Essay 2: Academic Research Paper: Exploring Cultural Studies
For this assignment, you will write an informative paper about a topic that deals with some aspect of cultural studies.
Cultural Studies is a very broad area of academic and scholarly study, so you shouldn't have any difficulty finding a topic that interests you.
This assignment is designed for you to learn to explore complex issues and difficult, abstract, or unusual ideas and in the process discover and learn something about yourself and the world. As a writer you have a responsibility to your readers to make these difficult concepts concrete and understandable. While writing, try to avoid vague generalizations. Where do you get the examples to develop your essay? Which examples support your thesis? Which do not? Which are the most convincing? Which are the most likely to interest readers and clarify meaning?
You will need to conduct outside research on your topic. You must use dependable, reliable sources. These include book chapters, articles taken from books, magazine articles, journal articles, and newspaper articles. YOU MAY NOT USE WRITTEN SOURCES FROM THE WORLD WIDE WEB AT ALL!
The overall word requirement for this paper is a minimum of 5 full pages and no more than 7 and it will require library research concerning the artist you have chosen.
To receive credit, your essay must include at least five to seven written outside sources of research information pertaining to your subject that present varying positions and perspectives of it.
Purpose
The primary goal of this paper is to inform, explore, look for connections, and create new knowledge of your own. You are to educate your audience about your topic. It is very important to remember that you goal is merely to inform, not argue or convince. Present possibilities rather than certanties.
At all times, your tone should be fair and balanced and you should avoid argumentative language. To do this, you will need to use both qualifers and author tags (see class notes).
Audience
Your audience is a highly educated one. They are academics, scholars, professors, and experts in their fields.
Because this is a formal academic essay, you should never use contractions, informal language or slang, or the first person (“I”).
The Research Process (Step-by-Step)
STEP 1: EXPLORE IDEAS:
You should begin exploring the Washington State University pages concerning culture. As you read, write down any new ideas that occur to you or connections to things from your daily life. There may be a possible topic there for you. Read each page carefully and critically. As you explore these pages, write down any questions that occur to you.
To continue our exploration of this topic, we will visit the Mint Museum of Art. The purpose of this trip is to expose you to various cultural artforms, so that you may begin your search for a research question.
Topics may also be related to any of the following categories and must somehow connect to or reveal something about the idea and definition of "culture":
Science, Technology, and Culture
Cinema & Media Studies
Popular/Mass Culture Studies
History/Philosophy
Gender/Sexuality
Literary Stuides
Race & Culture
Architecture
Anthropology
Cybertechnology
Photography
Art History & Theory
Postcolonial Studies
Political Science/Sociology
Queer Theory/Gay & Lesbian Studies
To develop a research question, you may want to explore these sites for ideas:
STEP 2: Form A Research Question & Tentative Thesis:
We will cover this step extensively in class
Step 6: Complete Draft of Research Paper from Outline
Format
Your essay should have a title. It should also be typed, double spaced, with one-inch margins all around, Times New Roman Font, & 12 pt. Your paper should be 5-7 pages and have a works cited page. Refer to the required writer's handbook for this class for other questions about format and citations using MLA style. You may also refer to owl.english.purde.edu. You should have a minimum of five to seven written sources. Include copies of each source with your final draft and highlight the material used in your paper on the copy of each source.
NOTE: Keep all planning work, brainstorming, freewriting, clustering, revision workshop responses, workshop questionnaires, HIGHLIGHTED SOURCES, reflections and NUMBERED versions of the essay to hand in with the final DRAFT of the essay. REMEMBER, NO PROCESS, NO GRADE.
Final Draft, evaluated on the following criteria:
Total Possible Points: 100/
Focus (26 points): Does essay have a clear purpose? Focus on a main idea and clearly identifiable thesis? Are reader’s expectations set and then met? Ideas, examples, and reasons developed in the body of the paper are clearly related to the main focus?
Development (26 points): Are supporting examples, showing details, and data rich and relevant to the main idea (i.e., writer discusses when artist worked, artistic movement, movements of the period, what characterized the movement, history of the particular artwork, how it compares to artist’s other work, etc.)? Are the writer’s assertions immediately followed by supporting evidence? Appropriate research supports the writer’s main idea or thesis? The writer shows how or why evidence is relevant to main idea or claim?
Organization (26 points): Do ideas and paragraphs proceed in logical and apparent sequence or pattern? Does writer use sufficient audience cues to let the reader know what has been discussed, what is being discussed, or what will be discussed? Does writer use attention-getting title and lead-in, essay map, summary and forecasting statements, paragraph hooks, transitional words and phrases? Do effective conclusions guide the reader from beginning to end?
Style (11 points): Is language clear direct and readable? Are sentences clear, concise, and easily read by intended audience? Is word choice appropriate for audience? Do sentences reveal and sustain appropriate voice and tone?
Mechanics (11 points): Are there obvious errors in spelling, punctuation, and grammar? Are there patterns of error? Citations formatted correctly?
NO 1ST DRAFT ON DUE DATE (-7 POINTS)
NO REFLECTION (-7 POINTS)
NO PROCESS OR PROPER CITATION OF SOURCES=NO GRADE
Grading scale:
A 90-100
B 80-89
C 70-79
D 60-69
F 0-59
