Writing a Research Paper

Everything we've been doing this semester has been leading up to your final project, which is a six-page research paper and five-minute presentation. You have written a topic proposal, practiced citing print and electronic sources, used the library to find sources on the shelves and through databases, learned how to evaluate the information you find, put together an annotated bibliography of your sources, gained a little experience gathering primary research, worked collaboratively with your peers to create and present a research project, gained experience in critiquing your classmates' work and accepting their critiques of your own work, and learned how to use in-text citations. In addition you have been maintaining a blog of your progress through this course.

Now you need to focus on synthesizing everything you have learned into this last major writing project for the semester: 1. Developing a concise argument of a particular aspect of your topic, while synthesizing a variety of perspectives as you make that argument. 2. Writing with style so that your reader can not only understand what you are saying, but also maintain interest in what you have to say. 3. Presenting what you have learned to the class in a way that demonstrates your authority to speak on your topic--and holds the attention of your audience.

Here are a couple related links from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill that might help you to create and organize your argument and to write with style. For ideas on creating your presentation, check out The Key Steps to an Effective Presentation.

Anna, Jake, Kassie, and Heather contend that...

...the most popular area at Bracken Library for undergraduates is the first floor. They believe this is due to the easy access, since the entrances are at this level, and also because there are plenty of computers on this floor.

Alisha, Kristen, Megan, and Stephanie are discovering...

...some of the reasons that people ride the campus shuttle, and what they do to occupy themselves while riding the shuttle.

Adam, Angelina, Cody, and Garrett are comparing...

...the ways that male and female undergraduates use the library. For example, they noticed that women seem to go to the library in groups, while men tend to go alone.

Katie, Xin, Pat, and Josh are looking into...

...the reasons that students choose specific food-service stations at LaFollette. They contend that students who are in a hurry will select different options than students who have more time to relax over their meal.

Sara, Q, Brandon, and Chandler are wondering...

...how people behave at the Atrium, one of the campus dining centers. In particular, they wonder how people behave when eating alone versus eating with friends.

Glenda, Valerie, Matt, Daniel investigate...

...how students use Bracken Library and what changes have been made to encourage students to visit. In particular, they look at how students are utilizing the library as a place of social interaction.

Analyzing Argument

You will have a difficult time constructing an effective argument on your topic unless you take the time to analyze the arguments of others--and why they are or are not effective. Here is an easy introduction to analyzing argument, which focuses on the most common logical fallacies: http:www.ehow.com/how_2301274_analyze-argument.html. Another source on analyzing argument, focuses on more difficult topics, such as the syllagism and enthymeme, inductive and deductive arguments, and inartistic and artistic proofs: http://rhetorica.net/argument.htm

Interviews: Expect the Unexpected

Think carefully about your group's interviewing process. Which group member is likely to establish rapport with which informant? Will the questions you ask be the same for each informant or will the questions vary slightly? At this point your group should have agreed upon a general research question, which should help guide your efforts in interviewing. You should have also discussed who you intend to interview and why this person would make a good informant. When you conduct your interviews, remember, you are not interrogating your informants; you are trying to learn from them. Be open to things not going exactly as planned, and be interested in what your informants have to say. Don't forget to obtain a signed interview release form. Here are some last-minute tips on ethnographic interviewing techniques.

Observations: The First Step to Field Work

Whether you are observing a group of people or analyzing an object, you should recognize that your unique perspective and prior assumptions will bias what you see. Somehow, you need to try to get beyond what you see initially and dig deeper into what is going on with your field site or with your object of study. Rituals that seem strange to you might be commonplace among the group you are studying; for example, anthropologist Horace Miner describes the strange rituals he observed in "Body Ritual among the Nacirema." Also keep in mind that what seems boring upon first glance might be extremely interesting upon further examination, as graduate student Samuel Scudder learned in "Look at Your Fish."

Pecha Kucha

Your third major assignment for the semester is a field work group project that will culminate in a pecha kucha presentation to the entire class. A pecha kucha presentation is a PowerPoint presentation of 20 slides that stay on screen for just 20 seconds each. The point is to limit yourself to about 6 minutes and 40 seconds of talking and to emphasize the visual over the textual in your slides. In other words, you do not read from your slides (that's boring), but rather you present images that enhance and illustrate what you have to say.

I searched for the meaning of the word pecha kucha and learned that it comes from a Japanese term meaning chatter. The format was created by a couple of Tokyo-based architects: Apparently architects do a lot of presenting and tend to talk too long, so they wanted a presentation format that would force speakers to be more concise and give everyone a chance to speak and share their work. To learn more about pecha kucha, visit http://www.pecha-kucha.org/ where you can also view pecha kucha presentations. If you're wondering how to pronounce pecha kucha, watch the short video.

A Self-fulfilling Hoax

Hungry Beast is a weekly topical news program in Australia, which came to my attention recently through a YouTube video posting of one its program segments.

The video presents the hoax Hungry Beast perpetrated on the Australian media: A study conducted by The Levitt Institute proclaiming the gullibility of TV viewers in Australia. Neither the study nor the institute are real, but some media outlets didn't notice that because they didn't read critically and check their sources.

Read critically and check your sources.

Was the Moon Landing a Hoax?

Americans love a conspiracy. A government agency doing its job is just plain boring, even if it is doing something extraordinary, like sending a man to the moon. But maybe sending a man to the moon is a little too extraordinary. How do we know for sure it really happened? What if it were all a hoax?

Now that's something to get excited about!

Conspiracy theorists can seem pretty convincing if you don't have all the facts--but what are the facts? It sounds crazy to believe the moon landing was a hoax--or does it? How do you evaluate online sources that seem wildly opposed to one another? Check out the following sources and do an evaluation of your own:

The Moon Landing Was Faked!
http://www.ufos-aliens.co.uk/cosmicapollo.html
http://www.moonmovie.com/moonmovie/default.asp
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/moon.htm

The Moon Landing Was NOT Faked!
http://pirlwww.lpl.arizona.edu/~jscotti/NOT_faked/
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/07/photogalleries/apollo-moon-landing-hoax-pictures/index.html
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast23Feb_2.htm

Be Sure You Actually Say Something in Your Blog Posts

Our conference discussions, our class activities, your readings on your chosen research topic, and the assigned readings in your textbook should give you plenty to write about in your blog posts. You don't have to cover it all, but you should focus on something that is specific and significant to you, and you should have something substantial to say about that something.

Citing Online Sources: It's Tricky

The first week of the semester, one of your class activities was to work in small groups to create a bibliography of the print sources I brought into the classroom: books, magazines, and academic journals. This week you're going to create a bibliography of online sources, which is much trickier: e-journals, academic articles from databases, online books, online magazines, and websites. I didn't cover all the possibilities with this activity, not by a long-shot, but at least you'll start to get a feel for how many different kinds of online sources are out there.

The library at Valencia Community College has what I think is a very helpful website for visually understanding all the parts of an online citation. I happened upon it through a Google search because--guess what--online citations are confusing for everybody, and I wasn't sure how to cite a YouTube video. This website provides simple, clear explanations that you can even download as a .pdf. I like how color and call-outs are used to show exactly what goes where.

Get Thee to the Library

Research can be rewarding, but don't expect it to be easy. Become familiar with the library, not just by hanging out virtually on the website, but also by physically going to the bricks-and-mortar building, otherwise know as Bracken Library. Locate three print sources for your topic proposal bibliography. Don't give up and then claim there are no print sources related to your topic. I will prove you wrong. The library offers many ways of asking for help before you even enter the building, so ask for help online if you need it.

All Blogs Are Listed

Now you should be able to find a blog link for all 24 students in the class. Write, read, comment, and get to know each other!

The Blogroll is Up

I'm still missing a couple URLs, but most of the blogs are listed to the right. You might notice that the blog names, for the most part, are not too exciting. You don't have to identify yourself by name, but you could come up with something a little more creative. To change your blog title, just go to "customize," which is next to "new post," and then edit your title name.

Remember to follow this blog and to follow the blogs of your classmates. I've made comments already, so, yes, folks, I truly am reading them.

Welcome to our class blog!

Welcome to our class blog, a public forum for discussion, reflection, and links to information related to rhetoric and research. Coming soon is a blogroll of all the student blogs for this class. Students will be reflecting on their research process, which will include readings from The Bedford Researcher, Third Edition, other assigned readings, and their adventures along the fascinating--and sometimes frustrating--journey of inquiry.