1. The first step is to create a working research proposal for each topic you think you might want to explore. [Use the guidelines provided at: www.users.drew.edu/sjamieso/research_proposal.html to help you.] At this point you’ll be exploring what you know and what you hope to discover and thinking about the problems you might encounter. You don’t need a bibliography or thesis until you select one topic – see below. (Due in class on Tuesday, Feb. 5th)
2. Once you select a topic, you need to revise the research proposal and develop a working bibliography and finally a thesis (that comes AFTER the research when you know what you want to say to the other people who have written on this topic—how you hope to enter a conversation with them. (Due in class on Tuesday, Feb. 26th)

You will begin by creating a working bibliography of potential sources--sources you have not yet read but think you might find useful as you explore your topic. You’ll continue to add to this list until the final draft of the paper, but as it is growing you can use it to generate an annotated bibliography. [Use the guideline at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/614/01/]

1. Look through this list and select (or find):

....a) two sources from public websites--they can be serious and useful or weird and useless,

....b) two professional sources--these will obviously be serious, and we hope they will be useful! If possible, include

        one source written before 1990 and one source written after 1990.

2. Write an annotation for each of these sources. (Due Tuesday, Feb.12th)

3. Next select four more sources from your list (or find them). This time they should be sources that other texts

    are citing, so look at works cited lists and footnotes. You will begin to notice that certain scholars and/or texts

    are cited by almost everyone.

4. Find those scholars and texts and annotate four of the most frequently cited. (Due Tuesday, Feb. 19th).

5. Annotate at least two more sources, but aim for at least four more as you continue your research.

Working bibliography due on Thursday, Feb. 7th

Final annotated bibliography due in class on Tuesday, Feb. 26th

Write a draft of a paper in which you compare the first four sources you annotated (see #1 (a) and (b) above). Which might be useful? Which might not? Why? Which sources are reliable? How do you measure that? Which might be relevant to your topic? What major differences do you notice? What does that reveal?  This is a draft, so there is no specified length; however, I expect to see you using an appropriate comparative structure (which is what we call point-by-point or topic-by-topic structure), and if you do that the paper should have at least 7 paragraphs.  [For guidelines on college-level comparison and the various patterns of organization, see: www.users.drew.edu/sjamieso/resources/Comparison.html]

Draft of paper due in class on Thurs, Feb. 14th (NOTE: you do not have to write a final draft of this paper, but you do need to write revision notes describing what you would do if you were to revise it)

For this assignment you need to think more specifically about audience and write three paragraphs that you could imagine as entries in an encyclopedia on the topic you are researching. Include a works cited list and suggestions for further reading based on your research (try to make them audience appropriate as well).

Entry 1: for The Middle School Student’s Encyclopedia of All Things Relevant to Life: A Hip Guide to Stuff. Think about the audience (middle school students) and the title of the book, and then write a one paragraph entry on your topic.

Entry 2: for A Brief On-Line Encyclopedia. Again, think about your audience (people who look on line for a quick definition, maybe using google) and their purpose (why might they consult this source?) and write an entry on your topic.

Entry 3: for a university professor. Imagine this as a paragraph that is gathered with all the other paragraphs in the class to showcase the research. Your purpose is (1) to show your professor how much you have learned about the topic, and (2) to tell your peers a bit about it and make them interested in what you will find as you continue to research (hint: questions can be asked in this kind of prose).

Definitions due in class on Tuesday, Feb. 19th

The research paper is a 10-15 page paper that uses 8-16 sources in an extended discussion of a topic selected by the student (within parameters set by the instructor). The sources should be from a variety of (reliable) media, should be correctly cited using MLA in-text citation (or another citation style approved in advance by the professor), and should be used in the paper to create a well-supported argument about the selected topic.

Working research proposal due Tuesday, Feb. 5th

Working thesis due Thursday, Feb. 21st

Possible skeleton/outline/map for paper due Tuesday, Feb 26th

Very rough draft of research paper (with correctly cited sources) due in class on Tuesday, March 4th

Very good rough draft of paper due (translated for an academic audience) on Thursday, March 6th

Final draft of research paper due in final portfolios, on Friday, March 21st

This assignment, to be worked on at the same time as the formal research paper, makes use of the same information you have gathered in your research, but invites you to use it for another purpose. Think of who might benefit from your research or be interested in what you found. What would be the best way to present that material? How would the audience change what you argue or simply present? What would you include and leave out? As a scholar you can play an important role in your local community and the larger human community. Your knowledge can be of direct benefit to others, but the trick is to work out how to share that knowledge. You might make a brochure explaining the benefits of alternative medicine, exercise, or safe sex for students for example; an information package about a disease for relatives of those who have it; a flier or poster about your topic for the general public; a PowerPoint presentation for a community group; a website for teens; a song, poem, or play; or anything else you can imagine. The key is to do something useful with your research rather than just writing a paper for a grade! I’ll be happy to discus ideas with you as you work on this project, as will your classmates (whose job it will be to imagine themselves as members of the audience you select and evaluate your presentation with you).

Final draft of research project due in final portfolios, on Friday, March 21st 

The last piece of writing you will do for this course functions as a preface to your work, and invites you to practice the writing skills you have used in the course for a very different purpose. In this assignment YOU become the text, and your purpose is to provide a lens through which others can view your work in this course. At the end of the course you will be asked to gather together all of your work for the class (see below) and think about it. This is an important class: it is designed to teach you to walk the walk and talk the talk of an academic writer. It is also designed to invite you to use your research for larger goals than simply getting good grades. With the completion of your final portfolio you have entered the academic conversation. How does that feel? Do you feel more confident in your writing and researching skills? How? What do you still need to learn? Where do you go from here? Your final piece of writing is a reflection on what you have learned in this class and what you still have to learn. Instead of analyzing a topic or reading, this assignment invites you to analyze yourself, using your work to support the claims you make about it (you may quote yourself, refer to assignments and moments in the course, and/or provide links). This assignment also invites you to compare your work and your sense of yourself as a writer to earlier moments in your writing life--to your work and attitude six weeks ago, or in high school, kindergarten, or at some other point. In other words, in this assignment you are thinking about thinking and writing about writing.

Final draft due in final portfolios, on Friday, March 21st

Your final work for the course will be shared in two ways.

A PRINT PORTFOLIO:

You will hand in a portfolio containing your final copies of your paper and all of the work that you have printed out and generated on paper as part of this course (notes, diagrams, drafts, papers with my comments, writing center notes, things you downloaded from the web, photocopies--everything ALREADY printed). This material should be gathered in a manila folder and handed to me. At the front of the portfolio you should place your meta-analytical preface. You may also include a title page, an acknowledgment page, a table of contents, and anything else that seems appropriate;

Due at my office and online by 5:00PM on Friday, March 21st

An ELECTRONIC PORTFOLIO (ePortfolio):

You will gather together your final copies of your paper and project along with everything else that you have saved electronically as part of this course (including things you also submit in print form). This material will be saved in a folder in the k:drive (and on your f:drive) and in an electronic portfolio so that it is available on the web. You may use one of the templates I will provide to set up this portfolio, or you may design your own. You may use your preface as the base and provide links to other work, or you may provide links to several things including the preface. We will discuss these options in class and I will teach you to create an ePortfolio (don’t worry!)

Due at my office and online by 5:00PM on Friday, March 21st