Please note: You are not writing an essay or term paper.
Conducting research and writing an annotation of your sources is a process you should engage with prior to writing a formal paper.
This assignment is designed to help you focus on conducting thoughtful research.
This assignment gives you the opportunity to focus on researching, reading, and deciding what sources are relevant by documenting the sources correctly, and evaluating what knowledge is missing or biased or controversial.
Choose ONE of the assigned research areas listed below.
Narrow the research area into a specific research topic.
Formulate a list of 3-4 research questions related to the topic.
Conduct research on the topic. An article or a book chapter counts as one source. You must include a minimum of three (3) different academic sources outside of course readings. You may include non-academic sources in addition to the three academic sources.
PART 1 – RESEARCH TOPIC & RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Choose ONE Area of Research
Research on debates regarding social media and feminism
Research on how gender or sexual identity has been represented in one form of media
Research on how feminist theories address masculinity as a gendered identity
Narrow Your Research Topic
Once you have chosen your area of research, you need to narrow down to a specific and clear research topic.
The following are some examples of how to do that, but you are expected to come up with topics of your own, not just copy these sample topics!
SAMPLE TOPICS FOR RESEARCH AREA 1 (“Research on debates regarding social media and feminism”)
feminist debates about the use of social media to promote feminist issues
debates about the use of celebrities on social media to promote feminist issues
restrictions on the use of social media for feminist purposes from any region
SAMPLE TOPICS FOR RESEARCH AREA 2 (“Research on how gender or sexual identity has been represented in one form of media”)
representations of non-binary folks in YA fiction or science fiction or any other literary genre
pansexual or asexual or heterosexual representations in manga or comics in any cultural tradition
homosexuality in cinema or TV or visual arts from any cultural tradition
SAMPLE TOPICS FOR RESEARCH AREA 3 (“Research on how feminist theories address masculinity as a gendered identity”)
how masculinity is fluid, socially constructed, and connected to power relations
expectations of masculine behaviour in any physical sport
how the media influences perceptions of masculinity
Develop Your Research Questions
Once you have narrowed down your area of interest and formulated a specific research topic, you will develop a list of research questions. A topic is hard to cover completely because it typically encompasses too many related issues. Clearly formulated questions help you decide which information will be useful and make it easier to know when you have enough information to stop your research.
For example, if you are researching on the topic of feminist debates over on-line pornography, you will likely encounter a vast amount of information in your research. Having some research questions will help you focus on the research that is relevant to you. Here are some sample research questions for this topic:
Who has spoken publicly about on-line pornography and what are their main arguments?
What are the major disagreements amongst feminists and have the core debates changed over time?
What evidence has been presented by each side about the impact of on-line pornography?
Remember, no one single source is likely to answer all or any of your questions completely. Relevant research should help you fill in some of the blanks of what you want to know. Finding out that some parts of your questions cannot be answered is itself interesting. You can note in your reflection what has been answered fully, partially, contradictorily or not at all. Knowing about what the research tells you and does not tell you, helps researchers formulate future questions.
