Book Review Assignment Guidelines

The book review assignment won't be due until the final weeks of the course, but I want to briefly outline the requirements now.

Your assignment is to write a review of the book you've read this term. After the research essay is turned in, we will spend a day reading a sample book review that may be used as a model for the review you write.   The most important guideline is that your review should do more than summarize.  Instead, the review should articulate your honest reaction to the book.  This might include answers to some (but not all) of the following questions:

• Was the book enjoyable? 
• Was the book believable?
• Was the book easy or difficult to read?
• Did the book challenge the way you think?
• Did it teach you anything new?
• What was the most/least interesting part of the book?

Remember, that your audience is a room full of people who might consider reading your book based on your review.  What are the most important things those people need to know in order to decide whether reading the book was a worthwhile experience?  

Reviews should be 500-700 words.  On the day reviews are due, each student will give a short presentation introducing his or her book to the class.  Presentations should cover the main points included in the written review.  The due date will be announced.

Instructions for Research Essay

By now, you should have significantly educated yourself on your assigned topic.  Your task, now, is to collaborate with your group members to identify a topic and research question that draws on the expertise of all in the group. 

For example, a group whose members have researched wind energy, fracking, and food safety might seek to compare the pollutant levels in vegetable crops in areas where various types of energy exploration occurs.  Be creative in imagining ways in which your group members' topics intersect.

As you develop your research question, be sure it meets the criteria outlined in section R1-a of the handbook.  Is your question worth exploring?  Is it narrow, challenging, and grounded?  Does your question matter, and why does it pass the "So what?" test?

You will have time on Wednesday the 27th to discuss your topic with your group members and receive feedback from me.  By the end of class, you should have a solid research question in mind and be ready to begin looking for quality sources to be used to begin answering it.

Your group will write a 1500-2000 word research essay, which will most likely be due on March 20.

After break, we will have classes on the following topics:

• Integrating sources
• Collaborative writing
• Documenting sources

I will be available after break to meet with groups individually.  Please contact me with whatever questions you have.

Assignment for 2/20

In class today you received your assigned research topic.  Keep in mind that this topic is very general and could cover dozens, or even hundreds, of subtopics.  Your goal in this assignment is to identify as many of those subtopics as possible.

Start with a google search of your topic and some related terms.  This is not an advisable strategy for finding credible academic sources, but finding credible sources is not your goal here.  You are, instead, trying to identify the kinds of things people are already saying about your topic.

Using our in-class activity on the topic of bicycling as a model, create a list of as many subtopics (a minimum of ten) as possible.  Spend at least one hour reading and skimming articles.  If your list of subtopics contains only ten entries, the expectation is for you to have read the articles in more depth than a person with, say, 100 entries.

Please bring your list to Wednesday's class.  It does not need to be typed.  Let me know if you have questions or problems.

Assignment for 2/11

Please bring to Monday's class a list of at least three topics you find compelling.  Your list will be used to help determine the topic you are assigned for your research paper.  (This is intended to express your general interests; few people will be assigned one of the exact topics listed.)  Don't worry about whether your topics are too broad or too specific; the research process will include a narrowing-down step to ensure that your topic is suitable for a short research paper.

Feel free to add to your list any topics not listed here, but your list should include a minimum of three of the topics below.

• Nutrition
• The food pyramid
• Prenatal development
• Formation of cancer cells
• Long-term effects of smoking
• Influence of childhood events (e.g. deaths, divorce) on adulthood
• Gas prices
• Career satisfaction
• Obesity
• Fast food
• Textbook prices
• Financial stability
• History of sports
• Impact of technology on society
• Embarrassment 
• Influence of family and/or culture on personality
• Psychology
• Reliability of meterologists
• Super Bowl blackout
• AIDS policy during the Reagan administration
• Ray Lewis
• Deer antler extract
• Gun Control
• School shootings
• Academic Stress
• Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
• Poaching
• Children's cognitive ability
• Chinese dynasties
• Hitler
• Steve Jobs
• Reasons for cheating
• Causes of violence
• Reasons for volunteering
• Energy dependence 
• Atheism
• Bullying
• Gay rights
• Sexism in the works of Ernest Hemingway
• Overuse of psychological medicine
• Class discrimination
• Felons and voting
• College sports
• ADHD
• Air pollution
• Factories and improving the environment
• Teaching/learning technologies
• Infidelity
• Organ donation
• Sesame Street
• Cystic Fibrosis
• Fitness after age 35
• Beaches
• Alfred Hitchcock
• The Godfather films
• Sleep apnea
• Sleep deprivation 
• Nurse practitioners
• Heroin
• Reality TV
• Mothers in college
• Infectious disease and nursing hazards
• Teen hormones
• Suicide
• Organic foods
• Kurt Vonnegut
• Coal power
• Internet and socialization
• Internet regulation
• The Velvet Underground
• Andy Warhol
• STD prevention
• Inguinal hernias
• Personality disorders and effects on family members
• Dolphins
• Mary Cassatt
• Taxes
• Stocks
• Plate tectonics 
• Volcanoes
• Stem cell research
• Cremation
• Hazing
• Organ donation
• Pro athletes after retirement
• Kids and emotional stress
• Video games and addiction
• Procrastination
• Robert Kennedy
• The films of Woody Allen
• Mozart's influence on hip hop

Link to Research Paper Definition

Please follow this link to Purdue University's Online Writing Lab and read their description of what a research paper is and isn't.

For Wednesday 2/6

Please conduct ten to fifteen minutes of focused freewriting (this technique is described on page 9 of the handbook) to discover some topics of interest to you.  These should be topics about which you genuinely want to know more.  If you are unsure where to begin, think about your academic major or a major you've considered.

Your goal is to produce a list of potential topics for a research essay.  Section R1-a, beginning on page 332 of the handbook provides more information on suitable research questions.

Please bring both your freewriting and your list (at least five topics or questions about topics) to Wednesday's class.  This assignment does not need to be typed.