Anatomy of a research paper:

Statement of research interest

Summary: Identify an area of interest related to the topic of the course and begin to assess potential online sources.

Goals:

Get started on your research project.
Consider how to choose a research topic.
Begin to think about how to evaluate and make use of online resources and content.

Due: Tuesday, September 23, 5 p.m.

Reference:

W. C. Booth, G. G. Colomb, and J. M. Williams. The Craft of Research. University of Chicago Press, 1995.

Assignment

Part A: Brainstorming topics

Brainstorm a bit about your interests related to technology and place. You might want to consider:

What technologies interest you? You might be interested in further considering a technology we consider in this course, such as railroads, automobiles, cell phones, or ubiquitous computing. You might be interested in considering another technology, such as airplanes, television, the Web, or even agriculture.
Where is the technology used? For example, you might be interested in homes, cities, national parks, or developing nations.
Who uses or is affected by the technology? For example, you might be interested in impacts on children or disadvantaged people.
When do the effects occur? Is this an evolving technology that is changing our lives now or in the near future, such as the cell phone? Or do you want to consider the historical influences of the technology?
Why is the technology interesting or problematic? For example, you might be interested in implications for civil rights, economics, health, or the environment.

If you can connect your interests in this class to your interests in other classes you are taking or want to take, I encourage you to do so!

Then, try to put a few of these interests together into a topic that considers the social effects or implications of some technology. For example, you might consider topics such as

the influence of automobile travel on the development of national parks
the economic role of cell phones in developing nations
the privacy implications of videorecording in public places

If your topic seems too broad (e.g., "social effects of the bicycle"), try to add further qualifications, using your other interests and bearing in mind the topic of the course. For example, you might narrow this topic to "the effects of mountain biking in public parks" or "bicyclists' influence on the early development of U.S. highways." (Believe it or not, there was an influence!) Or, you might start with a broad topic and use the first results of your research to narrow it down.

Finally, write a short paragraph stating the research topic you are most interested in and how it is related to the course topic of technology and place.

Part B: Assessing online sources

Perform a Google search on your topic. Browse through and explore the first two result pages that Google recommends. (If you don't find at least two pages of results, or none of them are relevant to your topic, you may need to return to Part A and consider other topics.)

Consider the sites and answer the following questions.

Which sites (or other resources you found through your Google search) would you use for academic research on your topic? Why? (Please include URLs! However, at this early stage, you do not need to use a formal citation style.)
Would you use all these resources in the same way? If not, what are the differences in how you would use them?
Are there any sites you would definitely not use for academic research on your topic? Why not?
Did any Wikipedia pages appear in your search results? If not, try looking up your topic directly through Wikipedia. If you would use Wikipedia in your research,how would you make use of it? If you would not use Wikipedia, why not?
Which site do you think is the best site to use in researching your topic? Why?

What to turn in

Please email me (davisjan@cs.grinnell.edu) and Ms. Bonath (bonath@grinnell.edu) the short description of your topic from Part A and your answers to the questions in Part B. The reason I would prefer email is so that we can copy and paste URLs to look at some of the sites you found. You may write your answer in the body of the email or attach a Word '97, RTF, or PDF file.

Please include our course number, "TUT-100-11," in the subject line of your email.

Ms. Bonath will use your answers to help plan Thursday's discussion.

Evaluation

This assignment will be graded according to the appropriateness of your initial topic selection and the seriousness with which you consider the questions in Part B.

Follow up

In class on Thursday, Ms. Bonath will help us to evaluate the sources you've identified and to further consider how to choose a research topic. Over the next two library sessions, she will orient you to the resources available through the Grinnell College Libraries, so that you can continue your search and further refine your topic.

Janet Davis (davisjan@cs.grinnell.edu)

Created August 20, 2008
Last revised September 17, 2008
With thanks to Gail Bonath and Vance Byrd