Your essay should include the following elements:
Paragraph 1: Introduction – Developing a Research Question
1. Describe the issue you have chosen to research and why this issue is “local” to you.
2. Explain the debate surrounding your topic as you currently see it: point to reasons why people support and oppose an aspect or aspects of your topic. (Use an initial Google search and the Wikipedia page(s) dedicated to your topic to help you frame the debate clearly, but write in your own words).
3. Explain how you refined your topic into a beginning research question.
4. End your introduction with a final, specific research question.
Paragraph 2: Developing a Research Strategy (Tertiary Sources)
1. What information did you uncover through a preliminary Google search (include Ballotpedia and Shippensburg University searches in this section)?
2. Explain what useful content knowledge you located on the Wikipedia page or pages dedicated to your topic. See Section 9.2 of our textbook for help.
3. This section should include key events, definitions, explanations, names of prominent newsmakers, writers, organizations, websites, etc.
4. To finish this section, list prominent agents of change associated with your topic. These should include ballot measures, Supreme Court cases, House or Senate bills, state legislation, etc.
Paragraph 3: Developing a Research Strategy (Popular Sources)
1. Explain how you used Advanced Google, Google News, and Newspaper Source to access current popular sources.
2. List at least three examples of strong journalistic sources and explain why these sources provide answers to your research question (to answer your research question, these sources should address the debate surrounding your topic nicely).
3. Explain how you vetted each of these sources for credibility (see Section 10.2 of our textbook for help).
Paragraph 4: Developing a Research Strategy (Scholarly Sources)
1. Explain how you used Google Scholar and Academic Search Complete to access scholarly sources. List at least two strong scholarly sources and explain why these sources provide answers to your research question.
2. What did you notice about scholarship on your topic – is there a lot/a little? Does the scholarship tend to favor one side of the debate?
Paragraph 5: Conclusion (Concerns)
1. Identify any “holes” in the research and how these holes might be filled.
2. Identify any other concerns you have thus far regarding your strategy and how you intend to resolve these issues.
3. Are you confident in your research strategy? If you’re not confident, be honest and tell me why so that I can help you, and copy and paste this information into an email and send it to me (a.*******************)
Section 6: Beginning Research Log
1. List all keywords from your research log that you have used or intend to use to help you locate sources (see Rhetoric Section 9.4 for help):
2. Provide an APA Reference page entry for all the sources you have referenced in this assignment).
Section 7: Generative AI Disclosure Statements
If you did not use AI at all for this assignment, include the following disclosure at the end of your document:
No AI tools/technologies were used in the completion of this assignment.
If you used AI for brainstorming, adjust and include the following disclosure at the end of your document:
I acknowledge the use of [insert AI system(s) and link] to generate topic ideas. The prompts used are [copy and paste list of prompts in bullet point format]. The output from these prompts is reproduced here in this screenshot [copy/paste screenshot of AI response].
If you used AI for editing or translational purposes, adjust and include the following disclosure at the end of your document:
I acknowledge the use of [insert AI system(s) and link] to improve grammar and punctuation. I uploaded the text of my essay draft and entered the following prompts on [insert date]. The prompts used are [copy and paste list of prompts in bullet point format]. The output from these prompts was used to edit my essay. An example of the output from these prompts is reproduced here in this screenshot [copy/paste screenshot of portion of AI response].
Submission Guidelines
§ Format: Your responses to each question should be answered in complete sentences and paragraph form (see sample essay). Adhere to APA paper formatting guidelines and include level 2 headings for each of the sections listed above (see sample essay).
§ Page Length: The finished draft should be five to six pages in length (a title page, five complete paragraphs, a beginning research log, and generative AI statements).
§ Integration of Sources: You do not need to quote, summarize, or paraphrase from the articles you find. However, I want to see that you have actually located specific sources. You should specifically name the sources that you found in your paper (author and title), but you do not need to cite specific passages from them or summarize them.
