Welcome to the Newlane Project Support Center! We want this Center to be a practical resource to help you with your project, no matter where you are in the process–not to present an additional bureaucratic hurdle to your course. We have tried to make it easy for you to access resources for the most prominent issues students have with projects, so you can get the needed help quickly. And we anticipate that this Center will evolve in response to your needs and requests–so please tell us your needs and make requests!  

KEYS TO PROJECT SUCCESS 

Projects are an essential and critical step in demonstrating mastery for every Newlane course. Projects are your opportunity to show that you understand the course material and can synthesize what you’ve learned.

Projects may ask you to write an essay, analyze a case, complete a lab report, create a presentation, or apply theory to real-world examples. When completing a project, keep these tips in mind to help you successfully complete your projects:

• Follow the Instructions. Carefully review the project requirements in the portal to understand expectations and submission guidelines.
• Be Original. Use your own words and ideas. If you reference others’ work, cite your sources properly.
• Use Your Resources. The Project Support Center can help with structure, formatting, and refinement. The Library & Course Materials can strengthen your research, validate your project’s stance, & offer credible citations.
• Keep Moving. If you’ve spent lots of hours on a project and feel stuck, ask a friend to review, or you can even submit your draft for instructor feedback. Progress matters more than perfection & feedback can keep you from spinning your wheels.
• Revise as Needed. Projects may not be approved the first time—in fact, they may require multiple rounds of feedback. Don’t get discouraged if you are asked to make edits. Newlane faculty members are not your adversaries–they are trying to help you improve your level of mastery in line with the course content & expectations of the field of study.
• Use AI Responsibly. AI tools can be helpful in supporting your process, but your work must reflect your own comprehension and voice. If you have questions about this, consult Newlane’s AI resources page.

PREPARING TO SUBMIT

Before submitting each project project ensure the following:

• Review Carefully. Double-check grammar, spelling, formatting, and citation accuracy.
• Label Clearly. Include your name, course title, give the project a title. 
• Submit Properly. Upload your final version through the Newlane portal. Emails or other submission attempts may not be accepted and cannot be tracked or verified. 

Sample Philosophy Paper + Analysis

For many students, the most helpful resource is just to see a sample of a project. The following paper “Bouldering is an Amazing Sport” is structured like a philosophy paper, and should provide good guidance and direction as you develop your philosophy projects–and any project where you make an argument–though the topic isn’t philosophical.

To help you get familiar with some of the unique features and characteristics of an argumentative paper, here is a sample paper “Bouldering is an Amazing Sport”. To help you better understand the structure and organization of the paper, review the same paper with accompanying analysis, highlighting what the paper is doing that may not otherwise be immediately apparent. And for an overall sense for how the different parts of the paper relate to each other, review this color-coded version of the paper.

If you’re looking for more specific help or encouragement, these tools and resources may be helpful. They are organized under: “Managing the ‘stages’ of your course project”: These are resources tied to different stages. For example, if you are not sure how to start, or you are not sure how to proceed from wherever you are on your project. “Thoughts, Feelings, and Emotions”: These resources are tied to your thoughts and feelings as you approach your project. For example, if you are feeling intimidated or incapable, or you are getting anxious about the project. “Writing and Research Challenges”: These resources address valuable skills like quoting and paraphrasing, and avoiding plagiarism. The remaining sections (“Works Cited Page in MLA Style”; “References Page in APA Style”; “Free Citation and Reference Generators”) can help with your citations and referencing–both to know how and why to do referencing, as well as tools that can automate a lot of the referencing for your project.