Multi Media Presentation - Beginning Monday, 4/9
Assignment: Prepare and present a multimedia presentation that shares what you learned about your research essay topic. The presentation should incorporate the highlights of your researched essay in a way that is interesting and meaningful for your audience. It should not be a recitation (reading) of your paper.
Length: 5-7 minutes. You will receive a point deduction for time over or under the time requirement.
Format:
Due Date: Presentations will begin on Monday, April 9th. We will draw for presentation order on Thursday, April 5.
Scoring: The scoring rubric will be posted on Google Classroom. The presentation is worth 100 points.
Length: 5-7 minutes. You will receive a point deduction for time over or under the time requirement.
Format:
- Create a Google Slides presentation to serve as speaker support.
- The first slide contains your topic/title and your thesis statement. You may include an image.
- The remaining slides may include only images, no text, with these exceptions
- a chart or graph that you have created yourself
- a link to a video or audio file
- Include in your presentation an audio or video component that further supports your topic. The media component could be music, a relevant video, interview, an original chart/graph or a news story. The media component can last for no longer than two minutes and counts toward your total speaking time.
- Turn in your Google Slide presentation to Google Classroom so it can be easily accessed on the day you present.
Due Date: Presentations will begin on Monday, April 9th. We will draw for presentation order on Thursday, April 5.
Scoring: The scoring rubric will be posted on Google Classroom. The presentation is worth 100 points.
Researched Expository Essay
Assignment: Research, plan, and compose a five to seven page researched expository essay that investigates a topic related to world history or culture and is of personal interest to you. Your topic may be related to a person, place, event, movement, or invention. Documentation of sources will be in-text, following current MLA style. The paper is worth 200 points.
Content Requirements:
Form: Follow MLA style for the presentation of the paper. Use a 12-point, plain font style.
“Plagiarism is the use of someone else’s writing without giving proper credit – or perhaps without giving any credit at all – to the writer of the original. Whether plagiarism is intentional or unintentional, it represents a serious academic offense. . .” (McCrimmon 499).
McCrimmon, James M. Writing with a Purpose
Any evidence of plagiarism, intentional or unintentional, in your paper, will result in failure of the paper. This includes using a paper or any part of a paper written by you or any other student for this, or any other, course. Do not be a lazy researcher.
Content Requirements:
- a title that captures the reader’s attention and states or implies the focus of the paper,
- the text of the paper includes an introduction, development of the topic, and a conclusion, totaling 5-7 printed pages,
- a statement in the introduction that presents your purpose and the points to be developed in the paper (thesis statement),
- use of credible sources, minimum of 6, cited in text,
- all research materials properly cited in the text, using MLA style, and
- a Works Cited page accurately listing all sources cited in the text of the paper.
Form: Follow MLA style for the presentation of the paper. Use a 12-point, plain font style.
“Plagiarism is the use of someone else’s writing without giving proper credit – or perhaps without giving any credit at all – to the writer of the original. Whether plagiarism is intentional or unintentional, it represents a serious academic offense. . .” (McCrimmon 499).
McCrimmon, James M. Writing with a Purpose
Any evidence of plagiarism, intentional or unintentional, in your paper, will result in failure of the paper. This includes using a paper or any part of a paper written by you or any other student for this, or any other, course. Do not be a lazy researcher.
Choosing a Topic
Using the document on Google Classroom, brainstorm topic ideas. Try listing a few topics in each of the possible categories to avoid limiting yourself and missing the "great" idea.
Settle on a few (more than one) that interest you and do a little researching. Pick one topic that you've found ample research for.
Settle on a few (more than one) that interest you and do a little researching. Pick one topic that you've found ample research for.
Creating a Research Plan
Once you've chosen your topic, complete the Research Plan posted on Google Classroom.
Composing a Research Question
What is a research question?
A research question is a clear, focused, concise, complex and supportable question around which you center your research. You should ask a question about the topic that you are genuinely curious about.
Why is a research question essential to the research process?
Research questions help writers focus their research by providing a path through the research and writing process. The specificity of a well-developed research question helps writers avoid the “all-about” paper and work toward supporting a specific, arguable thesis.
Steps to developing a research question:
Sample Research Questions
Unclear: Why are social networking sites harmful?
Clear: How are online users experiencing or addressing privacy issues on such social networking sites as Twitter and
Facebook?
The unclear version of this question doesn’t specify which social networking sites or suggest what kind of harm the sites are causing. It also assumes that this “harm” is proven and/or accepted. The clearer version specifies sites (Twitter and Facebook), the type of harm (privacy issues), and who the issue is harming (users). A strong research question should never leave room for ambiguity or interpretation.
Unfocused: What is the effect on the environment from global warming?
Focused: How is glacial melting affecting penguins in the Arctic Circle?
The unfocused research question is so broad that it couldn’t be adequately answered in a book-length piece, let alone a standard college-level paper. The focused version narrows down to a specific cause (glacial melting), a specific place (the Arctic Circle), and a specific group that is affected (penguins). When in doubt, make a research question as narrow and focused as possible.
Too simple: How are doctors addressing diabetes in the U.S.?
Appropriately Complex: What are common traits of those suffering from diabetes in America, and how can these commonalities be used to aid the medical community in prevention of the disease?
The simple version of this question can be looked up online and answered in a few factual sentences; it leaves no room for analysis. The more complex version is written in two parts; it is thought provoking and requires both significant investigation and evaluation from the writer. As a general rule of thumb, if a quick Google search can answer a research question, it’s likely not very effective.
Compose a clear, focused, and suitably complex research question. Submit your question, along with your overall topic, by completing the short form on Google Classroom.
A research question is a clear, focused, concise, complex and supportable question around which you center your research. You should ask a question about the topic that you are genuinely curious about.
Why is a research question essential to the research process?
Research questions help writers focus their research by providing a path through the research and writing process. The specificity of a well-developed research question helps writers avoid the “all-about” paper and work toward supporting a specific, arguable thesis.
Steps to developing a research question:
- Choose an interesting general topic. Even directed academic research should focus on a topic in which the writer is at least somewhat personally invested. Writers should choose a broad topic about which they genuinely would like to know more. An example of a general topic might be “Slavery in the American South” or “Films of the 1930s.”
- Do some preliminary research on your general topic. Do a few quick searches in current periodicals and journals on your topic to see what’s already been done and to help you narrow your focus. What questions does this early research raise?
- Consider your audience. For most papers, your audience will be academic, but always keep your audience in mind when narrowing your topic and developing your question. Would that particular audience be interested in this question?
- Start asking questions. Taking into consideration all of the above, start asking yourself open-ended “how” and “why” questions about your general topic. For example, “How did the slave trade evolve in the 1850s in the American South?” or “Why were slave narratives effective tools in working toward the abolishment of slavery?”
- Is your research question focused? Research questions must be specific enough to be well covered in the space available. In this case, 5-7 pages
- Is your research question complex? Research questions should not be answerable with a simple “yes” or “no” or by easily-found facts. They should, instead, require both research and analysis on the part of the writer.
- Research Questions may change. As you go further in your research, you may revise the focus, scope, or direction of your research question to reflect the information available to you.
Sample Research Questions
Unclear: Why are social networking sites harmful?
Clear: How are online users experiencing or addressing privacy issues on such social networking sites as Twitter and
Facebook?
The unclear version of this question doesn’t specify which social networking sites or suggest what kind of harm the sites are causing. It also assumes that this “harm” is proven and/or accepted. The clearer version specifies sites (Twitter and Facebook), the type of harm (privacy issues), and who the issue is harming (users). A strong research question should never leave room for ambiguity or interpretation.
Unfocused: What is the effect on the environment from global warming?
Focused: How is glacial melting affecting penguins in the Arctic Circle?
The unfocused research question is so broad that it couldn’t be adequately answered in a book-length piece, let alone a standard college-level paper. The focused version narrows down to a specific cause (glacial melting), a specific place (the Arctic Circle), and a specific group that is affected (penguins). When in doubt, make a research question as narrow and focused as possible.
Too simple: How are doctors addressing diabetes in the U.S.?
Appropriately Complex: What are common traits of those suffering from diabetes in America, and how can these commonalities be used to aid the medical community in prevention of the disease?
The simple version of this question can be looked up online and answered in a few factual sentences; it leaves no room for analysis. The more complex version is written in two parts; it is thought provoking and requires both significant investigation and evaluation from the writer. As a general rule of thumb, if a quick Google search can answer a research question, it’s likely not very effective.
Compose a clear, focused, and suitably complex research question. Submit your question, along with your overall topic, by completing the short form on Google Classroom.