What's due and when

Thursday, 4/1: Peer review of Core 3 (in class) - bring in draft of introduction, one annotation.

Tuesday, 4/6: Core 2 rewrite due for full credit

Thursday 4/8: Core 3 due

Tuesday 4/13: CARS introduction due on blog

Readings for Thursday, April 1 (not due till 4/13)

Read the following, about using the CARS outline:

Swales' Three Move Model for Introductions

Think about how you could use this in the introduction to your argument paper to establish your "niche." Write a quick outline (less than one page) sketching your own topic using this outline. This is due on 4/13).

Thursday March 25 Class

Is cancelled. I have to do a focus group that day and will need class time to do it.

Core 3 Annotated Bibliography - MLA Style Due April 8

What is an annotated bibliography? An annotated bibliography is simply a list of sources (a bibliography) for your project, and it should contain the following for five sources (the three you collected for core three and two additional sources):

• An introduction to the bibliography that focuses your bibliography in the context of your topic.
• A short descriptive and evaluative summary (annotation) of each source on your list.

The short (roughly half-page) introduction to your annotated bibliography explains the purpose and focus of the bibliography - who would be interested in it, and what your criteria are for inclusion and exclusion of sources. In other words, why did you decide to include certain sources and exclude others?

Example of an introduction

The roughly 100-200 word annotation (summary) for each source summarizes and evaluates the source and details its relation to the bibliography's topic, and thus its usefulness to your research.

How should you write each entry? Use as few words as possible to provide as much information about each source as is relevant for your research project:

• First, explain the type of source your are annotating, the topic of the piece, and the qualifications of the author. For example, "in this scholarly journal article, John Jones, a researcher at Johns Hopkins University, evaluates approaches to reading incentives."
• Then describe research methods, if any and summarize the main claims of the piece. For example, " Jones surveyed 400 high school students and concluded that A and B types of incentives are not as useful as C types of incentives." You can include as much or as little detail as necessary. When necessary, include direct quotations or summary to strengthen your summary. If you directly quote or even paraphrase, remember to include the page number(s) for that information.
• You do not need to include information that is of no possible relevance to your own research.
• You should make clear how this source is relevant to your own research, if that link is not easily obvious to me. For example, "This article is of relevance to my research project in its definitions of motivation and incentives and its findings about specific incentive programs."
• You should evaluate the claims and credibility of the author as necessary. For example, if the author seems to be biased or if you think her interpretation of her data is flawed, you can comment on that in your interpretation. For example, "Jones argues that Pizza Hut's BookIt program is the only successful reading incentive program. However, his claim is suspect because he is a shareholder in Pizza Hut stock."

How should you format this annotated bib? Create a word document (hard copy). On the word document, format an MLA citation just like it would appear on a works cited page, then follow that with the annotation (no separate page for each entry - just divide them with the citation). MLA format dictates that the entire bibliography should be double spaced. Do not put an additional space between entries. Use a hanging indent after the first line of the citation, like this:

Goldscheider, Frances Kobrin, Linda J. Waite, and Christina Wistberger. "Nonfamily living and the Erosion of Traditional Family Orientation Among Young Adults." American Sociological Review 51 (1986): 541-554. The authors, researchers at the Rand Corporation and Brown University, use data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Young Women and Young men to test their hypothesis…

Plagiarism Workshop

First, what is plagiarism? UCF defines plagiarism as the intentional or accidental misrepresentation of someone else's work,ideas, or words as your own.

In your groups, consider the following scenarios. Rate these scenarios on a scale of 0-5, where 0=not plagiarism at all, and 5=probably IS plagiarism. You should also discuss and answer the question -does this situation have a high potential to BECOME plagiarism? Why or why not?

Also discuss the reasoning behind your decision - is this situation fair? Is it justifiable? Are there perhaps some instances where the University atmosphere CONTRIBUTES to plagiarism?

1. You and a roommate have ENC 1102 papers due at around the same time. In order to save time and have more fun doing research, you choose similar topics and research together. You will certainly write your own papers, but you use the same articles and books.

2. You have a paper due in Technical Writing that is supposed to be a proposal. You are also taking a speech class where you have to write a proposal. You decide to write the paper and the speech on the same topic to save time since you are taking 6 classes.

3. You are taking your first online class, and the teacher's assignments are very vague. For this assignment, you really aren't sure what he wants, but you do know that you are supposed to post something on the discussion board and answer some questions from the module. You look at the discussion board and see that some other students have already posted their assignment, so you look at their postings to get an idea of what they answered in response to the question and feel much better. Now you know what you have to do!

4. Same scenario as number 3 above, but this time you look at their postings, and use one of the assignments as a template. You change their answers and post your response, but then you get an e-mail from the teacher accusing you of plagiarizing the assignment. How could she do this? Your answers weren't the same as the other student's!

5. You are creating a powerpoint for a class presentation and are browsing around the Internet looking for graphics. You find a picture that is just perfect for your powerpoint, so you copy it into your presentation. When you view the other students' presentations, everyone else has done this as well. Your teacher gives you an A for your presenation. Did you plagiarize?

For the next part of this assignment, I want you to look up on the UCF Office of Student Conduct website (http://www.osc.sdes.ucf.edu/) what the penalties for plagiarism at UCF can be. Discuss them in your group - do you think that they are fair? Too harsh? Not harsh enough?

For homework, please read the University Writing Center's handout on plagiarism at http://uwc.cah.ucf.edu/handouts/Avoiding_Plagiarism.pdf.

Important change to Core 2 Due date

In class I announced this change, but this will make it official. I am changing the due date for Core 2 to Tuesday, March 23, 2010.

Core 2 Due Thursday (now Tuesday 3/23)

Wow, that snuck up on me! Here is a link to Core 2 just in case you lost your assignment.

Today in class we will be doing conferences, just because there really is no good way to do a peer review on this type of Core paper. I will see you in class, and I hope you had a good spring break!

Oh, and I had told you that I wanted your paper due on your blog, but I changed my mine (ok, so I get to do that from time to time). This is mostly because of my schedule next week - I decided since I have to move around a lot it would be easier for me to cart around a few papers at a time than my laptop.

So this is how I want you to turn in your paper:

MLA format (this means double spaced, with your name, ENC 1102 and the section number, the date, Core 2 Research Plan as the title centered on the page, and the pages numbered - please see Purdue OWL MLA Paper Format for more information). Stapled, and NOT in a folder. For your sources, I want them cited in-text, and a works cited page as well, but I also want them tagged in diigo and shared with the class group.

Information about the CITI training

If you are going to do any research that involves human subjects, you are required to take the CITI training. Here is a link to that website:

CITI Training Website

Make sure that you print off a copy of the certificate that you get at the end and bring me a copy. You must also submit all study materials (survey questions, interview questions, etc.) to me before you conduct any research.
JM

For Thursday, March 4

Come up with a research question on your topic, and e-mail this question, along with your responses to the following questions, by Thursday:

1) Is the question researchable? How?

2) What type of information will I need to gather to answer this question?

3) Is the scope of this question reasonable?

Include the following two questions in your e-mail, and I will answer them:

4) Is my question too broad, too narrow, or ok?

5) Given the answers to questions 1, 2, and 3, what do I need to do to develop this question further?

For help with coming up with a research question, read Lunsford (the Handbook, not Everything's an Argument) page 151-152) on writing research questions.
Read Carr's Is Google Making us Stupid?

Select two articles that relate to your Core 2 topic and bookmark them to Diigo. In the paragraph description (when you bookmark an article Diigo gives you a place to put a description), tell us why these sources effectively support the writer's claim. Share these articles with the class research group by selecting Edit and then Share to a Group.
/jm

Information about formulating research questions

This is where I got the information for the exercise we did in class today. While it's specific to behavioral science, the information can be applied to most any discipline, and there's a LOT of information about research on this site.

The Research Assistant

Developing a research question