Word count: At least 1500 but no longer than 1900 (not including Works Cited page)
Revise the draft for grammer or sentences used and add up to the final word count.
The Assignment
Most research starts with a question. For your third project, you’ll ask–and investigate–a question that’s personally relevant to your life, a question you’re genuinely curious about. You’ll formulate a question based on the prompts listed below, and you’ll explore that question by reflecting on your own experiences / observations and by researching sources related to your question. Ultimately, you’ll attempt to provide an answer – even if just a tentative answer!
Research Questions
The question you choose to research for this project should be of interest to you right now, should be focused (but not too narrowly–there shouldn’t be one definitive answer to the question), should have some personal connection to your life, and should be answer-able with the help of outside sources. Also, the question should be something you haven’t already answered or made up your mind about–you should have a genuine interest in inquiry and exploration!
Here are some general question areas to help you think about your own:
A question related to your work in our course: Maybe you’ve developed an interest in gender and advertising based on our Project #2 work. A question you might pursue could be something like: What kinds of action are consumer and other groups taking to try to change the direction of contemporary advertising? Or maybe something you wrote about in your narrative collage for Project #1 got you thinking about areas of concern for you. Here’s an example of one student’s question, based on her narrative collage about her difficult experiences in public schools: Should I home-school my own children?
A question related to current events: You could choose to research something related to current news events, as long as the question is personally relevant to you. For instance, maybe you want to major in education, and you’re interested in controversies surrounding standardized tests. A question you might research could be something like: What’s the effect of AIR tests in Ohio so far?
A question related to a problem or issue you’re experiencing in your personal life: You could choose to research a problem or issue in your life, as long as it’s something that could be answered with the help of outside sources. See the box above for an example of this kind of question.
A question related to your own general interests or hobbies. Again, you could choose to research something related to your own general interests or hobbies, as long as your question could be answered with the help of outside sources. Maybe you’re interested in the sport of slacklining. Your question could be something like: How did slacklining begin as a sport?
Sources
For this assignment, you’ll use three to five sources.
The types of sources you’ll use will depend in part on what your question is. In other words, you’ll need to ask yourself: what kinds of information will help me explore my particular research question? Maybe you’ll need scientific data; maybe you’ll need articles written by scholars or by lay people; maybe you’ll need to interview someone or create a survey. The Norton Field Guide chapter on “Doing Research” can help you in finding and using various types of sources.
Ideally, though, you should use at least TWO periodical sources–articles from newspapers, magazines, or scholarly journals. The remaining sources may be field sources, like interviews or questionnaires, web sources (but check for reliability–see the “Evaluating Sources” chapter of the Field Guide for help!), or other sources.
Audience
Think of your primary audience for this paper as your instructor and classmates within the academic context of our course.
Format and Design
For this assignment, you’ll use standard MLA format. Please see the instructions in the learning modules for the project.
Evidence / Documentation
For this assignment, you’ll need to include evidence from a.) your personal experiences and observations; and b.) three to five sources (see above). Your paper should include a Works Cited page and in-text citations, using MLA format. Please see the relevant instructions in the learning modules for this project.
Process
You’ll work through the following stages for creating your researched document:
Reading example writings in your textbooks
Conducting research
Completing prewriting and planning activities for your own draft
Creating a first draft of your project
Getting and giving feedback on drafts
Revising your project
Designing your paper in MLA format and citing sources appropriately
Editing your project for clarity in terms of grammar, mechanics, etc.
Reflecting on and assessing your work
Evaluation
Your work will be evaluated based on the criteria established in the ENGL 1100 grading rubric. Specifically, you’ll be evaluated on how well you achieve the following:
• RHETORICAL KNOWLEDGE: Hold readers’ interest and help them gain insights into your question and answer; use language, voice, tone, stance, and level of formality appropriate to the purpose, audience, and context
• CRITICAL THINKING AND DEVELOPMENT: Pose an interesting question; connect the research question to your own life; develop and support an answer to your question using research, personal experiences, observations, and reflections
• ORGANIZATION: Present an identifiable and logical structure (both overall and within individual paragraphs); use transitional devices to guide your reader through your text
• CONVENTIONS OF STYLE AND USAGE: Achieve clarity in terms of style, sentence structure, mechanics, punctuation, etc.; use appropriate format
• USE OF SOURCES: integrate and document sources according to MLA guidelines