Research Portfolio

Research Portfolio

Good research of a topic takes over an extended period of time, allowing you to ask many questions along the way by using a variety of sources and allows for plenty of time and space for reflection. You are beginning your research with a series of questions and some recognized assumptions, but you should be willing to let your discoveries change your mind and help refocus your research along the way.

This assignment will be the basis for our three main writing projects of the semester. In the beginning, we will focus on ethnographic methods of study as we work toward the Ethnographic Summary due in the first week of March. From there, your research will shift toacademic research for the second writing project.

You will be drawing on all of the semester’s research as you write your genre essays as you look at different ways to disseminate the knowledge you have gained through your study.

The more detailed and reflective entries are in your research portfolio, the richer and more rewarding you subsequent projects will be.

You’ll be making entries in your portfolio through the remainder of the semester. The following outlines the schedule for your entries as we work toward the Ethnographic Summary. When you do field notes (for a total of six), you’ll need to plan to spend at least an hour of observation for each entry. Some weeks may require more of observation. Plan for this now.

Entry 1: One page description of your site/community with visual documents (photos, drawings, maps, etc.). All field note entries require you to note the date, time and location of fieldwork as well as details such as who was there? What happened? What did you see?

Entry 2: Double-entry field notes that both describe your observations and give analysis of what it is you see. You will continue these type of field notes throughout the course of your ethnographic research. This means that you will have a total of six field note entries (including your first entry).

Entry 3: Interview transcription. You’ll likely be conducting several interviews. You’ll need to transcribe at least two.

Entry 4: Looking at your culture through a pop cultural lens. This will count as one of 10 sources you’ll be required to do during the course of your ethnographic research (the source you turned in with your proposal is another).

Entry 5: Artifact description, analysis and presentation to your writing group.

Entry 6: Key terms, both in terms of language your culture uses as well as terms you might use when searching for non-academic and scholarly sources on your topic.

Entry 7: Reflections over all that you’ve learned to this point. This will be the jumping off point for writing your Ethnographic Summary.

Grading

Because of the amount of work you’ll put into your proposal throughout the semester, I’m making it 5 percent of your overall grade. As with your other assignments, failure to turn in any portion of the portfolio when is due (you’ll turn in these first entries with your Ethnographic assignment and subsequent entries with your Academic Essay) will result in you receiving no credit for the assignment.

To receive full credit, your work must be complete, well-organized and contain both description and analysis. Doing this will make writing your projects so much easier.

Revision Letters

In addition to the reading assignment detailed below, you need to bring two revision letters with you to class on Tuesday, Jan. 30.

The letter, which should be 2 to 4 pages, should be based on the Reader Response Guide below (which was also handed out in class). You will bring a copy of each letter for the person whose paper you read and a copy for me. So, two revision letters, two copies each.

You'll exchange revision letters in class as well as receive feedback from me.

Reading assignment: Due Jan. 30

I'd like you to read this article from the Guardian. It's a British newspaper that often looks at cultural trends.

As you are reading, think about the ways in which the article is an ethnography. Think about the ways in which it doesn't match the ethnographic genre.

What cultural trend does it describe? What cultural values/mythologies are at play?

What kinds of research did the author conduct?

Be prepared to discuss in class.

Response for Research Proposal

Reader Response Guide: Research proposal

Overall Response:

• What is your gut response to the proposal?
• What parts do you agree with? What parts do you have questions about?

Focus:

How well does the research proposal do the following:

• Identifies subculture and researcher’s relationship to it. How has the writer identified his/her role in the culture?
• Describes the culture and clearly states what the writer wants to find out about his/her chosen culture.
• Identifies cultural mythologies within the culture that might be investigated. What are they (make a list)?
• Justifies why this is an appropriate research project. Are you convinced?

Development for Audience:

• Who is the audience for this paper? How can you tell?
• Does the writer use appropriate language?
• What more do you want to know about what the writer will be researching?

Organization:

• How is the paper organized? Is it easy to follow the writer’s train of thought?
• Is the purpose of the writer’s proposed research clear?
• What suggestions do you have to make the paper easier to read?

Research questions:

• Identify 5 additional questions the writer might ask about their culture.
• What larger, cultural issues/trends might be explored in the writer’s research?
• Identify any logistical problems the writer might have in conducting this research and brainstorm ways to solve those problems.

Style and Conventions:

• Note any grammatical or style errors that you see.

Research Proposal

Research Proposal

Purpose: The purpose of your research proposal is to map out – both for yourself and for your audience – where you think your initial research this semester might be taking you. It’s an opportunity to test out ideas, methods and potential hypotheses for your ethnographic research before you get started. It’s a document that will guide your initial research, but in the end you may find doesn’t describe what you end up discovering at all.

To those ends, you will write a 3 to 5 page double-spaced polished paper that does the following:

• Identifies your subculture and your relationship to it. Are you an insider or an outsider?
• Describes what you already know about the subculture and identifies questions/tells your reader what you want to find out by observing the culture more closely. What issues within this culture might you explore with your research?
• Identifies potential questions you have about the cultural mythologies/value systems/beliefs held within the culture. Justifies why you think this is an appropriate topic to research for an ethnography for this class. Why is this a good line of inquiry?
• Lists any hypotheses/expectations you have about what you might find out.

Focus: The focus of this essay is both descriptive and persuasive. When you propose research – whether it be for a grant or an academic assignment – you need to convince your audience (the grant-giving association, your instructor) of the importance and legitimacy of your proposed research.

Development for Audience: Your writing group will be reading and evaluating your proposals. So will I. You’ll need to convince us that you are on the right track. You’ll have plenty of opportunity to revise if you need to.

Research: By the time you write a research proposal, you should have done some preliminary work on your topic. For this assignment, this includes work you did on your community briefs as well as brainstorming in class.

I’m also requiring that you do some initial reading for this assignment. You will be required to staple an article – of any type – to your proposal showing your audience what you have already read on the topic.

Organization: How you choose to organize your paper is up to you. You should have a clear map for your reader in the beginning about what you expect to accomplish with this paper/your research. If you decide that subheads are the best form of organization, then try subheads.