NNHS CAPS Proposal Questions/Items
General Information
1. Name: Lauren Benson
2. Email: [email protected]
3. Cell Phone #: 857-636-2071
4. CAPS is a way into something, not out of something. CAPS is a way to investigate an idea
or a passion in more detail. What positives do you see coming from this experience?
-At this point in my educational experience, my entire academic career has been dictated by people telling me what I need to learn, and how I need to learn it. I see this as an opportunity to finally take control over my academic pursuits and passions and try something completely new where I will be free to make my own mistakes and breakthroughs free of a classroom environment.
5. Are you interested in pursuing an industry investigation internship, or designing your own
research project? (Internship, Research, I’m not sure)
Internship Specific Questions
-I am interested in designing my own research project.
Researcher Specific Questions
13.Write a title and a one sentence description of your project. (Think movie title and catch
phrase or think in terms of headlines of a news story. Examples “Safe and Sound: Designing
and building safe and strong playgrounds in undeveloped neighborhoods." “The Mire, Muck,
and Modernization of Lake Patzcuaro: A close study of the environmental and cultural impacts
upon an endangered lake.” "Team Bonding: The relationship between team cohesiveness
and performance.")
Measuring the quality of writing: Why the book is always better than the movie
I will be creating a JavaScript program that measures certain qualities of a sample of written text, and then compare that text to the parallel movie scene(s) on which it is based to analyze why movie adaptations of a book always seem worse.
14. Dream Big. Think of this as a proposal "letter of interest." In 400 words, what could you
say to convince us this is a project worth taking a risk on?
My project is going to tackle the age-old question of why the book is always better than the movie. Film-critics and book-fanatics aside, what are the fundamental problems behind creating a movie script from an already-published book? What are the situations in which this works and doesn’t work? I have always been a realist, and I like to work with logic. The best way to make a logical argument is to have actual data to back it up. I am going to extract data from these situations, and have numbers to back up whatever my conclusions are. Being a writer myself, this project is going to test me, as I am used to judging writing based on my own biases and individual interpretations. For the first time, I am going to hand over the reigns to a computer and to statistics, and let the numbers do the talking. I will brush up on my coding knowledge (I have some, but it hasn’t been put to use lately) and create a JavaScript program to analyze a certain block of text of a work of literature that has been turned into a movie, and report statistics based on word count, letter count, sentence count, and other criteria. Using this data, I will be able to evaluate the complexity of the writing style. Then, I will identify the parallel scene in the movie on which the book is based, find the script for this scene, and run it through the same program to see how the complexity of the writing has changed, and whether or not this has contributed to the overall quality of the script. Using this knowledge, I will be able to compare works of literature and cinema to each other, and find out what numbers seem to appeal to audiences. As in, what sort of writing is pleasing based strictly on numbers. I will then ask actual people to compare certain blocks of text to each other, to see if my program is accurate. Also, I will be able to look for similarities in genres and authors. Meaning, if my program is successful, then I can quantify the sort of writing that is most successful for fantasy, non-fiction, factual, etc.
15. Delineate your research question from your field work. How are they different and how are
they connected? (Most CAPS Research papers and projects are connected and dependent
through a common driving question. Example 1 Paper: Music Festivals and Americanultural Significance; Project: Develop and launch a local music festival. However, some
paper/projects are connected, but NOT dependent. Example 2 Paper: Survey of Modern
Women Film Directors; Project: Write and Direct a short stopanimation film. Example 3
Paper: Where does the sense of smell and fashion intersect?; Project: Creating a fashion
line based on electron microscope scanned images of nasal receptors!)
My research question and my field work are connected and dependent. My research question is the driving force behind my actual field work, as the work I will be doing has a specific goal. The point of my field work is to discover, based on data, what the mathematics and statistics behind good writing are, and to be able to quantify the sort of writing structure that is appealing to certain people and genres. My field work includes creating my JavaScript program, testing its legitimacy, deciding what writing samples will be most indicative, actually running the samples through the program, organizing the data, comparing the data in a logical manner, interviewing people on their personal preferences, and finally making conclusions vis a vis my original research question.
The research paper will be an in-depth analysis of my conclusions, and explanations of any new discoveries or theories that have resulted from my field work.
16. In 400 words, describe any background and prior knowledge you have with this topic. Or
explain why you are interested in this completely new topic.
I have much experience with writing, and I have done extensive work and research on writing styles and genres. I have some experience with computers. I know Python, and I know a bit of JavaScript. For this project, i will have to re-learn basic JavaScript programming. I have little to no experience with cinema, or film, or script-writing, but I am a huge fan of films and I have always had an interest in script-writing. I wanted to find a way to combine my differing interests, as well as incorporating a new interest. My hope is that after this project, I will have learned a large amount about the particulars of writing styles, the difficulties of script-writing, and computer programming. I believe that I can combine my existing skills with my desire to expand and learn a few new skills into a highly useful and intellectual pursuit. Hopefully, this will provide a logical basis for future student novel writers and script and play writers to have a better idea of what actually will appeal to the audience.
17.Who or where will you be turning outside of class for help?
First, I will be consulting online classes to re-learn JavaScript. I am leaning towards Code Academy as they are reliable, relatively easy, and I will have a good grasp on the program. I will also have to turn to a few of my peers and my family to interview them on their writing preferences based on the samples I provide. The number of these interviews will be determined when I find out how much extraneous data I need to compare to my statistical results. However, the vast majority of my project will be conducted independently.
18.What is the scope (arc, size) of your project? How much can you really do in 18 weeks?
What are some challenges?
The scope of my project is limited to however many texts I want to analyze, comparisons I want to make, or programs I need to design. (If the initial one doesn’t work out)
The challenges I will face will be if my program doesn’t end up measuring what I want it to, and how I will still create my project. Or, if I don’t actually find any of my predicted correlations, I will have to find a way to still come to some conclusion. I believe however that this is a doable project in the time allotted.
19.What commitments do you have during the 2nd semester? (Please be specific. Include
plans for travel, sports, theater, musical groups, etc.)
I am Captain of the Cross Country Ski Team, I am an editor of our school literary magazine, I participate in Big Brother Big Sister, and I play piano. I might be traveling during February vacation, but I’m not sure. Travel shouldn’t affect my project however because everything will be stored on my computer.
20.Which classes do you anticipate keeping during 4th term? (We encourage students to
drop ALL non required courses, though we hope students will keep NO MORE THAN 2.)
I am required to keep my Gym class (G Block), and my Jubilee class (C Block). I also plan on keeping my AP Calculus class. (B Block). I will drop the rest, but I might audit my other APs just during review week.
21. How will you know your success? What will it look like? What is the tangible product of
your work? (Be as specific as possible.)
If I am successful, I will have graphical, statistical, and written proof for quantifying the quality of writing. I will be able to show through my collected data, interviews, and calculations what sort of writing styles are most adept to certain genres or people.
Question if You’re “Not Sure” (Hopefully This Isn’t the Case)
22.Even if you're unsure, brainstorm some ideas you might be interested in pursuing. (After
responding, you can click the "back" button to choose, and see Tim Finnegan, Steve
Gianquitti, Erin Dalbec, Annette Tate, Steve Chinosi, or your counselor for more info.)
Graduation Specific Information (Should be already known because of “Progress To
Graduation Meeting with Counselor)
All CAPS program students are required to meet all credit requirements for graduation.
CAPS Research is 7 credits, which includes 2.5 English credits; CAPS Internships are 5
credits, and students are required to continue their senior English course.
In order to graduate from Newton North High School a student must earn 100 credits
and meet these requirements:
English: 20 credits
Biological Science: 5 credits
Physical Science: 5 credits
History and Social Sciences:10 credits
United States History: 5 credits
Mathematics: 10 credits
Physical Education: 5 credits
Fine, Performing and Technical Arts: 5 credits
23.Total credits earned at the end of the first semester will be: _____112____________
24.Status of MCAS Math: (Pass) 5.Status of MCAS English: (Pass)
26.To complete this checklist, you must meet with your counselor and complete a Progress
To Graduation Form. (“I have met with my counselor and completed this form,”.) (Students who answer the latter will not be considered for CAPS.)
27. My parent(s)/guardian(s) are aware that I am submitting a Capstone proposal. (Yes)
General Information
1. Name: Lauren Benson
2. Email: [email protected]
3. Cell Phone #: 857-636-2071
4. CAPS is a way into something, not out of something. CAPS is a way to investigate an idea
or a passion in more detail. What positives do you see coming from this experience?
-At this point in my educational experience, my entire academic career has been dictated by people telling me what I need to learn, and how I need to learn it. I see this as an opportunity to finally take control over my academic pursuits and passions and try something completely new where I will be free to make my own mistakes and breakthroughs free of a classroom environment.
5. Are you interested in pursuing an industry investigation internship, or designing your own
research project? (Internship, Research, I’m not sure)
Internship Specific Questions
-I am interested in designing my own research project.
Researcher Specific Questions
13.Write a title and a one sentence description of your project. (Think movie title and catch
phrase or think in terms of headlines of a news story. Examples “Safe and Sound: Designing
and building safe and strong playgrounds in undeveloped neighborhoods." “The Mire, Muck,
and Modernization of Lake Patzcuaro: A close study of the environmental and cultural impacts
upon an endangered lake.” "Team Bonding: The relationship between team cohesiveness
and performance.")
Measuring the quality of writing: Why the book is always better than the movie
I will be creating a JavaScript program that measures certain qualities of a sample of written text, and then compare that text to the parallel movie scene(s) on which it is based to analyze why movie adaptations of a book always seem worse.
14. Dream Big. Think of this as a proposal "letter of interest." In 400 words, what could you
say to convince us this is a project worth taking a risk on?
My project is going to tackle the age-old question of why the book is always better than the movie. Film-critics and book-fanatics aside, what are the fundamental problems behind creating a movie script from an already-published book? What are the situations in which this works and doesn’t work? I have always been a realist, and I like to work with logic. The best way to make a logical argument is to have actual data to back it up. I am going to extract data from these situations, and have numbers to back up whatever my conclusions are. Being a writer myself, this project is going to test me, as I am used to judging writing based on my own biases and individual interpretations. For the first time, I am going to hand over the reigns to a computer and to statistics, and let the numbers do the talking. I will brush up on my coding knowledge (I have some, but it hasn’t been put to use lately) and create a JavaScript program to analyze a certain block of text of a work of literature that has been turned into a movie, and report statistics based on word count, letter count, sentence count, and other criteria. Using this data, I will be able to evaluate the complexity of the writing style. Then, I will identify the parallel scene in the movie on which the book is based, find the script for this scene, and run it through the same program to see how the complexity of the writing has changed, and whether or not this has contributed to the overall quality of the script. Using this knowledge, I will be able to compare works of literature and cinema to each other, and find out what numbers seem to appeal to audiences. As in, what sort of writing is pleasing based strictly on numbers. I will then ask actual people to compare certain blocks of text to each other, to see if my program is accurate. Also, I will be able to look for similarities in genres and authors. Meaning, if my program is successful, then I can quantify the sort of writing that is most successful for fantasy, non-fiction, factual, etc.
15. Delineate your research question from your field work. How are they different and how are
they connected? (Most CAPS Research papers and projects are connected and dependent
through a common driving question. Example 1 Paper: Music Festivals and Americanultural Significance; Project: Develop and launch a local music festival. However, some
paper/projects are connected, but NOT dependent. Example 2 Paper: Survey of Modern
Women Film Directors; Project: Write and Direct a short stopanimation film. Example 3
Paper: Where does the sense of smell and fashion intersect?; Project: Creating a fashion
line based on electron microscope scanned images of nasal receptors!)
My research question and my field work are connected and dependent. My research question is the driving force behind my actual field work, as the work I will be doing has a specific goal. The point of my field work is to discover, based on data, what the mathematics and statistics behind good writing are, and to be able to quantify the sort of writing structure that is appealing to certain people and genres. My field work includes creating my JavaScript program, testing its legitimacy, deciding what writing samples will be most indicative, actually running the samples through the program, organizing the data, comparing the data in a logical manner, interviewing people on their personal preferences, and finally making conclusions vis a vis my original research question.
The research paper will be an in-depth analysis of my conclusions, and explanations of any new discoveries or theories that have resulted from my field work.
16. In 400 words, describe any background and prior knowledge you have with this topic. Or
explain why you are interested in this completely new topic.
I have much experience with writing, and I have done extensive work and research on writing styles and genres. I have some experience with computers. I know Python, and I know a bit of JavaScript. For this project, i will have to re-learn basic JavaScript programming. I have little to no experience with cinema, or film, or script-writing, but I am a huge fan of films and I have always had an interest in script-writing. I wanted to find a way to combine my differing interests, as well as incorporating a new interest. My hope is that after this project, I will have learned a large amount about the particulars of writing styles, the difficulties of script-writing, and computer programming. I believe that I can combine my existing skills with my desire to expand and learn a few new skills into a highly useful and intellectual pursuit. Hopefully, this will provide a logical basis for future student novel writers and script and play writers to have a better idea of what actually will appeal to the audience.
17.Who or where will you be turning outside of class for help?
First, I will be consulting online classes to re-learn JavaScript. I am leaning towards Code Academy as they are reliable, relatively easy, and I will have a good grasp on the program. I will also have to turn to a few of my peers and my family to interview them on their writing preferences based on the samples I provide. The number of these interviews will be determined when I find out how much extraneous data I need to compare to my statistical results. However, the vast majority of my project will be conducted independently.
18.What is the scope (arc, size) of your project? How much can you really do in 18 weeks?
What are some challenges?
The scope of my project is limited to however many texts I want to analyze, comparisons I want to make, or programs I need to design. (If the initial one doesn’t work out)
The challenges I will face will be if my program doesn’t end up measuring what I want it to, and how I will still create my project. Or, if I don’t actually find any of my predicted correlations, I will have to find a way to still come to some conclusion. I believe however that this is a doable project in the time allotted.
19.What commitments do you have during the 2nd semester? (Please be specific. Include
plans for travel, sports, theater, musical groups, etc.)
I am Captain of the Cross Country Ski Team, I am an editor of our school literary magazine, I participate in Big Brother Big Sister, and I play piano. I might be traveling during February vacation, but I’m not sure. Travel shouldn’t affect my project however because everything will be stored on my computer.
20.Which classes do you anticipate keeping during 4th term? (We encourage students to
drop ALL non required courses, though we hope students will keep NO MORE THAN 2.)
I am required to keep my Gym class (G Block), and my Jubilee class (C Block). I also plan on keeping my AP Calculus class. (B Block). I will drop the rest, but I might audit my other APs just during review week.
21. How will you know your success? What will it look like? What is the tangible product of
your work? (Be as specific as possible.)
If I am successful, I will have graphical, statistical, and written proof for quantifying the quality of writing. I will be able to show through my collected data, interviews, and calculations what sort of writing styles are most adept to certain genres or people.
Question if You’re “Not Sure” (Hopefully This Isn’t the Case)
22.Even if you're unsure, brainstorm some ideas you might be interested in pursuing. (After
responding, you can click the "back" button to choose, and see Tim Finnegan, Steve
Gianquitti, Erin Dalbec, Annette Tate, Steve Chinosi, or your counselor for more info.)
Graduation Specific Information (Should be already known because of “Progress To
Graduation Meeting with Counselor)
All CAPS program students are required to meet all credit requirements for graduation.
CAPS Research is 7 credits, which includes 2.5 English credits; CAPS Internships are 5
credits, and students are required to continue their senior English course.
In order to graduate from Newton North High School a student must earn 100 credits
and meet these requirements:
English: 20 credits
Biological Science: 5 credits
Physical Science: 5 credits
History and Social Sciences:10 credits
United States History: 5 credits
Mathematics: 10 credits
Physical Education: 5 credits
Fine, Performing and Technical Arts: 5 credits
23.Total credits earned at the end of the first semester will be: _____112____________
24.Status of MCAS Math: (Pass) 5.Status of MCAS English: (Pass)
26.To complete this checklist, you must meet with your counselor and complete a Progress
To Graduation Form. (“I have met with my counselor and completed this form,”.) (Students who answer the latter will not be considered for CAPS.)
27. My parent(s)/guardian(s) are aware that I am submitting a Capstone proposal. (Yes)