ENGL102 Writing Rhetorically with Sources
ASSIGNMENT: Locating & Evaluating Sources Part II
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LEE TORDA 310 Tillinghast Hall Bridgewater State University 508.531.2436 ltorda@bridgew.edu www.leetorda.com Attend Zoom Class (when told to on the syllabus) by clicking on this link. |
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Overview
So far in this project, I've asked you to think about what question to ask and, with the first part of locating sources, we looked at what has already been said about your question. The work you did before midterm looked more like the kind research and research writing that you were probably exposed to, at least in some capacity, in other classes, including classes in high school. But, as I've said all along, research does not just mean locating sources from a database or other online search. Real researchers conduct research in all manner of ways. You can run experiments. You can count. You can run tests on people or animals, medical or otherwise. Marketing research is research. You can do a combination of all of these and more.
We can't cover every kind of way of researching a topic, and, also, I'm not skilled in doing all kinds of research. I am trained in Composition & Rhetoric. The way I conduct research is particular to my field. The kind of research I like to do best is archival research where I look at documents from the past to make an argument about how we might do something differently now (usually about literacy instruction). Another kind of research that is typical in my field and in a wide range of disciplines in the humanities and social sciences (and even, sometimes, in the natural sciences), is qualitative research.
Qualitative research involves collecting and analyzing non-numerical data (e.g., text, video, or audio) to understand concepts, opinions, or experiences. It can be used to gather in-depth insights into a problem or generate new ideas for research. For our purposes, qualitative research will require you to interview at least three people to capture what they say to you about your topic, analyze their stories/answers, and apply what you learn to your research question to see how it helps you answer it (and move it closer to a thesis). When you produce your final paper for this project, you will use the analysis and direct quotes from your research subjects to help you prove your point--this material will serve as evidence just like the book/article research you amassed before midterm.
Details
Conduct Three Interviews with at least three different interview subjects.
In order to successfully complete your interviews you will need to:
In your analysis:
How you will be evaluated
The Locating & Evaluating Sources Part II is worth 10% of your final grade. In order to earn an “A” for that 10% of your grade, you must
In order to earn a “C” for this part of your final grade you must
If you do not meet the requirements for the “C” grade, you will earn an “F” for this portion of the class.
So far in this project, I've asked you to think about what question to ask and, with the first part of locating sources, we looked at what has already been said about your question. The work you did before midterm looked more like the kind research and research writing that you were probably exposed to, at least in some capacity, in other classes, including classes in high school. But, as I've said all along, research does not just mean locating sources from a database or other online search. Real researchers conduct research in all manner of ways. You can run experiments. You can count. You can run tests on people or animals, medical or otherwise. Marketing research is research. You can do a combination of all of these and more.
We can't cover every kind of way of researching a topic, and, also, I'm not skilled in doing all kinds of research. I am trained in Composition & Rhetoric. The way I conduct research is particular to my field. The kind of research I like to do best is archival research where I look at documents from the past to make an argument about how we might do something differently now (usually about literacy instruction). Another kind of research that is typical in my field and in a wide range of disciplines in the humanities and social sciences (and even, sometimes, in the natural sciences), is qualitative research.
Qualitative research involves collecting and analyzing non-numerical data (e.g., text, video, or audio) to understand concepts, opinions, or experiences. It can be used to gather in-depth insights into a problem or generate new ideas for research. For our purposes, qualitative research will require you to interview at least three people to capture what they say to you about your topic, analyze their stories/answers, and apply what you learn to your research question to see how it helps you answer it (and move it closer to a thesis). When you produce your final paper for this project, you will use the analysis and direct quotes from your research subjects to help you prove your point--this material will serve as evidence just like the book/article research you amassed before midterm.
Details
Conduct Three Interviews with at least three different interview subjects.
In order to successfully complete your interviews you will need to:
- Identify at least three people to interview.
- Create a list of three to five preliminary questions that you will ask all of your interviewees.
- Conduct the interviews and either record (recommended) or take notes on their answers.
- Submit summary reports for each of the three interviews
- Submit an analysis of what you learned by interviewing these subjects, how that has affected your research question, and what your tentative thesis statement is after conducting your interviews.
- Summaries should be 500 words.
- They should include demographic information about who you interviewed
- They should include a summary of what they said
- They should include some direct quotes from your interviewees.
In your analysis:
- You must identify why you felt your research method was appropriate to your project (why you selected interviews or survey)
- You must identify why you selected the subjects you selected. This will mean including demographic information about the people you interview or survey.
- You must identify themes in your responses--did they mostly say the same thing? Did they have wildly different answers? Did they use similar language to discuss the topic.
- You must identify how your qualitative research "talked to" your earlier research of text-based sources. In other words, do you learn something different here or do the answers that you got validate what you saw in the literature?
- You must identify what answers to your research question you can start to formulate from this research and suggest a tentative thesis (an answer) to that question.
How you will be evaluated
The Locating & Evaluating Sources Part II is worth 10% of your final grade. In order to earn an “A” for that 10% of your grade, you must
- Complete the requirements for three interviews described above, and include documentation of your interviews or survey results with your 1000 word analysis. NOTE: your documentation does not count as part of the 1000 words of your analysis. It is supplementary.
- Write an analysis that addresses all five of the bullet points identified above.
- Come to class with the required related assignments as indicated on the syllabus.
- Complete at least 2 interviews as described above and include documentation of your interviews with your 1000 word count analysis. NOTE: your documentation does not count as part of the 1000 words of your analysis. It is supplementary.
- Write an analysis that addresses all five of the bullet points identified above.
- Come to class with the required related assignments as indicated on the syllabus.
In order to earn a “C” for this part of your final grade you must
- Complete at least 1 interview as described above and include documentation of your interviews with your 1000 word count analysis. NOTE: your documentation does not count as part of the 1000 words of your analysis. It is supplementary.
- Write an analysis that addresses all five of the bullet points identified above.
If you do not meet the requirements for the “C” grade, you will earn an “F” for this portion of the class.