Research Projects
Overview
The fundamental intellectual task of research is to make knowledge. In this process, professors and students research answers to questions, propose new theories based on that research, debate the merits of the new theory, etc. They use reading and writing (and speaking and listening) throughout as tools for accomplishing this important task. One way to see this process in action in ordinary life is to look at public debates about issues of globalization. We are all familiar with the "talking heads" we see on TV news programs or the columnists in newspapers or magazines. They are experts of different subjects, and they use their expertise to explain an issue to the general audience, who usually does not have much knowledge of the subject. These intellectuals play a vital role in public debates because they have informed opinions. Similarly, as a student you will no doubt be asked to research a topic important in a particular course, and in most cases, you will be expected to take a stand on it. These research projects give you the opportunity to practice these skills and to make knowledge as an expert. You will also have the practice of using two different documentation styles: CMS1 and APA. For this project, you will choose a) an issue of globalization and its impact on society for a formal exploratory paper which is similar to a review of the literature paper, and b) an argument paper on an issue of globalization to research as thoroughly as you can. You will write two formal, graded papers based on these bodies of materials: 1) a formal exploratory paper with an annotated bibliography, and 2) a position paper with an abstract. These papers will be written to help you think through the issue, and to plan the papers, you will be asked to keep a research log.
Polished Research Assignments
For all of the projects, you are invited to take the role of a public intellectual. For paper 1, the exploratory paper will analyze your research process by questioning and synthesizing the data you find, including the opinions of experts and authorities in a specific field of discipline. From the information you have found and examined, you will draw a conclusion that offers significance, realizations you have made about the issue, and implications for the future on the topic. This paper will have a thesis statement too. To assist you in writing this paper, you will keep a research log of your thinking process as you examine a variety of different sources. The log along with your researched sources will be used for the exploratory paper. The documentation for the exploratory paper will be APA. For paper 2, continue to research the public debate surrounding the issue of globalization from the perspectives of both the experts, who offer important insights and the general audience, paying particular attention to the way the issue is defined. Identify a range of positions offered and assess their validity, accuracy, feasibility, etc. Weigh the arguments and evidence on both sides and decide which you think is more compelling. Then write a paper for a general audience in which you take a stand on the issue. Your paper should clearly indicate which position you take, should concede any valid points the opposition has and should refute the opposition's arguments. Your paper will have an abstract. Document your paper according
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The first note for any source gives full information about the source, and subsequent notes are shortened.
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to CMS style, including an annotated bibliography. TURN IN PHOTOCOPIES OF ALL YOUR SOURCES. The position paper must be a minimum of 10 typed pages, not including the cover page, abstract, and annotated bibliography. The research papers will be written with a minimum of eight sources, with at least three from academic journals and two from reference encyclopedias. Refrain from using the Internet until we have had a library orientation on proper usage of the Internet and acceptable websites such as government or education sites. In depth, detailed assignments will follow. Subjects that are inappropriate for these papers are the bashing of any topic such as religious institutions or belief systems or gender orientation, or any topic I deem inappropriate for these assignments. Please keep in mind the purpose of these papers is to develop the skills necessary for systematic, intellectual inquiry in an academic setting.
Research Problem: the terms GLOBALIZATION and GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE have different meanings for different populations or communities around the world, and sometimes they are intertwined. Why is this so? In order to understand these terms better within a given context, choose one non-North American country and then choose one cultural or social issue and research it from a globalization or global perspective. Then you will compare how that issue is dealt with in the United States. Finally, you will take a position on the issue, supporting your position with appropriate, detailed evidence, acknowledging the other perspectives and refuting them. For instance, education is both a social and cultural component. So a research question could be:
What is the impact of globalization on violence in television in India? How does this compare to the globalization on violence in television n the United States? After critically analyzing and evaluating your sources, what position would you like to take on the impact of globalization on violence in television and why? Or What is the global perspective on the education of girls in India? How does this compare to the global perspective on the education of girls in the United States? After critically analyzing and evaluating your sources, what position would you like to take on girls and education and why?
Formal Exploratory Essay: APA Documentation
Write a first person, chronologically organized account of your thinking process as you explore possible solutions to a question or problem related to globalization and its impact on your topic. Begin by describing what the question is and how and why you became interested in it. Then, as you contemplate the problem and do research, narrate the evolving process of your thinking. Your exploratory essay should include both external details (what you read, how you found it, with whom you talked) and internal mental details (what you were thinking about, how your ideas were evolving). For this essay, it doesn’t matter whether you reach a final position or not; your reader is interested in your process, not your final research position. Show us, for example, your frustration when a promising source turned out to be useless. Show us how new ideas continually led you to reformulate your research question or problem through expansion, narrowing, shifting of focus, or whatever. Make your exploratory essay an interesting intellectual detective story—something your readers will enjoy. This essay will have an introduction with a strong thesis, a very well detailed and developed body, closing with a vigorous, reflective conclusion, one which shows the significance of this
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exploratory writing or what you have learned by thinking about the process of learning about doing academic research. It is also possible that at this point in time, you have discovered your argumentative or persuasive stance that you will take in your position paper too. Or, you may have discovered several positions. This is the place to have that discussion in your paper too. So, your conclusion may very well be more than two paragraphs.
This paper will be written in the documentation style of the American Psychological Association, with all sources cited. An annotated bibliography will be attached to in APA stylistics.
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