Research Journal Assignment #13

Post two times  in your blog (research journal), using the numbers, letters, and phrases in bold as the titles of your respective posts:

RJA #13a: Field Research Report–Provide a detailed report on your field research. If you conducted an interview, include your questions and the answers. (You don’t need to include the name of the person you interviewed if he or she is concerned about privacy.)  If you conducted a survey, include the questions and the data you collected.

RJA #13b: Annotated Bibliography, Part 1–Following the instructions for the annotated bibliography, create annotated MLA-style entries for four of the sources you will be using for your argumentative paper.  Make sure that your bibliographic information is in proper MLA style.

Use the department and course number (ENG 1020 or ENG 122) and other appropriate tags (”Labels” on Blogger) for each of the posts.

Research Journal Assignment #12

Post in Your Blog:

Post three times  in your blog (research journal), using the numbers, letters, and phrases in bold as the titles of your respective posts:

RJA #12a: Progress Report–Report on the progress you have made on your argumentative paper.  The report should include at least two parts, which may be paragraphs or bulleted lists:  (1) what you have accomplished and (2) what you still need to do, including a detailed schedule for completing your paper.  Refer to the updated course schedule (ENG 1020 on-campus classes, ENG 1020 online class, ENG 122 class) for due dates.

RJA #12b: Presentation Plan–Write a paragraph or outline to plan what you will include in your presentation.  This plan will probably closely resemble part of your formal outline.

RJA #12c:  Introduction Check–Go to two of your classmates’ blogs (ENG 1020, ENG 122) and check their introductions (Research Journal Assignment #11a).  In comment on those posts, offer suggestions for improving their introductions or confirm that they follow the guidelines provided on pages 213-216 in your textbook and in “Introductions, Body Paragraphs, and Conclusions for an Argument Paper.”  In your own blog, post links to the web addresses of the posts you commented on (not the main addresses for the blogs).

Use the department and course number (ENG 1020 or ENG 122) and other appropriate tags (”Labels” on Blogger) for each of the three posts.

Research Journal Assignment #11

Post in Your Blog:

Post three times  in your blog (research journal), using the numbers, letters, and phrases in bold as the titles of your respective posts:

RJA #11a: Introduction–Following the guidelines provided on pages 213-216 in your textbook and in “Introductions, Body Paragraphs, and Conclusions for an Argument Paper,” draft the introduction to  your paper.  Avoid using first person pronouns (I, me, my, and mine).

RJA #11b: Visual Aids–Brainstorm a list of at least five different visual aids you could include in your paper.

RJA #11c:  Thesis Statement Check–Go to two of your classmates’ blogs (ENG 1020, ENG 122) and check their thesis statements (Research Journal Assignment #10a).  In comment on those posts, offer suggestions for improving their thesis statements or confirm that they follow the guidelines on page 179 in the textbook and in “Introductions, Body Paragraphs, and Conclusions for an Argument Paper” and that they provide a blueprint of the paper.  In your own blog, post links to the web addresses of the posts you commented on (not the main addresses for the blogs).

Use the department and course number (ENG 1020 or ENG 122) and other appropriate tags (”Labels” on Blogger) for each of the three posts.

Research Journal Assignment #10

Post in Your Blog:

Post twice  in your blog (research journal), using the numbers and phrases in bold as the titles of your posts:

RJA #10a:  Thesis Statement–Using the guide on page 180 of your textbook, the discussion and examples on pages 178-182, and the guidelines in “Introductions, Body Paragraphs, and Conclusions for an Argument Paper,” draft your thesis statement.  Please clearly indicate your research question, precise claim, reasons/blueprint, and complete thesis statement.

RJA #10b: Argument–Using the guide on pages 190-192 of the textbook and the discussion and examples on pages 182-190, construct your argument.  Add and subtract elements as needed.  Please use bold and/or italics to indicate the headings and subheadings.

If you need to, continue searching for reference works, books, and periodical articles on your topic. Update the appropriate posts on your blog if you find more sources. Don’t forget to bookmark relevant sites in your Delicious account and add any relevant RSS feeds to your Protopage.

Use the department and course number (ENG 1020 or ENG 122) and other appropriate tags (”Labels” on Blogger) for the posts.

Research Journal Assignment #9

Post in Your Blog:

Post once  in your blog (research journal), using the number and phrase in bold as the title of your post:

RJA #9: Evaluation of Sources–Select six of the sources you’ve found on your topic, including one book, one periodical article, and one website. Following the guidelines in “Evaluating Sources of Information,” evaluate these sources. Post your evaluations in your blog.  Be sure you include bibliographic information for all six sources, including a web address or link for the website(s).

If you need to, continue searching for reference works, books, and periodical articles on your topic. Update the appropriate posts on your blog if you find more sources. Don’t forget to bookmark relevant sites in your Delicious account and add any relevant RSS feeds to your Protopage.

Use the department and course number (ENG 1020 or ENG 122) and other appropriate tags (”Labels” on Blogger) for the post.

Research Journal Assignment #8

Post in Your Blog:

Post three times  in your blog (research journal), using the numbers, letters, and phrases in bold as the titles of your respective posts:

RJA #8a: Websites–Using keywords and operators supported by the tools you choose, use at least one of each of the following types of internet research tools to find web-based sources related to your topic:  search engines, meta and multi search engines, directories, invisible web search tools, and other appropriate search tools. Bookmark any relevant sites and useful research tools in your Delicious account, add RSS feeds for any relevant blogs or news sites to your Protopage, and record the following information in your research journal for each search you conduct:

• Resource searched or tool used
• Keywords used
• Search strategies used (including operators and types of searches)
• Date of search
• Number of hits
• Relevance of hits (on a scale of 1 to 5)

RJA #8b: Social Media–Using keywords and operators supported by the tools you choose, use at least two of social media search tools or other appropriate search tools to find blogs, wikis, groups, forums, etc., related to your topic. Bookmark any relevant sites and useful research tools in your Delicious account, add RSS feeds for any relevant blogs or news sites to your Protopage, and record the following information in your research journal for each search you conduct:

• Resource searched or tool used
• Keywords used
• Search strategies used (including operators and types of searches)
• Date of search
• Number of hits
• Relevance of hits (on a scale of 1 to 5)

RJA #8c: Multimedia–Using keywords and operators supported by the tools you choose, use at least one of the multimedia search tools to find videos and audio files related to your topic. Bookmark any relevant sites and useful research tools in your Delicious account, add RSS feeds for any relevant blogs or news sites to your Protopage, and record the following information in your research journal for each search you conduct

• Resource searched or tool used
• Keywords used
• Search strategies used (including operators and types of searches)
• Date of search
• Number of hits
• Relevance of hits (on a scale of 1 to 5)

If you need to, continue searching for reference works, books, and periodical articles on your topic. Update the appropriate posts on your blog if you find more sources. Don’t forget to bookmark relevant sites in your Delicious account and add any relevant RSS feeds to your Protopage.

Use the department and course number (ENG 1020 or ENG 122) and other appropriate tags (“Labels” on Blogger) for each of the three posts.

Internet Research Project

For this project, you will be evaluating and reviewing an internet research tool.  You will find the name of and link to your assigned tool on the class wiki (ENG 1020, ENG 122).

Write a review of the research tool assigned to you and post the review in your blog.  Your review should include all of the following information that is relevant for the type of tool you were assigned:

• Name of and link to the tool
• Summary or description of the tool
• Strengths
• Weaknesses
• Search engines, directories, and other applications searched
• Databases
• Operators
• Case sensitivity
• Stop words
• Advanced search function
• Limits
• Sorting
• Display
• Help function
• Special features

See the column headings of the Search Engine Features Chart for explanations if needed.  You can see sample reviews by clicking on links here and here.

Use the department and course number (ENG 1020 or ENG 122) and other appropriate tags (”Labels” on Blogger) for the post.

Research Journal Assignment #7

Post in Your Blog:

Post three times  in your blog (research journal), using the numbers, letters, and phrases in bold as the titles of your respective posts:

RJA #7a: Internet Research Tools–Write a paragraph or more discussing what search engines or other internet research tools you regularly use to do internet research, why you use those particular tools, and what you like and dislike about them. Please include links to the tools you discuss. You might also want to bookmark them in your Delicious account so you can find them easily in the future.

RJA #7b: Internet Research Tool Test–Using search strings incorporating operators supported by your assigned internet research tool (ENG 1020, ENG 122), test it by searching for websites on your research topic. Bookmark any relevant sites in your Delicious account, and record the following information in your research journal for each search you conduct:

• Resource searched
• Keywords used
• Search strategies used (including operators and types of searches)
• Date of search
• Number of hits
• Relevance of hits (on a scale of 1 to 5)

RJA #7c: Field Research Plan–Write a paragraph or more explaining what you are planning to do for your field research. If you will be interviewing someone or conducting a survey, include a list of questions you might ask. If you will be visiting a museum or other location, list what you information will be looking for. Include when you plan to complete your field research. If you are interviewing someone and concerned about his or her privacy, do not include his or her name.

If you need to, continue searching for reference works, books, and periodical articles on your topic. Update the appropriate posts on your blog if you find more sources.  Don’t forget to bookmark relevant sites in your Delicious account.

Use the department and course number (ENG 1020 or ENG 122) and other appropriate tags (”Labels” on Blogger) for each of the three posts.

Research Journal Assignment #6

Learn about RSS Feeds and Aggregators:

Use any or all of the following resources to learn about RSS feeds and aggregators:

• Video:  “RSS in Plain English“
• Video:  “RSS Explained“
• Video:  “How To Use RSS Feeds“
• Website:  “What Is RSS? RSS Explained“
• Website:  “What is RSS: A tutorial introduction to RSS feeds and aggregators“
• Website:  “What is RSS?“

Create a Protopage Account:

Register for an account with Protopage. Please make sure that the name of your Protopage includes your first and/or last name, so I can identify it as yours.  When you register, under Page Sharing, please select Public.

Once you’ve registered with Protopage and activated your account, add a tab with the department and course number (ENG 1020 or ENG 122).  On this tab, add widgets with the RSS feeds from your blog and your Delicious account.  For help adding the widgets, go to the page in Protopage’s help section titled “Adding widgets to your page” and do A and B for both.

As you find blogs or news sources related to your research topic, add their RSS feeds to this tab.

Feel free to look at my Protopage and to customize your page however you desire–or not.

Post in Your Blog:

Post three times  in your blog (research journal), using the numbers, letters, and phrases in bold as the titles of your respective posts:

RJA #6a: Periodical Articles–Using databases from your college or public library or the web, search for periodical articles on your research topic.  Keep electronic copies of the articles you want to read. Some databases, like EBSCO, allow you to e-mail copies of the articles to yourself. Of course, you may also print them out to read.  Also browse the periodical section of the college and local public libraries. If you can’t check out the issues of the periodical, you will probably want to photocopy any useful articles you find.

Record the following information for each periodical article you find that you want to use:

• Name(s) of author(s)
• Title of article
• Title of periodical
• Volume and issue number (if available)
• Date
• Pages on which article appears

If you identify any electronic articles that would be useful, you also need to record the database or website where you accessed it, the library from which database was accessed (if applicable), the date you accessed it, and the web address for the subscription database or the article itself.

In addition, record the following information in your research journal for each search you conduct:

• Resource searched
• Keywords used
• Search strategies used (including operators and types of searches)
• Date of search
• Number of hits
• Relevance of hits (on a scale of 1 to 5)

RJA #6b: Search Strings–Based on the comments you received last week and the instructions and reminders here, revise the search strings you wrote for Research Journal Assignment #4 and post your revisions in your research journal.

RJA #6c: Protopage–Create a link to your Protopage.

Use the department and course number (ENG 1020 or ENG 122) and other appropriate tags (”Labels” on Blogger) for each of the three posts.

Research Journal Assignment #5

Post in Your Blog:

Post three times  in your blog (research journal), using the numbers, letters, and phrases in bold as the titles of your respective posts:

RJA #5a: Reference Articles–Use the reference works listed here and any others you know of to find articles and definitions related to your research topic.  In your research journal, record where you looked and what kind of information you found.  Bookmark sites you may want to use in your Delicious account.

For each relevant article that you find in a printed reference work and might use, record the following information:

• Name(s) of author(s) of the article
• Title of the article
• Title of reference work
• Place of publication (include state if needed)
• Name of publisher
• Date of publication
• Page number(s)

For an online reference work, you will also need the web address and the date you accessed the article.

In addition, record the following information in your research journal for each search you conduct:

• Resource searched
• Keywords used
• Search strategies used (including operators and types of searches)
• Date of search
• Number of hits
• Relevance of hits (on a scale of 1 to 5)

In the future, if you find additional reference articles that you might use, add the information to this post.

RJA #5b: Books–Using any of the libraries listed here or any of the websites listed or linked here, identify books on or related to your topic (You may need to broaden your search some.) You may request books from other libraries through Prospector using your county library card number. You may also use your local public library, which you can search through the Colorado Virtual Library, or any bookstore. Once you have identified books that you want to read, go ahead and check them out, put them on hold, or purchase them. (The last option is entirely up to you.)

If you have trouble with your research, in addition to the librarians at your college and county libraries, you may use one of the ask-a-librarian services listed on the same page as the libraries.

In your research journal (blog), record the following information for each book you find that you want to use:

• Name(s) of author(s), editor(s), translator(s), and/or compiler(s)
• Title and subtitle of the book
• Edition number or information
• Number(s) of volume used
• Name of series
• Place of publication (include state if needed)
• Name of publisher
• Date of publication (copyright)

If you identify any electronic books that would be useful, you also need to record the web address, the site where you accessed it, and the date you accessed it.

In addition, record the following information in your research journal for each search you conduct:

• Resource searched
• Keywords used
• Search strategies used (including operators and types of searches)
• Date of search
• Number of hits
• Relevance of hits (on a scale of 1 to 5)

If you do request assistance from a librarian, either in person or online, please record the incident in your research journal.

In the future, if you find additional books that you might use, add the information to this post.

RJA #5c:  Search String Check–Go to two of your classmates’ blogs (ENG 1020, ENG 122) and check their search strings (Research Journal Assignment #4b).  In comment on those posts, offer suggestions for improving their search strings or confirm that they are correct.  In your own blog, post links to the web addresses of the posts you commented on (not the main addresses for the blogs).

Use the department and course number (ENG 1020 or ENG 122) and other appropriate tags (”Labels” on Blogger) for each of the three posts.