Essay about the Research Project, Fall 2024

Essay 2 should be around 600 words. Remember the main three questions posted in the document “About the Research Project, Fall 2021â€Â:

1. What arguments are focused on a particular object that exists around us but that many of us don't usually think much about?

2. How does this object relate to or emphasize something important about a particular culture and society or possibly changes in or directions for this society or culture?

3. Why is this object important? How does it affect our lives or how have our lives been changed because of it? What positive or negative effects have occurred because of this object’s impact on humanity?

The Research Proposal (Essay 2) is a short essay in which you address/ answer the following questions. You don't need to follow this order but be sure you address all of these issues.

Special formatting instruction/suggestion only for Essay 2: Number your “essayâ€Â as follows…1…2…3…etc. Answer these questions, each in a short paragraph:

1. What is the object you want to examine for the research project and why did you choose it?

2. How does this object relate to the concept of an everyday object? Why would it be something that you think would be an interesting example of an everyday object? Does this object fit the requirements in the assignment (discussed in class 20 September onwards)?

 

3. What assumptions or beliefs do you have about the object? Also, what sort of assumptions or beliefs do you think many people (such as your colleagues in class) have about this object? Are there any prejudices or negative perceptions related to this object that you've considered? How so?

4. How do you propose to conduct this project? A. What issues do you want to examine, what questions would you like to pose, what would you like to find out? (We might call this set of issues "Research Questions" and you should keep track of which ones work and which don't as you work on this project). Thus, consider phrasing the ideas here as questions.

B. Also, what key words do you think you might use to search for information on your object? At some point in the essay include a list of terms and phrases that you might use to search for information on the Internet and in databases. (If you already search on the Internet, you use key words all of the time-- these are essential in a research project.) Note that you might take notice of special phrases what could be useful to search for information: put these phrases in quotation marks to link them (for example "MLA Style" might pull up more hits than would "MLA" and "style" by themselves-- and don't forget that "MLA" stands for "Modern Language Association").

Choosing the Object of Study

5. What sort of original research (interviews, surveys, observations, experiments) might you conduct? Especially given the time/scope of our course how will this original research be possible? As part of this paragraph (and this might lead to more than one paragraph, perhaps), include the following two parts:

a. Decide how you would introduce your research project to others. Write and include an overview statement about what object (topic) you are
researching. Make a general comment of what you are examining and why you want information from people you might interview or survey. Be sure you describe/explain your object (topic) well enough so that the person responding knows the topic well. This overview should be short, no more than 50 words.

b. Write and include 3 questions to ask people you interview/survey (if you intend to conduct interviews on your own or surveys on your own, you might ask more, but the more questions you ask the less likely it is that your subjects will want to answer them). Questions should address issues that anyone can answer about a particular object. Don’t assume the answerer is an expert; think of how to bring out stories or recollections of how someone has used an object or what he or she thinks of it. For our purposes, you are looking for questions that would allow someone to share ideas, impressions, stories, and arguments about or related to your object.

Note: For Section 5 Only: The above (a and b) must be writing you are willing for others in the class to see, and you must also post your answers to section

6. Why is researching this object a good project? How do you think that discovering more information about it and then using this information to develop an argument essay could help yourself or-- even more importantly-- help others? What would be the benefits of an argument based on this object?

R e m e m b e r, your object has to concern the general topic The Everyday Object:

1. What arguments are focused on a particular object that exists around us but that many of us don't usually think much about?

2. How does this object relate to or emphasize something important about a particular culture and society or possibly changes in or directions for this society or culture?

 

3. Why is this object important? How does it affect our lives or how have our lives been changed because of it? What positive or negative effects have occurred because of this object’s impact on humanity?