Author: Andrew Stone

DUE TUESDAY 10/18 BEFORE CLASS BEGINS

WRITE: Write a blog post (at least 400 words) in which you introduce your research question. You may find your topic anywhere– from Unit One to the blog posts we wrote last week, to your peers’ blog posts! (It’s really okay if two people write about the same topic– I promise you.) 

What is important here– and I can’t stress this enough– is that you research something you want to know more about, not something you think you already know the answer to.  You may be curious to know why there are so few African American ballerinas in major companies, or you may want to know how much “housing projects” have changed in New York since James Baldwin wrote “A Talk to Teachers” in 1963, or you may want to know what we really learn from playing computer games.  Just be curious. REMEMBER YOU MUST GET YOUR TOPIC APPROVED BY ME! 

Write it in question form (it can’t be a yes-or-no question, though) You must cover all of the questions in bold:

• Why are you interested in this question?  (Feel free to talk about your own personal experience with the topic, or to tell an anecdote about your experience with this subject matter) 
• What do you expect to find in your research? (Why do you expect to find this?)
• What will you do if you find information that goes completely against what you had expected to find? (Will you throw it out? Will you write about it anyway? Will you challenge your own assumptions?) 

Spend some time on this– because this will serve as the first draft of the introduction for your annotated bibliography!

THINK: Start thinking about a topic you are interested in, something you might want to know more about.  This can be something heavy, like police brutality, or it can be something that seems on the surface more light-hearted, like ballet.  The only criteria is that you are actually curious about it.  

This may seem like strange advice, but it can be helpful to go for a walk and think about topics you’d like to write about. Come home and jot down a few notes. By next class you will be expected to have some idea of a topic you’d like to research, even if it’s a bit vague.   

Then WRITE:

KWL+

1. What topic would you like to know more about?  This can be in question form if you like.
2. K- KNOW: Set your timer for five minutes.  Write that whole time.  It is important that you don’t pause here, so if you are stuck, write “I’m stuck!” But just keep typing.  Write down everything you can about what you KNOW about this topic or question

3. W-WANT:  Set your timer for another five minutes.  Same thing– you’ll write that whole time.  This time, write what you WANT to know about the topic.
   
   Here is where you do a little bit of research.  Again, time yourself– spend 10-15 minutes on the Internet looking up your topic.
4. L-LEARNED: Another five minutes.  Again, write the whole time.  Write what you LEARNED from your 10-15 minutes of internet research.

+-STILL WANT TO KNOW: This is the most important question (but we had to do all of the above to get there!) After doing very basic internet research, what are some questions about your topic that you still want to know? It’s okay if your question has changed a little bit.  Try to come up with questions that you will be able to research for a few weeks! (Hint: NO yes or no questions)