help you write your essay. Find more information about the book and assignment here.

-          Some ethical issues to consider (you are NOT limited to this list): informed consent; patient privacy; commercialization in the collection, use, and dissemination of bio-specimens; systemic racism and the inherent mistrust of the medical community in minority communities; racialized poverty and the disparities in access to social services

Students must join turnitin.com and submit only the Henrietta Lacks essay there.

Turnitin.com Submission

1.   Go to turnitin.com and create an account using your personal email address. If you already have an account, login.

2.   You will need the following information to join my class:

a.       Class ID: 39314435

b.       Enrollment Key: apsem2324

3.   Once you’ve joined the class, the assignment will be listed as “HeLa Summer Assignment” and there will be an option to “Submit”.

4.   Type your first and last name. The “Submission title”should be your first initial and last name. (Ex. S. Bryan)

5.   Select and upload your assignment. Make sure the title of the document is also your first initial and last name. (Ex. S. Bryan)

6.   Select “Upload” and then “Confirm” on the following screen. Your similarity report should populate within a few minutes.