Assignment 9: Prewriting a Major Research Paper: The Prospectus, Thesis, Research Question, Major Definitions, and Annotated Bibliography

EngC 1011 University Writing and Critical Reading

Kevin L. Callahan

EngC Writing Instructor

call0031@tc.umn.edu

(612) 623-7685

Educational Goals:

Students should be able to demonstrate their knowledge and ability to do prewriting and bibliographic research for a major research paper.

Instructions:

Step 1: The Prospectus: After picking a topic, write a 250 word prospectus on the topic you have selected for your major research paper. The prospectus should describe the general topic that you are interested in researching and how it relates to the prior readings that we have done in the course so far on altered states of consciousness. Your paper should be a synthesis of more than one field and thus should be interdisciplinary or "synthetic." For example, if you are interested in Vincent Van Gogh you may want to research medical literature on Meniere's disease (biology or medicine) and information about his life (biography) and his vivid paintings (art history). You might also want to research absinthe (pharmacology) and its hallucinogenic effects. This can then obviously be related back to your earlier readings on hallucinations and hallucinogenic plants. As another example, if you were interested in writing about contemporary "raves" you might consider reading the medical literature on ecstasy, trance dancing in history, and compare it to the readings you have already done on hallucinations, unintentional "intoxication," through sleep deprivation, the use of hallucinogenic plants in medieval and other social settings, the use of LSD, etc. If you were interested in writing about Native American vision questing through the example of Nicholas Black Elk who wrote the book Black Elk Speaks (biography) you might choose to research the effects of extended sleep deprivation and illness on medical subjects (medical library).

Step 2: The Working Thesis and Research Question: Summarize the main idea of your paper on one sentence. Put this into the form of a question e.g. "Was the distinctive vividness of the colors in Vincent Van Gogh's paintings due to Meniere's disease, mental illness, and hallucinogenic drugs, or other reasons?"

Step 3: Major Definitions: Make a list of at least 3 important terms that you think that you will need to define in your paper. Define the terms and cite the source of your definitions. Journal articles will frequently precisely define terms as well as dictionaries. If you use a dictionary, cite the source. You may also make up your own definitions if necessary.

Step 4: The Annotated Bibliography: You will need to do library and online research to find a minimum of 2 relevant books and 2 relevant academic journal articles that are about your chosen topic. There must be a minimum of two relevant books and two relevant academic journal articles among your sources. Annotate those books and journal articles that you find are the most relevant and useful to your topic. No websites or magazine articles should be the basis of your research. Academic journal articles that also are online may be used but they must also be in print somewhere. In other words, you can retrieve and use academic journals online but they must also be print sources. The reason for this is that journals in print are durable and can be cited 20 years from now. They are also peer reviewed which means that other recognized experts have reviewed the article before publication. That may not be true of websites which often disappear.

An annotated bibliography is a list of the works that you researched and consulted, not necessarily the works you will cite. Each entry in your annotated bibliography should be in the APA references format and have 3 to 5 sentences summarizing the book or article and what was useful in it for your topic. You should note page numbers with any direct quotations. Your annotated bibliography can be more than 4 sources if you locate more than that during your research.

Assigned: Tuesday, March 6 (40 points)

First Draft Due: Thursday, March 15 (Tuesday is the Library Tour).

Second Draft Due: Tuesday, March 20 (Pregrading Workshop)

Final Draft Due: Thursday, March 22