Class: Emerging digital media
Intro and Context
We have covered a lot of topics and technologies in this course. Some have likely been more interesting to you than others. Your final project asks you to home in on a topic that is of particular interest to you, conduct research on that topic, and to then write an exploratory paper on what you learned.
Assignment Specifics
Step 1: Pick a Topic
Choose a topic that is both interesting to you and that is relevant to this course, emerging digital media. While you are free to pick your own topic, it would be a good idea to clear it with me—the sooner the better!
Step 2: Create a Research Question
A good research question will help to guide your research and your writing. Put simply, a research question is a question that you want to answer about your topic, one you will need to conduct research to answer.
Characteristics of a Good Research Question
Good research questions are complex, clear, focused, concise, and arguable.
Complex
The question is not answerable with a simple “yes” or “no.”
✘ Does global warming affect ASU students?
✔ What is the effect of global warming on ASU students?
Clear
The question is specific enough that the audience can understand the purpose without needing more explanation.
✘ What is the effect of global warming on ASU students?
✔ What are the effects of climate change on ASU students’ social lives?
Focused
The question is narrow enough that it can be addressed thoroughly in the proposed project.
✘ What are the effects of climate change on ASU students’ social lives?
✔ What are ASU students’ perceptions of the relationship between the global phenomenon of climate change and their individual social lives?
Concise
The question employs the fewest words possible.
✘ What are ASU students’ perceptions of the relationship between the global phenomenon of climate change and their individual social lives?
✔ How do ASU students perceive the relationship between climate change and their social lives?
Arguable
The potential answers are open to debate.
✘ How many ASU students report that global warming affects their social lives?
✔ How do ASU students perceive the relationship between climate change and their social lives?
Step 3: Conduct Research and Find Information
Based on your research question, consider the kinds of disciplines that would be interested in your topic and answering your research question: media studies, film studies, psychology, history, etc. Next, use the ASU library databases to find scholarly journals those disciplines tend to publish scholarship in. Search keywords, article titles, and special issues for relevant articles. You should find and use a minimum of three scholarly sources.
Step 4: Write Your Exploratory Essay
Background and Context
Compose a section that provides readers with the necessary background information and context to understand your topic. What do readers need to know about your topic in order to understand all that follows.
Research
Here, you should lay out your research question, how you conducted research (the disciplines you looked into, the journals you searched, etc.), and what you found. You should briefly summarize the three articles you found that helped you to answer your research question and note how they did so.
What You Learned
In this section you will do your best to answer your research question, using both your ideas and those of your sources. Here you will discuss what you learned about your topic and discuss possible answers to your research question.
Why It Matters
In this section, you will describe the importance of your topic and how/why it affects others.
