Exploratory Research Narrative Assignment Sheet on human trafficking

FIU

DUAL ENROLLMENT: ENC 1102

Professor C. McCormick

Spring 2019

Exploratory Research Narrative with Field Research

Due Date: April 9th, 2019 Final Draft of Exploratory Research Narrative due.

Length: Minimum 750 words

GOAL: This project asks you to narrate your research process as you choose a topic, generate a research question and conduct research. In this project, you are telling the story of your research process.

To complete this project, you’ll have to read a variety of different sources, conduct your own interviews and/or surveys, and make connections between all of your findings. In the university and the workplace, there’s typically no one source that tells you everything you need to know about a subject, so making connections between sources is an important skill.

You are essentially becoming an expert on a subject, which means becoming a knowledgeable participant in an ongoing conversation about it. Becoming an expert also entails “wallowing in complexity”—postponing judgment about the best answer to a question so that you can consider all of the relevant information and arguments . Good academic writers learn to dwell on the difficult and problematic elements of their subjects instead of rushing to conclusions.

ASSIGNMENT: Now that you have settled on a topic and have developed a research question a research question (or questions), here's a good chance that your research question(s) will evolve as you do your research, and that's fine. Revising your research question(s) shows flexibility, and it's also a good sign that your understanding of your topic is growing and evolving as you learn more.

As you conduct your research, you’ll write an open-form, first-person, step-by-step narrative of your research process. The purpose of this essay isn’t to persuade anyone of your point of view (save that for the final paper), but to bring your reader along with you through your research process as you try to understand different points of on your research question(s). You are basically writing a story about your research process and explaining what you are learning as you go.

SOURCE REQUIREMENTS:

Field Research (Primary Sources): During your research process, you will also conduct primary research such as interviews or surveys. Your final draft must incorporate at least one primary source, but it will probably be a good idea to make use of more than one as you attempt to learn about your topic. WHEN CONDUCTING INTERVIEWS OR SURVEYS, BE SURE TO TELL YOUR INTERVIEWEES THAT THEIR WORDS MAY BE USED IN YOUR PROJECT AND READ BY YOUR CLASSMATES. The final draft of your exploratory essay must include detailed explanations of how you collected your information (“methods”), what you learned from the field research (“results”), and your own analysis of those results (“discussion”). You don’t have to create separate subheadings for each of these, however.

Secondary Sources: Your paper must cite at least seven sources, but you’ll probably look at many more as you develop your viewpoint on your topic. Four of these sources must be available through the FIU Library's online resources or physical holdings. You can look at Wikipedia and things that come up on Google, but you’ll need to back those sometimes-unreliable sources up with more reliable ones from the library. Finally, make sure that your paper considers multiple solutions or points of view on your issue. The essential task here is to “try on” different ideas as your thinking evolves, to see which one best fits the facts as you understand them.

GRADING CRITERIA: In grading this essay, I’ll be asking the following questions:

- Does your introduction explain your interest in the topic and prepare your reader for the narrative of your research by presenting a specific and timely research question?

- Have you wallowed in complexity, postponing judgment on your topic until you’ve looked at all of its difficulties?

-Does your paper describe how you’ve considered multiple perspectives on your topic and synthesized your own ideas with the ideas from your sources?

-Does your essay show a logically-organized, chronological development of the your thoughts, opinions and research process?

- Is your research wide-ranging and comprehensive? Do you have at least four sources from the FIU Library and at least three sources from elsewhere?

- Does your essay include at least one primary source based on your own field research, along with thorough explanation and analysis of those findings?

- Have you incorporated your sources clearly and objectively through a logical combination of quoting, summarizing and paraphrasing?

- Does your reaction to your sources include reflection on their rhetorical features, their credibility, and their place in the debate you’re exploring?

- Does your conclusion provide a clear explanation of the ways your thinking has changed about your topic?

- Is your essay easy to read? Is it free of typos and grammatical errors? Have you cited your sources correctly, both in the text and in a works cited page?

FORMAT: Prepare drafts according to MLA formatting standards (for examples, see the MLA-formatted sample paper at the end of the Everyday Writer’s “MLA Documentation” section). Be sure to cite all eight sources, both in the body of your essay and in a works cited page. Make sure that you include the page number and your name on every page. All drafts should be typed and double-spaced, and submitted on time. Your works cited page does not count toward the word count. At the end of the unit, students should:

· Show a promising start to their capstone extended writing project, engaging with sources related to their research question and illustrating a feasible approach to research;

· Pose a timely research question that is likely to engage a chosen audience;

· Conduct relevant research (taking detailed notes while rhetorically locating, evaluating and analyzing sources);

· Choose sources purposefully and reflectively, rather than randomly;

· Demonstrate rhetorically-effective use of primary research (interview, observation, survey questionnaire, or a combination of the three)

· Effectively summarize, analyze, and synthesize the ideas of others;

· Read sources with attention to their rhetorical context;

· Employ dialectic thinking using thesis, antithesis, and synthesis;

· Demonstrate engagement with sources and wrestling with ideas to explore the research question;

· Document the evolution of the writer’s thinking by recounting the research process and subsequent analysis;

· Cite primary sources correctly in appropriate citation style

· Employ editing strategies appropriate to the audience and purpose to cultivate a convincing scholarly ethos;

· Produce a final draft that shows evidence of a thoughtful writing process, including invention, revision, and proof-reading;

· Use syntax, punctuation, and spelling effectively in service of rhetorical purpose.