RESEARCH PROJECT PACKET
PWR3-Section 3
Alfano/Fall 2002
RESEARCH PROJECT PACKET
PWR3-Section 3
Alfano/Fall 2002
CHECKLIST: Due Dates & Other
Important Dates:
Monday,
Oct. 14th:
Research Paper Proposal due – see page 5
Wednesday, October 16th:
Yes-Yes paper draft due – bring 2
copies to class – see page 7
Friday, October 18th:
Yes-Yes paper due – see page 7
Friday, October 18th:
Library Workshop: meet in the east
lobby of Green Library (by Moonbeams) five minutes before class time.
Wednesday,
October 23rd:
Research Abstract with Preliminary
Bibliography due – see page 8
Wednesday,
October 30th:
Annotated Bibliography due – see page 10
Monday, November
4th:
First Paragraph draft (4 copies for class and 1 for Panfora) & Outline due – see page 12
Monday,
November 11th:
Research
Paper draft #1 due
– see page 14
Wednesday,
November 12th:
Peer Review
Monday,
November 18th:
Research Paper draft #2 due – see page 16
Monday, November
25th:
Research Paper
Revision & Research Project letter due – see page 17
Monday, December
3rd; Wednesday, December 5th; Friday, December 7th:
Op-Ads & Student Presentations – Public
Speaking assignments due at the time
of presentation – see page 20
RESEARCH PROJECT: GENERAL DESCRIPTION
FORMAT:
For your research project, you will complete a series of
assignments that will culminate in a 10 to 15 page final argumentative research
paper and a formal oral presentation.
The paper will use parenthetical documentation, informational footnotes
(as appropriate), and will include a bibliography or works cited page of at
least 6 sources. All documentation must
follow the guidelines set out by the 5th edition of the MLA Handbook for the
Writers of Research Papers. Your
paper should also have a title page with a viable title. Unless otherwise indicated on the assignment
sheet, all research project assignments should be computer-generated;
double-spaced (note: bibliographies and outlines should be single-spaced); with
appropriate margins and font; and page numbers where necessary. They should be spell-checked and
proof-read. Remember to read and follow
each assignment carefully -- attention to detail counts. See the assignment sheet for the Research
Paper Revision (p. ) for more specifics about the content and layout of your
paper.
GRADING CRITERIA
I
have devised the research project so that it is a process – one that
begins within the first couple weeks of the quarter as you start to think about
topics and that culminates on Friday, December 6th when the last person in the class gives his/her
presentation. Accordingly, while some
assignments will receive a letter grade (as noted below), many of the steps
that you complete along the way (the outline, prose outline, position paper,
etc.) are designed to facilitate your research and writing and so will not be
graded – in some cases, they may be intended to be used in conjunction with
class work or conference and so may not receive any formal written comments at
all. However, all are an important part
of the research project itself, and accordingly are mandatory. You will receive credit for the ungraded
assignments that contributes to the “Informal Assignments” component of your
overall grade for the class. Below I’ve laid
out the grading breakdown for the class, indicating the assignments most
relevant to the research project in bold.
Participation 5%
Group
Presentation 5%
Rhetorical
Analysis 15%
Yes-Yes Papers 5%
Informal (s/nc) assignments
(this includes the proposal & response,
abstract
& preliminary bibliography, first
paragraph
and outline, draft #1 & draft #2) 10%
Annotated Bibliography 5%
Research Presentation, OpAd, &
Public Speaking Assignments
5%
100%
THE ASSIGNMENT:
According to Prose Style: A Handbook for Writers,
a research paper is a paper for which
"you just gather, sort, and order a body of information on the
subject." On the other hand, in a critical paper, "you also think about that information, evaluate
it" (p. 232). Therefore, a critical
or argumentative research paper would represent a merger of the two forms, as
this writing text suggests:
In an
argumentative paper, you [...] do not simply quote, paraphrase, and
summarize. You interpret, question,
compare, and judge the statements you cite.
You explain why one opinion is sound and another is not, why one fact is
relevant and another is not, why one writer is correct and another is
mistaken. Your purpose may vary with
your topic; you may seek to show why something happened, to recommend a course
of action, to solve a problem, or present and defend a particular
interpretation of a historical event or a work of art. But whether the topic is space travel or
Shakespeare's Hamlet, an
argumentative research paper deals actively with the statements it cites. It makes them work together in an argument
that you create -- an argument that leads to a conclusion of your own.[1]
For your final project you
should produce an argumentative research paper, i.e. one that proves a
persuasive thesis statement with appropriate evidence. The topic is your choice, as long as it is
one that you feel you can take a stand on.
Visual rhetoric must play a role in your research project – it may be
your topic (i.e. WWI propaganda), but at the very least you need to write a
paper that uses visual rhetoric effectively.
This project is a complicated one, partly because it
involves producing a longer finished product than you may be used to and partly
because in it you will be balancing and interweaving material from primary and
secondary sources with your own observations, opinions, original thoughts, and
analysis.
But it will be more complicated also because, just as any
decent written product represents an
involved writing process, a decent
research paper will have behind it, in addition and invisibly, a many-layered research process, which will include:
1)
choosing a subject,
hopefully one that interests you and one for which you can find adequate
research material/sources. After
choosing your topic, you must narrow
it to a manageable size for a research paper.
2)
preliminary research
representing initial investigation of your topic, so that you can concretize
your thesis and develop hypotheses that you can test during the rest of your
research;
3) accumulation of bibliographic material, some of which,
after wading through it, you will discard as useless or irrelevant;
4) close reading of primary and secondary material;
5) compulsively careful note-taking;
6) detailed and formal outlining of your essay, showing how
you plan to organize your thoughts and integrate them with the outside material
you want to use to support your arguments or analysis;
7) the original thinking necessary to make your secondary material work to
support you rather than your slaving to
rationalize its presence in your
work;
8) a meticulous eye for correct form in quoting, paraphrasing,
and citing your sources, both with parenthetical documentation and in your
bibliography/works cited;
9)
drafting the body of your
paper to put your outline to the test and to evaluate both the strong and weak
points in your argument, as well as places where you need to do more research
and places where you might be digressing;
10) and a careful revision
that leads to your best possible final
product.
For this paper, sources might include a wide variety of
media, not necessarily only books and articles. You might draw on film, interviews or
surveys (either published or that you conduct yourself), TV programs, or
internet sources, to name just a few. Keep in mind that primary materials should
account for no more than 1/3 of your sources and that you should use both
electronic and paper sources. We'll be
working through the research process step-by-step, helping you develop
techniques that you can apply to assignments for other classes.
THE
PRELIMINARY RESEARCH PROPOSAL
Due Date:
Monday,
October 14
Preliminary
The Format & Grading Criteria:
For this assignment, you
are required to generate a three-paragraph long proposal for your research
paper, following the format provided under the “Assignment” heading. Each proposal should also use an appropriate
photo to complement your written text. This installment in the Research Project will be
graded s/nc.
In addition, you should fill out the library
research proposal form, which you can download in Microsoft Word format from http://www.stanford.edu/~steener/f02/PWR3/LibraryTopicForm.doc.
The Assignment:
The goals of this
assignment are to force you to select a topic and think through how you might
pursue it and also to provide the Green Library Reference Librarian with some
guidance in designing her October 18th workshop to best serve the class’s
needs.
Working from our class discussions and your own thoughts
on research topics, write a proposal for a research-based argument. Don’t
concern yourself with writing an introduction or a conclusion or with
presenting the proposal as an organically developed product (i.e., don’t obsess
about transitions between the paragraphs).
That being said, you should still be sure that your proposal is more
polished than a stream-of-consciousness free-write.
Paragraph
1:
In the first paragraph of your proposal, introduce your research paper
topic and describe what you think at this point the main focus of the paper
might be. Include a tentative thesis in
this paragraph. The reason that I've asked you to include a thesis at this
early date is to encourage you to question/interrogate your subject from the
very beginning of your project, so you can approach it from a critical,
analytical perspective. To quote from
one writing handbook:
Develop hypotheses early [...] Objectivity seems to
demand that you form no thesis before your research is complete. But if you have no thesis, you have no way of
formulating questions for interviews or evaluating the importance of what you
read. A better approach is to form a
thesis -- perhaps it would be better to call it a hypothesis -- as early as
possible, and then be prepared to change it as often as an honest
interpretation of the data demands.[2]
Obviously
you’ll probably revise your thesis -- and maybe your entire approach to the
subject -- several times over the next few weeks, but this is an important
first step in focusing your argument.
Paragraph
2: In the second paragraph,
discuss the sources that you intend to use.
Remember, you can use films, television programs, critical articles,
books, interviews, surveys, etc. You
don't need to distinguish between primary and secondary materials at this
point.
Paragraph
3:
In the third paragraph, speculate on what obstacles you foresee in this
project and/or what you anticipate to be the most difficult part of the
assignment.
You
should incorporate a scanned in photo to add greater depth to your proposal and
to start your preparation for your yes-yes assignment.
YES-YES
ESSAYS
Due Date:
Draft: Wednesday, October 16th
(bring 2 copies to class)
Revision: Friday, October 18th
Preliminary
The Format & Grading Criteria:
For this assignment, you
are required to generate two 1 page papers that take different positions on the
topic that you have chosen for your research paper. You also will include an introductory and
concluding frame for the papers of no more than a single page each in
length. Each of the Yes-Yes papers
should be formatted (approximately) according to the layout of a suitable
periodical or magazine (or other contextual form) and should include effective
use of a photo. This assignment is worth 5% of your grade for the class.
The Assignment:
The goal of this assignment is to encourage you to think
through your research paper topic and your argument by having you engage with
two differing positions on that topic.
The positions do not necessarily need to be antithetical to one another
– they just need to approach the topic from two different points of view.
In selecting your different positions, think careful
about the argument strategies that you will draw on – logos, ethos, or pathos.
Each paper should rest its claims on a different strategy. Choose a context (periodical, magazine,
personal or professional letter) appropriate for these positions and, using
effective visual rhetoric including at least one photo per “Yes” paper, create
an argument in that format. Your “Yes”
papers can be based in the same periodical (they might be two pieces on an
Op-Ed page), or you might opt for two different contexts (The New York Times and Ms.
Magazine, for example).
After writing your “Yes” papers, you should write an
introductory and a concluding frame according to the following specifications:
Introductory frame: This one-half to full-page long document
could be in your own voice or in an assumed voice (the editor of a newspaper,
for instance, who is running both the op-ad pieces that you are providing) and
should establish the identity and context of the Yes papers that you are going
to reproduce as well as giving some preliminary overview of the topic which is
under discussion. Essentially, this is a
preface to your documents.
Concluding frame: This one-half to full-page long document
should be written in your own voice and should explain the rhetorical choices that dictated the design and content of your
Yes-Yes papers. Keep in mind that you
should discuss your images as well as your written argument. The concluding frame is also the place in
which you also would discuss what argumentative appeal(s) each Yes paper relies
upon.
RESEARCH ABSTRACT WITH PRELIMINARY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Due
Date: Wednesday, October 23rd: please bring a
paper copy but also have your abstract (including the photo) available in
electronic form during class
Preliminary
MLA
Handbook sections 4.1-4.9
The Format & Grading Criteria:
For this assignment, you will revise your proposal
into a more formal paragraph-length abstract, one that includes a photo to
support your argument. Beneath that
abstract, you will attach a preliminary bibliography for your project that will
list at least 6 sources in MLA format.
Note: Socrates and most other
on-line catalogues do not list their
sources in MLA format. Your
abstract and bibliography should follow the general format guidelines specified
at the beginning of the Research Project packet. This installment in the Research Project will
be graded s/nc.
The Assignment:
For Wednesday the 16th, you posted a
research proposal on Panfora in which you suggested a research topic, possible sources,
and anticipated research problems. For
this next assignment, you will formalize your topic, writing a polished
Abstract – that is a summary of your paper topic and central points – and a
preliminary bibliography.
THE ABSTRACT. You
may have come across several abstracts already in your preliminary research:
many databases and journals offer a single-paragraph summary of texts that
provide readers with an overview of the material in question. If you are pursuing a major in the social
sciences, such as psychology, sociology, anthropology, or business, you
undoubtedly will be called on to write an abstract at some point during your
college experience. The goal now is to
give you a first taste of working with abstract form, while simultaneously encouraging
you to further solidify your research topic.
As
defined on p. 712 of the Bedford Handbook, an abstract is
a 75-to-100-word paragraph that provides readers
with a quick overview of your essay. It
should express your thesis (or central idea) and your key points; it might also
briefly suggest any implications or applications of the research you discuss in
the paper.[3]
Wayne Booth offers a more
detailed description of the abstract on pages 213-214 in The Craft of
Research. For this assignment, your
abstract probably should most closely fit Booth’s “Context + Problem +
Launching Point” model, since you are at too early a point in your research to
have reached any definitive conclusions.
Also, you should use metadiscourse in your abstract (i.e., “In this
paper, I will examine …); this is the place for metadiscourse – self-conscious
writing about your writing – if there ever was one. It is understood that, although you will
write about your project in the present tense – that is, about what it does or investigates – you are still in the preliminary stages and that you
might end up revising your focus, thesis, etc.
Remember: you need to include a
photo with your abstract. This may be
one of the photos used in your Yes-Yes
papers or in your proposals.
PRELIMINARY
BIBLIOGRAPHY. Beneath your Abstract, you
should attach a preliminary bibliography of 6 sources (sources for your
research project, not necessarily for your abstract itself). I am not assuming that you’ve read these sources at this point; the
bibliography simply reflects the fact that you’ve initiated the research
process.
To
prepare for composing your preliminary bibliography, read sections 4.1 through
4.5 in the MLA Handbook on documenting sources and review sections 4.6
to 4.9 as needed to familiarize yourself with correct bibliographic style. You may want to also visit http://www-sul.stanford.edu/guides/beglib.html
and review the information you received at the library workshop on the 18th. Having done so, use library resources and
databases to generate a bibliography containing at least 6 sources. It would be advisable to include articles as
well as books in your bibliography; in addition, you may use on-line sources,
but not exclusively. In general, the
bibliography should contain secondary as well as primary sources; for example,
a preliminary bibliography should not just be a list of television shows
(although one or two shows may appear there).
A bibliography may contain more than – but not fewer than – six
sources.
ANNOTATED
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Due Date: Wednesday, October 30th
Preliminary
MLA
Handbook section 5
The Format & Grading Criteria:
The Annotated Bibliography will be composed of
three citations, each one followed by a 2-paragraph annotation. As in the previous assignment, this
Bibliography should contain sources documented in correct MLA form and
should follow the general format guidelines specified at the beginning of the
Research Project packet. However,
please note that you should double-space between
entries, but the entries themselves should be single-spaced. Also note: you
should follow the MLA guidelines for you bibliographic form but not for the annotation form. Finally,
either at the head or foot of your paper, please include your latest version
of your thesis statement: remember, this is still a preliminary thesis and
is in no way binding.
You
will be graded on the correctness of your MLA form as well as the quality of
your annotations. This installment in
the Research Project will receive a letter grade worth 5% of your overall grade
for the quarter.
The Assignment:
Annotated bibliographies are valuable resources for
both readers and writers. For a reader,
they offer information about sources that can facilitate that person’s own
research. For a writer, it is useful to
annotate sources as a pre-writing strategy to help process information
contained in a source and to begin to consider ways to apply that information
to a paper’s argument.
For
this assignment, you will take your Preliminary Bibliography to the next level:
select three of your sources from the Preliminary Bibliography (or alternates
if you like), read those sources, and write an annotation for each citation.
THE CITATIONS. The
citations themselves should look identical to those in the Preliminary
Bibliography (although corrected if there were any formatting mistakes). However, please follow each citation with a
parenthetical reference indicating whether it is a primary or secondary source
(see p. 69 in The Craft of Research for clarification on the difference
between primary and secondary sources).
For instance, a citation on a Dickens novel might read as follows:
Dickens,
Charles. Great Expectations.
1861. Ed. Harold Bloom. NY: Penguin Classics, 1989. (primary)
THE
ANNOTATIONS. The annotations that follow
each citation should consist of two paragraphs.
The first should summarize the source’s argument, using quotes (and page
references – see section 5 in the MLA Handbook for correct form) as
appropriate. Be sure that you don’t just
present the summary information as objective information: it should be clear
that you are deriving this material from a specific source (i.e., Write, “In Uncovering
the Dinosaurs, Walter Cormack investigates …” rather than “The dinosaurs
lived very long ago and were supposedly wiped out by a meteor shower.”).
In
the second paragraph, you should reflect on how you plan to use the source in
your paper: i.e., does the source present an opposing view? Is it an expert
opinion? Does it provide evidence that supports a point you are making? The goal is to have you think about both the
information contained in your source material and how you will apply it. Try to limit your paragraphs to six or seven
sentences in length (your second paragraph will probably be shorter).
FIRST PARAGRAPH & OUTLINE
Due Date:
Monday, November 4th:
Please bring 4 copies of your introduction to class and post it under your
group header on Panfora, under the topic “First Paragraph”. You only need
to bring ONE copy of the outline to class to turn in; you do not need to post
your outline.
Preliminary
The Format & Grading Criteria:
You should generate a draft of your first paragraph
and an outline of 2 or more pages that provides a preliminary idea of your
paper’s organization. This installment
in the Research Project will be graded s/nc.
FORMAT FOR FIRST PARAGRAPH(S). The first paragraph(s)
should be double-spaced, spell-checked and proof-read for grammar and
punctuation. It should represent as
closely as you can at this point the way you intend to open your paper;
therefore, you may be turning in TWO paragraphs – a “hook” and then a more
formal expository paragraph. Be sure
that your first paragraph(s) articulates implicitly or explicitly the thesis of
your paper.
FORMAT FOR OUTLINE. In general, this should be a “sentence outline”, in other
words, where possible use complete sentences – see section 1.9.3 in the MLA
Handbook for correct formatting. You
may need to disengage the auto-outlining feature in Microsoft Word to fulfill
this assignment. Be sure to include your
thesis statement in your outline in the appropriate place. The outline should be a minimum of 2 pages in
length.
The Assignment:
FIRST PARAGRAPH(S). This is a draft, not the final
version of your introduction (you even might end up discarding it all together
ultimately). The goal of this assignment is for you to start thinking about the
best way to initiate your argument and which strategy of development would be
most effective to that end. I do,
however, expect that the prose will be of good quality and that the paragraph
in general will be as focused, specific, and well-written as possible. The thesis statement in your introduction
should be underlined. If your thesis
is implied, please write it out at the bottom of the page, underneath your
introduction.
THE
OUTLINE. The goal of this assignment is
to help you organize your thoughts and thereby expedite the writing of your
first draft. You will find that once you
have been forced to write down and articulate the structure of your paper, the
actual writing process will be much easier.
Although your outline does not permanently commit you to any specific
essay structure, it is in your best interests to try to make a serious effort
at creating a viable organization for your paper.
Read section 1.9 in The MLA Handbook for Writers
of Research Papers and pages 152-154 in The Craft of Research on
outlining. Now create a sentence outline for your
paper. Wherever possible, try to
indicate in your outline where you might use your sources -- including direct
quotes if you can. Quotes inserted in
this assignment do not have to be documented in any formal way, although you
should keep track of the sources yourself.
Be
aware of the placement of items in your outline/essay. Strategize: Consider what point will have the
most effect in which place -- think about the “narrative” of your
argument. If you are taking notes on
note cards, consider arranging them in various orders to experiment with
different outline formats.
RESEARCH DRAFT #1
Due Date:
Monday, November 11th – bring a printed copy and also be sure that
your draft is available on your Leland space.
Preliminary
The Format & Grading Criteria:
For this assignment you should expand your research
outline into a first draft of your research paper. This draft should be as polished as possible;
you should consider this not a rough
draft, but a first draft or first version of your paper. Accordingly, it should have an introduction,
a main body and a conclusion – and it should be in complete sentences. It is recommended, but not required, that you
include quotations and appropriate parenthetical citations (or
footnotes/endnotes if you prefer). You
do not need to include your bibliography (unless you want to have it
proof-read). The draft should be typed
and double spaced and should have page
numbers. This installment in the
Research Project will be used primarily for peer review and will be graded
s/nc.
The Assignment:
The goal of this assignment is to move you toward a
formal draft of your paper.
For this assignment, you should work from your notes and
outlines to generate a draft of your paper, one that is as close to a finished
version of your essay as you can produce at this time. As you construct your draft, take into
account the advice in chapters 11 & 12 of The Craft of Research. Although your main goal is to flesh out the
structure you created in your outlines, don’t be afraid to reorganize or even
abandon the outline structure if it seems less satisfactory once you start writing. This is a great time to experiment: with
different structures (sub-headings? Transitions? Quotes?) and strategies of
development (comparison/contrast? Figurative language? Definition?) since you
will be receiving feedback. Remember to
keep in mind the problematics of opposing opinion and to factor issues of
concession, rebuttal, and qualification into your overall plan.
If
you are having a hard time organizing such a large project, consider dividing
it (or your notes) into sections and then writing each section independently
first – leaving the task of integrating them to a later stage in the drafting
(or revising) process. This strategy
also might be a helpful way to subvert writer’s block – write from your
strength first, rather than writing in order.
You might also decide to keep a “supplement” file on your computer –
instead of cutting and deleting pieces of writing that didn’t quite fit, save
them for possible use later. In any
event, use your thesis as a touchstone: as you get involved in the more
intricate details of your essay, keep asking yourself: am I still proving the
same thesis? Does the reader need to be
reminded of my thesis at this point?
Finally, after you’ve finished drafting, please write a
brief note to append on the front of the paper for your readers (both myself
and your peer reader). In this note, you
should reflect on the status of your draft (polished? really rough?) as well as
any points you particularly want input on: i.e. does the allusion to The
A-Team work? Is the point in the
middle of page 6 clear? Do I need to
quote this source or is a paraphrase okay?
Do you like the conclusion, or is it too wishy-washy? This note will help your readers tailor their
responses to your specific questions and concerns.
RESEARCH DRAFT #2
Due
Date: Monday, November 18th: Please bring 2 stapled copies of your
completed draft to class: one copy for me and one for peer review. Please also
be sure that your paper is available on your Leland space.
Preliminary Reading: Craft of Research chapters 13 & 14
Format & Grading Criteria:
This draft should represent a revision of Research
Draft #1 and should follow the same format guidelines.
This
assignment will be marked s/nc.
The Assignment:
For this assignment, you should revise your
previous draft into as close to a finished version of your essay as possible. Your peer reviewer and I will be looking at
this draft specifically for the coherence of the argument, the use of sources,
the integration of quotes, the documentation of source material, the effective
use of visual rhetoric, and the overall style of your writing.
RESEARCH PAPER REVISION & RESEARCH PROJECT
LETTER
Due
Date: Monday, November 25th: turn in a folder
containing your research project letter, your paper, the draft with my
comments, your peer review form, and all other graded research paper assignments.
Preliminary
The Assignment:
The
Revision. Having reviewed your peer reviewer’s comments and
having considered my comments on your draft and in conference, you should
revise your research draft into a polished, well-written source-based
argument. You should look at chapters 13
& 14 in The Craft of Research for revision ideas.
The
Letter. Then write your research project letter, which is
composed of two parts.
Part
one: The goal of this assignment is to have you
synthesize the main points of your argument and,
by printing it on the same page as your original abstract, to have you reflect
on the changes your project has undergone over the course of the quarter.
First review p. 213-214 on “Abstracts” in The
Craft of Research.
Now, write an abstract for your
research paper that approximates the “Context + Problem + Summary +
Results/Main Point” model. In other
words, your abstract first should state the context for your discussion, then
articulate the problem, then summarize the main components of your argument,
and then, finally, report your results or conclusions. There is a good example of this sort of
abstract on p. 214 of The Craft of Research.
Your revised abstract may be simply
an expansion of the original abstract you handed in on Wednesday, October 23rd,
or it may be completely different (whether in terms of content, structure, or
style). What is most important is that
it accurately reflects the information contained in your paper. Don’t forget that metadiscourse is quite
appropriate, if not recommended, for this assignment.
Having written your revised
abstract, print it at the top of your letter.
Then cut and paste a copy of your original abstract from October 23rd. Juxtaposing them in this way will help you
(and me) conceptualize the development of this paper over the quarter. Make sure the two abstracts are labeled so
that I know which is the original and which is the revised version.
Part
Two: Now, underneath the two abstracts, write a one-page letter in which you reflect
on your progress through the research project.
You may want to discuss how the project changed over the weeks you worked
on it, what was most fulfilling or frustrating about the research or writing
process, whether or not you found the topic as engaging as you anticipated,
what you would research further, the strongest or weakest part of your
argument, how the paper changed as you drafted it, whether peer feedback was
valuable, how you have changed as a writer, etc. Although I don’t expect the letter to be a
formal essay, I do expect it to be a thoughtful and articulate evaluation of
your experience with the research project.
Turn
it in. Having revised your paper and written your letter,
turn your letter, your revision, the draft with my comments, and your peer
review form at the beginning of class.
The Format & Grading Criteria:
The Research Project Letter. The letter should be one page, single or
double spaced as appropriate, machine-generated, and should contain your name.
The
Research Paper. Your Research Paper should represent a thorough
revision of your draft. It should
include
1. a title page: Be sure to use as
effective a title as possible.
2. page numbers: All pages should be
numbered, the only exceptions being the cover title page and the first page if
you so desire.
3. a staple or clip: All papers must be
stapled or clipped in the upper left hand corner. A possible exception would be if you
preferred to bind it in a term paper cover, but please don’t use a clear
plastic sheath with the type of plastic binding that simply slides on.
4. no grammatical, punctuation or spelling
mistakes: Use a grammar book if
necessary to get rid of grammatical or punctuation mistakes. Use your computer’s spell-check, a
dictionary, or your best friend to eliminate spelling mistakes.
5. 10 to 15 pages of writing: This page limit does not include the
bibliography/works cited page, notes, appendices, or integrated visuals.
Exceeding the page limit is okay, but turning in a paper below it is
unacceptable. If you are having real
problems meeting the page requirement, let me know.
6. a persuasive thesis statement & convincing
development of ideas: This thesis
statement should be proven using concrete evidence, concise & precise
language, and an organic underlying structure that includes a well-written,
effective introduction, conclusion and appropriate strategies of development.
7. effective use of visual rhetoric: Include those pictures, graphs, or charts
that are relevant to your discussion. Make
sure you are an effective practitioner of visual rhetoric: do not forget to
refer to and analyze them appropriately in your argument, to include captions, and to document the sources from which you
took them. Remember: the decision
between integrating your images and appending them at the end of your paper
must be based on the overall rhetorical effectiveness of your argument.
8. relevant, integrated quotes: You should use direct quotations to support
your argument, taken from either primary or secondary sources. Be sure, however, only to quote relevant
material; paraphrase where appropriate.
And also be sure to integrate the quotes into your prose rather than
simply inserting them into the text.
9. off-set quotes: If you quote passages
four lines long or longer, they should be off-set from the rest of the
text. You may single-space them and/or
justify them, but be sure to indent the margins at least .5 inches. Remember, parenthetical documentation for
off-set quotes is different from that for integrated quotes.
10. correct
documentation: All quotations and
paraphrasing from other people’s texts should be documented appropriately using
parenthetical documentation. You may
include informational footnotes if you desire.
11. bibliography/works
cited page: You may include a bibliography OR a works cited page. A bibliography lists all the sources you used
in researching your paper, whether you cited them or not. A works cited page lists only those texts
that you cited in your paper. In either
case, you should include a minimum of 6 sources, formatted according to the MLA
guidelines. Your bibliography/works
cited should be located at the very end of your paper. You do not need to include annotations or
distinguish between primary and secondary sources in this final
bibliography/works cited.
The Research Paper is
worth 50% of your overall grade for the class.
OP-ADs & STUDENT PRESENTATIONS
Due
Date: Monday, December 3rd; Wednesday, December
5th; or Friday, December 7th (by individual assignment)
Preliminary
The Format & Grading Criteria:
Each student will create a one-page Op-Ad to be
distributed to class and will give a 5 minute multi-media presentation that
articulates in greater detail the research paper’s argument. You also, in preparation for the
presentation, will be asked to write 2 free-write evaluations of academic
presentations (lectures, talks). The
Op-Ad should contain both graphic and written text and should be approximately
8 ½ x 11” in size; the ad may be hand drawn, if necessary, but should be neat
and clear. You may computer-generate
your ad as long as you can pull it up on the computer to display it. You also should hand in the computerized
version of your presentation as well.
The Op-Ad/presentation assignment will receive a letter grade worth 5%
of your overall grade for the class: your classmates will play a role in
determining your grade for these assignments.
The Assignment:
The goal of these
assignments is to bring the two halves of the quarter together. When focusing on visual rhetoric, we
discussed the ways in which the visual can make a compact, powerful
argument. Now, you will apply these
techniques to your own argument, generating a print ad and a presentation for
your research topic.
THE
OP-AD. As you know from our class
discussion and from looking at the Atwan handout, an Op-Ad is an advertisement
that “sells” an opinion rather than a tangible, commercial product. In fact, as opposed to many tradition ads
that try to persuade the reader that
s/he needs to buy something, an Op-Ad often very forcefully argues a position.
Your assignment is to create your own Op-Ad for
your research paper, one that combines both pictorial and written elements to
convey its point of view. If necessary,
you may choose to focus on a smaller part of your argument rather than the
entire thesis. As you devise your Op-Ad,
keep in mind those elements important to successful advertising, including
consideration of audience and purpose; use of space, color and image;
strategies of development; and an appropriate hook. Your goal is to produce an ad that both
encapsulates your argument and moves your audience.
THE
PRESENTATION. To prepare for the
presentation, you should complete 2 free-writes evaluating presentations
(lectures, academic talks, etc.) you have seen on campus, using the criteria
established in Lunsford’s article and our discussion with Doree Allen as a
foundation for your evaluation. Consider
carefully your own observations about public speaking as well as the
conclusions we drew in class during our discussion with Doree.
Keeping these ideas in mind – as well as the ways
in which an oral argument differs structurally and stylistically from a written
one -- create a presentation about your research project that clearly conveys
your paper’s principle argument. Your
goal is to persuade your audience of the validity of your argument – think of
it as a “public service announcement,” if that’s helpful. You may use the Op-Ad page as a starting
point for your presentation – but this presentation should not be an
explanation of the ad; it should stand on its own. Your presentation should include visual
rhetoric – whether that be powerpoint, slides, overheads, video clips or
posters.
Here are some further notes on the presentation:
·
You should
“speak” your presentation, not read it; even if you need to write your
presentation out, you should work from notes only.
·
At some point
in your presentation, you should articulate your thesis statement – ideally in
a manner that fits seamlessly in with your presentation’s overall organization.
·
Always keep
your audience in the forefront of your mind; organize your presentation in a
way designed to most successfully engage and interest your audience (This is
particularly important since your peers will have some say in the grade you
receive).
·
Keep your
presentation to 5 minutes: this means that you should practice your presentation,
taking into account the fact that visual materials tend to take up more time
than you would think. Part of what you
are graded on is how well you utilize the designated time period – running
substantially over or under will count against you.