In the Fall 2007 semester, 45 students in two of Dr. Lindsey Jones's English 202C (Technical Writing) courses produced issue books that addressed the alcohol problem in the local community. Discussion books on this topic were commissioned by the Public Issues Forum Steering Committee of Centre County.

A local Public Issues Forum drew from the work of these students for a discussion titled "Alcohol: Making the Difficult Decisions"

onTuesday, March 25, 2008, 6:00-9:00 p.m., in the State College Municipal Building.

Each of Jones’s two classes produced an issue-book report: 

English 202C, Section 009: Last Call for Alcohol: Drinking in State College

English 202C, Section 018: Alcohol: Making the Difficult Decisions

Jones provided representative comments from her students:

• "I thought this project was successful in helping us to write a document that was completely different from anything we have written before... I was nice to be given the opportunity to write about a topic and then decide what we personally thought was important to include. This will definitely benefit us later in life because many science and engineering students do not have the opportunity to take part in a project such as this."
• "This project provided valuable insights and experience in group work and collaborative writing, as well as experience in researching and debating public issues."
• "I know that in the future there will be numerous occasions where I will not only have to work in groups but also write formal report just like this one, and so I feel that the entire "collaborative writing" experience was gratifying."
• "As an individual I have learned that working in a group is based on good communication and respect. Finally, the project mas made me more confident in my research and writing skills."
• "Tolerance and patience are not the only skills I feel I have gained from this experience. I have also learned about technical writing, audience awareness, and community policy. This class has.... actually taught me how to write professionally."
• "I think that this sort of project will help me in the future as i work on different projects with other people. I think it has prepared me for what i can expect to see during these projects and what kind of effort I need to put in."
• "I have already been able to apply concepts learned this semester into other papers I have written."

Overall, the students thought the project was valuable, but some science and engineering students disagreed with the first student quoted above: they would have preferred to work on a technical issue within their particular niche of engineering or science rather than on a civic issue that affects all citizens in the community.