Research Journal Assignment #15

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

RJA #15a: Word Cloud–Create a word cloud with your research paper using Wordle.  Copy and paste the text from your paper (excluding the identification information on the first page and the Works Cited list) into the top box on the Wordle Create page. Then click on “Go.”  After you create the word cloud and format the font, layout, and color to your liking, be sure you save it to the public gallery.  (The button is at the bottom right of the page.)  Copy and paste the URL (web address) of your word cloud or put the word cloud itself into a post on your blog. If you need help, watch one or more of the following YouTube videos:  “Web Site of the Week – Wordle,” “Wordle tutorial,” “Adding a Word Cloud from wordle.net to your Blog,” or another video about Wordle on YouTube.

RJA #15b: Reflection on What You Learned–Write at least one paragraph about what you learned in this class this semester and how you will be able to use it in future classes and your professional and personal life.

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 #14

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

RJA #14: Annotated Bibliography, Part 2–Following the instructions for the annotated bibliography, create annotated MLA-style entries for six more 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 the post.

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.