| Final Project Research Paper Proposal | Before endeavoring on the final project, students will write a 250-word proposal for a research paper that explores a contemporary technology through the lens of language and technology. The proposal should pose a question to be answered in the research paper, identify and describe the technology being investigated, and attempt to answer the research question with the knowledge already held by the student. On a separate page, students will write a working bibliography in APA format of at least ten article sources they plan to use in their research (five of these articles may come from class readings, and the other five must come from library sources). | 10% |
| Final Project Research Paper | Based on the final project research paper proposal, students will write a 2500-word minimum research essay responding to their research question. This project requires at least 10 cited sources (five of these articles may come from class readings, and the other five must come from library sources. Other sources are permitted after the 10 required sources). | 30% |
| Final Project Presentation | Each student will have an opportunity to present a condensed, professionally delivered presentation based on their research paper. It must be between 5 and 10 minutes in length, and use PowerPoint as the visual component of the presentation. | 10% |
As detailed above in the selection taken from the syllabus, the research project in ENG1710 has three parts. It begins with the proposal, which is developed into the research paper, and concludes with the in-class presentation.
The overall goal of the research project is to explore the relationship between language and a single contemporary technology of your choosing. To write a strong research paper, you will want to choose a technology that has an obvious or interesting relationship to language. The most obvious examples include those technologies used for communication.
Of course, one could select the computer or the smartphone, but these technologies are platforms for other technologies (namely, software and services). This means that your paper could easily spiral out of control with an overly broad technology.
Instead, it is strongly advised that you select a narrow and focused technology. On one end of the spectrum, are things like blogging, word processing, role playing games. These are broad, but the specific types of these technologies follow a similar set of rules or functions that allow you to make similar claims across different software or services.
On the other end of the spectrum, are things like Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, Line, sms messaging, emoji, reddit, rss, etc. These are more specific technologies (software, apps, services) that work in specific ways that differ from other technologies, but each are used to communicate and involve language in some way.
The broad or narrow approaches are equally okay for a successful research project. Each will likely involve research of the other in order to properly explain and discuss the selected topic and its relationship to language.
In your research, please do not make the error of researching only your topic. You will want to expand your research into the underlying technologies that make your selected technology possible and the history behind the selected technology. Along this path of discovery, you will likely find other aspects of the interaction between language and technology that will be germane to your discussion.
Before writing your research paper and creating your presentation, you must seek approval from Prof. Ellis via your research proposal or even earlier through a discussion during office hours.
Due dates are listed on the syllabus.
