Project One:  Site Study: Observation (20%)

For this project, you will conduct primary research through observation and, perhaps, interviews. This project introduces students to methods of field research that are often used in the social sciences and in business and marketing. The research component of the project involves selecting a site where a particular activity occurs, carefully observing and taking notes on the activity, and talking with at least two people involved in the activity.  As part of your research, you should also collect 1-3 “artifacts” from your chosen site.  Artifacts are items that you can physically and legally take with you from the site (e.g., a program, a leaflet, an instruction card, a bulletin or newsletter, etc.)

The project has two components. First, it asks you to be descriptive, using observation and interview to answer questions such as who is at the site? What are they doing?  How are they interacting?  What rules or expectations seem to influence the activity they are involved in?  What routine processes are involved in the activity?  What do you notice that creates tension or disrupts the activity?  How do the participants seem to feel about the activity?  How have they come to be involved? What do they see as their role(s)?  You should also consider the physical characteristics of the site: How is the site set up?  What significant objects are there? How are the participants interacting with these objects?  Through careful observation and interview, you should try to discover details that a casual viewer or a regular participant in the activity might not notice. 

Second, the project asks you to compile and analyze the details you have gathered through your observations and interviews.  In the process, you will synthesize and draw inferences about the meaning of what you've observed. You should consider questions such as why do you think the participants interact the way they do?  What do you think is the significance of their interactions?  Why might particular procedures, habits, or routines have developed?  What values do they seem to reflect? 

Based on your research, you will produce a detail paper of about 6 pages (1,500 words) in which you explain and analyze the site and the activity, and your artifacts. In the course of preparing the graded portion of this assignment, you may be asked to complete 3 or 4 other short writing exercises and to keep all the notes you have gathered from your observations and interviews. We will spend  class time discussing observation strategies, observation analysis, and maybe an oral presentation.

Project Two:  Date of Birth Project (20%)

For this project, you will apply the skills you’ve developed in selecting and analyzing artifacts to research involving special collections.  Following an orientation session at the North Carolina Collection in Joyner Library, students will select an item from that collection for analysis.  It might be a pamphlet, a magazine, a map, a paperback book: any object from the collection that you want to analyze in detail.  You might want to begin with the following questions:

For this project, you will compose a paper that tells readers what happened on the day that you were born, not just in your hometown, but also what happened in the local area, the state, the nation, and in the world.

One of the objectives of this assignment is to get you looking in places (in sources) that you’ve never looked before (like the sources mentioned above). Another objective is for you to make something that is important to you (events of your birth day) important to your readers (again, the primary audience for this paper is the typical second semester freshman at ECU who is taking English 1200 this semester).

The North Carolina Collection has microfilms of most of the newspapers in North Carolina and some that are located in our nation’s larger cities. The periodicals (news magazines, general magazines, etc.) are in the journals section of Joyner Library (on the 2^nd floor).

Like the N C Collection paper, you will produce a research essay of about 6 pages (1,500 words) in which you contextualize and explain the significance of the events of your birth day. This paper will require 6-12 sources, of which, not less than 6 will be non-internet sources (e.g., newspapers, magazines, news magazines, journals, and, in some cases, personal interviews). A successful paper will showcase your ability to find, evaluate, and synthesize relevant sources. Completing this assignment will give you an opportunity to work in an archival collection and to learn something interesting about the day you were born; it will also give you an opportunity to learn research methodology in the humanities.

Project Three:  Research and Problem-Solving (40%)

For this project you will identify a problem that needs to be addressed.  This problem should have some personal or professional interest for you. Consider, for example, a problem you have noticed on campus, in your local community, or in the profession you see yourself entering after college. You will research this problem, using a variety of sources, with the ultimate goal of writing a well-informed proposal that suggests what should be done to address the problem.  The project includes the following parts:

Research Prospectus (05%): The Research Prospectus is a statement of your plans Project #3, and the prospectus contains three elements:

• A statement of your research question. Although your topic may be tentative at this stage of the research process, your statement of this question (and, thus, the focus o your research) is based on what you know, and it may be changed as you discover more information.

• A paragraph or two about how your research is progressing so far. This summary should include why you chose this topic, what you already know about it, and what you hope to discover. You should also address any successes/problems you've had with this topic or sources.

• A working bibliography (a list of sources that you have located thus far). Remember to use the MLA format. Remember that this is a preliminary list (you haven't read and evaluated them yet), so this list will likely vary from the Annotated Bibliography (see below) and the Works Cited page of your Research Paper (see below).

Evaluative Annotated Bibliography (10%): You will locate and read at least 12 sources, of which not more than four must be online, relating to the problem you have identified.  You will then produce a bibliography, in MLA format, that includes a summary and evaluation of each source. Annotations should show evidence of careful reaching, critical thought, and demonstrate a thorough understanding of the source.

Research Process Reflection Statement (05%): This component of the project asks you to describe and reflect on your research processes.  What was your knowledge of and belief about the problem before you started your research? How did you go about finding and evaluating your sources?  What surprised you about the search for sources? What difficulties did you encounter in finding sources? What advice would you have for future researchers interested in your topic (or a closely related one)?  Once you found your sources, what interesting or surprising things did you learn? How did your research change your thinking about the problem you selected?  What new topics have you discovered for possible research in the future?  The style of your statement may be informal like the “personal research paper” sample included in WRR (p. 236).

Research Paper (20%):  Based on your research, you will write a 8-10 page (2,000 -2,500 words) research paper in which you suggest what might be done to address the problem.  This will be a well-researched paper that uses a variety of primary and secondary sources. Your goal will be to describe the problem in detail and propose an informed, well-researched solution to the problem you identify. The successful paper will fully and carefully analyze the problem and explore alternative points of view--and--it will identify and address an appropriate audience and use evidence in ways that will accommodate that audience. For example, if you are addressing the overnight guest policy for ECU's dorm, direct your paper to someone—such as the Chancellor or the Dean of Student Affairs—who has the power to affect the change you recommend..

Final Exam (10%):  During the final week of classes, you will be provided with a list of web site addresses (URLs). Following the guidelines discussed in our textbooks and in class, you will evaluate these sites. Your evaluation will be due in class during the designated final exam time.

Studentship (10%): In order for you to do well in this class, attendance is imperative. Class meetings will be used:

• to discuss reading material,

• complete in-class writing assignments and group work,

• participate in peer review activities,

• receive information about your assignments and writing expectations,

• provide feedback to others, and

• receive feedback on your work from your instructor.