Assignment

Research Postings (2 installments + review in final exam) (25%)

Perform, describe, and email to the instructor (for posting) two (or more) “adventures or experiments in research.” These exercises should be relevant to our course’s subject matter, but they may reflect your personal and professional interests in immigration or other multicultural subjects. Try to relate your interests to Literature, but not absolutely required. Your final exam will summarize and assess these research experiments as part of your overall learning experience.

Length: 4 paragraphs, plus or minus bibliographic information

Bibliographic information may be included in paragraphs or more completely in listings at end of posting.

Posting to webpage: Email contents to instructor at whitec@uhcl.edu. Instructor will post to webpage and email notification of posting. This may be all the feedback the student will receive until final grade report. (See “grading” below.)

Organization, Content, etc.:

Provide a title for your entry that will serve as a web heading or link. This title should indicate the content. The title may take the form of a question.

1^st paragraph: Introduce and frame a question you want to answer or a topic you want to know more about. Explain the source or background of your interest; what you already knew on the subject, how or where you learned it or were alerted to it, etc. These backgrounds can be personal as well as educational or professional. At some point in this introductory paragraph, a statement of the question you’re trying to answer should appear.

2^nd and 3^rd paragraphs: describe your search for answers to your question or topic of interest. Locate, describe, and evaluate at least two sources. Your sources may be print, Web, or personal (as in an interview, lecture, conversation, or anecdote). If Web, provide links. If print, provide bibliographic information. (MLA style is preferred, but the main point of all documentation is to enable your reader to find the source.) If “personal,” provide as much contextual information as possible; welcome to protect privacy.

4^th paragraph: What is the answer to your question? Your “answer” may take a variety of forms, as long as you demonstrate learning. For instance, you may find a definite answer to your specific question. Or you may learn that you’ve asked the wrong question, in which case you could conclude by revising your question. In any case, summarize and evaluate what you have learned, and consider what your next step might be if you continued your research along this line.

You may write more than 4 paragraphs, but beyond 6 or 7 paragraphs may push the assignment too far.

Your two postings may be on different subjects or may continue a single subject. Remain aware that you will need to discuss your research journal as part of your final exam question on your overall learning curve.

Grading: Because this assignment hasn’t been tried out before, and because summer school moves so quickly, I can’t guarantee how much feedback will be provided during the session. However, at the end of the session you will receive an overall grade for your on-line research journal. This grade will be based on readability, interest, and quality of research. (By interest, I don’t mean whether I would have chosen the topic, but how well the report generates and sustains interest.)