Research Postings (2 installments + review in final exam)

Due dates:

·        First Research Posting Due before or during Spring Break

·        Second Research Posting Due before or with Final Exam

Weight: 20% of final grade

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 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.

Range of topics: World history relevant to colonialism, imperialism, or postcolonialism; theoretical terms or movements relevant to postcolonial literature; literary figures or theoretical leaders associated with colonial / postcolonial discourse. The primary orientation is to choose a topic relevant to your interests and those of the course.

Grading: Depending on the pace of the semester, grades for research postings may not be returned until the Final Grade Report. 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.)

Length: at least 4 paragraphs, plus or minus bibliographic information

Bibliographic requirements and information: At least 4 sources, at least some of which should be from reputable scholarship and not just stray internet postings. MLA style is expected. Information may be included in text 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, but students may always confer for review.

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 three 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.

No web models exist for this new assignment for LITR 5734, but you may see student models of a similar assignment for LITR 5731 Seminar in American Multicultural Literature (Minority) at

http://coursesite.uhcl.edu/hsh/Whitec/LITR/4333/models/20065731/rschpost