Research Paper

Paper #3 (Research Paper)
Project Specifications and Deadlines

 

(Research Paper Is Made Up of 4 Scaffolded Assignments, each with its own due date)

 

In your argument-driven research paper, you are to use “the body” as the subject for your inquiry. You will produce a six to eight page final paper for this course. Please note that this page count does not include the cover page or the bibliography. In your research paper, you will be expected to create a thesis—i.e., an arguable claim—that the bulk of your paper is designed to support, paragraph by paragraph. The research paper must use a minimum of three to four credible, peer-reviewed sources in addition to one of the texts from our syllabus. You can certainly use more than three or four, but, for a six to eight page paper, you would not want to go overboard and use a dozen sources. You must choose texts that support your argument and each text must be analyzed relative to your thesis.

Possible body-related topics include, but are certainly not limited to some of the following suggestions:

* How will advances in cyborg and AI technology impact the human labor force?
* How is the use of the body in advertising reflective not only of the product being marketed, but also of the time period in which a particular ad campaign ran?
* Does plastination blur or enhance the division between a scientific understanding of the human body and the corpse as entertainment spectacle?
* How has female footwear changed over the last century to reflect changes in women’s cultural status and social roles?

This research paper will be composed in several stages (or, assignments), each with its own deadline.

 

Assignment 1: Preliminary Research Question  DUE DATE: MONDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2015

Formulate a research question (one question) that will serve as springboard towards your thesis for your research paper. The portal into your inquiry takes the form of a question, rather than a statement. At this stage of the semester, you should have developed an interest in a particular aspect about the body, stimulated by our readings, class and blog discussions, shorter papers, and so forth. Your research question should build on this interest. Your question may take, but is not limited to, any of the questions noted above.

 

Assignment 2: Thesis Paragraph    DUE DATE: WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2015 (rough draft)

In one, double-spaced paragraph, please compose a research proposal (i.e. a preliminary thesis paragraph). Your research paper proposal will identify the topic of your research paper and the particular stance you are taking on this topic. Since this is an argument-driven paper, your research proposal will resemble a preliminary thesis statement. Your proposal must also note the titles (and their authors) of two to three texts that you plan to use to demonstrate the plausibility of your argument. One of these texts must be a text from our syllabus. While the course text might not be central to your inquiry, it will nonetheless play, at the very least, a supporting role. Please note that the thesis proposal is a rough draft. However, once you state your topic in your proposal, you cannot abandon it partway through your research because you suddenly, for whatever reason, you like something else better.

Assignment 3: Annotated Bibliography    DUE DATE: MONDAY NOVEMBER 30, 2015

The purpose of an annotated bibliography is to offer both you and me an opportunity to assess the relevance of some of your selected resources to your research thesis. Just because a book or article is interesting, does not necessarily mean that it is relevant to your topic and your stance on this topic. For your annotated bibliography, please select two to three texts (one of which must be a peer-reviewed journal article and one of which must be book—or a chapter from an edited collection). In three to four sentences per text, please summarize what the text is about. One of your sentences should refer to the relevance of this text to your research paper topic. There is a sample on BB (this sample is one I produced in a graduate seminar; yours DOES NOT need to be this long! However, it gives you an overview of how to structure and Annotated Bibliography according to MLA guidelines, and likewise offers you an idea of what an Annotated Bibliography does. Please see the OWL Purdue website for additional (shorter) examples.

Assignment 4: Research Paper  DUE DATE: WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2015 (rough draft)

At this point (i.e. December 2nd), you should have produced a minimum of three pages. While this is a rough draft, please try to make at least the thesis paragraph, and subsequent body paragraphs, as “roughly polished” as you can. Please bring your rough drafts to class on December 2nd, and email me a copy as well.

 

DUE DATE: MONDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2015  (FINAL VERSION)

 

REQUIREMENTS FOR FINAL RESEARCH PAPER:

* 6-8 pages in length. This requirement does not include the cover page or the bibliography.

* Typed, double-spaced, with 1” margins on all sides. Staple before submitting.

* Times New Roman, 12 pt. font

* Follow the MLA format guidelines for the entire structure of your paper including page numbers, quotations, and paraphrases.

* Use at least three to four credible, peer-reviewed sources. Scholarly sources (books and articles from scholarly journals) are the most credible. Sources should vary in genre. (For example, do not use only books or only articles as your sources. No—Wikipedia, SparkNotes, encyclopedias, and so forth, are not credible sources for a scholarly research paper.

* Organize the research paper (title page, introduction, several body paragraphs, conclusion, bibliography).

* Support your clearly stated thesis with relevant, ample evidence. All evidence must be analyzed.

* Write the research paper in the third person. Your opinion (e.g. “I think dead bodies are gross and so does everyone else I know,” or “Even though I believe medieval mystics are a bit wacky, they were taken pretty seriously in their time”) on a given topic is not relevant. Relevance is derived solely from textual evidence.

* Use correct grammar, spelling, and syntax. When in doubt, turn to the Writing Center, SACC, OWL Purdue, Grammar Girl, and me.

REQUIREMENTS:

* 6-8 pages in length. This requirement does not include the cover page or the bibliography.

* Typed, double-spaced, with 1” margins on all sides. Staple before submitting.

* Times New Roman, 12 pt. font

* Follow the MLA format guidelines for the entire structure of your paper including page numbers, quotations, and paraphrases.

* Use at least three to four credible, peer-reviewed sources. Scholarly sources (books and articles from scholarly journals) are the most credible. Sources should vary in genre. (For example, do not use only books or only articles as your sources. No—Wikipedia, SparkNotes, encyclopedias, and so forth, are not credible sources for a scholarly research paper.

* Organize the research paper (title, introduction, several body paragraphs, conclusion, bibliography).

* Support your clearly stated thesis with relevant, ample evidence. All evidence must be analyzed.

* Write the research paper in the third person. Your opinion (e.g. “I think dead bodies are gross and so does everyone else I know,” or “Even though I believe medieval mystics are a bit wacky, they were taken pretty seriously in their time”) on a given topic is not relevant. Relevance is derived solely from textual evidence.

* Use correct grammar, spelling, and syntax. When in doubt, turn to the Writing Center, SACC, OWL Purdue, Grammar Girl, and me.

ASPECTS OF THE RESEARCH AND WRITING PROCESS:

* Manage and take notes on information. Keep a working bibliography, which you will turn into your Bibliography list for the final version (hint, it’s a good idea to create the Bibliography as a separate document on your desktop from the start. When assembling your paper, copy and paste already-MLA formatted texts into your final paper. Take notes about your responses to the information you find. Print out or download articles and photocopy necessary pages from books. Highlight portions you may use as evidence. This will also be helpful for the Annotated Bibliography.

* Revisit your thesis as you conduct your research and write your paper. Make adjustments to your thesis as your paper evolves.

* Organize your evidence under individual body paragraphs. Remember, use one or two supporting ideas per body paragraph. Any more and your paragraph will be jammed.

* Proofread and revise your paper for grammatical, spelling, syntactical, and format errors.

 

Possible ideas:

Millennials, religion & family togetherness

How does religion play a role in the family body?

Advertisements and bodies in ads & marketing

How do bodies affect the way that people view ads?

The development of sneakers

How does the development of the sneaker parallel the development of leisure time?

Child cognitive development until the age of 5

Question

 

What do the Statue of Liberty and Emma Lazarus’s poem even mean anymore?

Why are characters in video games hyper-sexualized?

Do cyborgs signify the last stage of evolution of homo sapiens?

 

Questions, Concerns, and Ideas:

Plastic surgery and aging–where do I go? 1.) Our cultural fascination with types plastic surgery procedures

Censorship of the Body–what can and cannot be shown in the media (mainly women)–breasts, genitalia, torsos, etc.   Reasons for it (sexually-based censorship?)

The Barbie Doll