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Guidelines for Research Paper or Podcast Research Project (Spring 2023)
The research paper/podcast is an integral part of your learning experience as it provides an opportunity to apply some of the concepts, theories or debates mastered during the semester into an independent research project.
These are the criteria I use for evaluating the organization of research papers:
The paper should be 8-10 pages long and demonstrate your ability to formulate a clear research question or thesis statement, conduct a relevant literature review, and describe a few original research findings. As most academic papers, yours should be organized into three parts: an introduction; a body or part with a discussion of the relevant literature or knowledge guiding your study; a methods paty, explaining how you would gather your evidence; and analysis of findings findings and conclusions.
Organizing the paper/podcast in three stages:
Stage 1: To start, prepare a brief blurb or description of a preliminary research idea, question or area of interest you would want to explore. The area or question must be focused on themes included in the course’s syllabus. Once you submit a brief proposal, I will give feedback on how to narrow or better organize your research question. I will also suggest possible data sources or where you can find relevant academic sources relevant to your study, beyond the research sites already included in the last page of the course’s syllabus. Sources informing your paper must come from academic journals, books and reports. Internet sources should be treated only as additional materials, not the main ones! You can use literature from our syllabus, but only a few, say 1-2 as most of your research should be from other sources, to your your independent research efforts.
Stage 2: Once you decide on a theme and research question, you need to prepare an annotated bibliography (AB). This list must include between 5-8 academic sources or references. The list should include the title of each article/chapter/report to be used, the name of the author, publication source and date, and an abstract or summary of the study. Organize your AB by subjects or areas of analysis to be included in your paper, in the literature review. For example, if your question is about social mobility and race, or Latinos in the US or in LA, you must include articles or reports on social mobility and race/ethnic stratification. Or, if your question is about immigration and social mobility based on race and gender, then you will need to find articles focused on Latino immigration (as this course is focused on US Latinos and ethno-racial minorities in LA). You will need to also include sources on social mobility and inequality based on gender or race. You need to try each one of these combinations (for example, Latinos in LA and inequality; or Black Latinos and inequality; or black women and inequality and see what you get), as you will not always find a research paper focused on the exact question of your study, unless this topic has been amply studied before. Try to organize the AB by the areas you plan to analyze in your paper, as I mentioned above.
This preliminary work will allow you to prepare ahead of time bibliographical references as well as important details or facts from the selected sources; this will also help you write a literature in an efficient and organized way and avoid feeling overwhelmed!
Stage 3: Deciding on a method of data collection: As this is a 300-level course, I am assuming most of you have taken a social sciences course and written research papers before. But, just in case, I am providing a review here. By now, I may have already suggested which research method will be most appropriate for your project, depending on the theme and question/s proposed in your brief research proposal or blurb (due April
17th).
Secondary Sources: or survey of the relevant literature: Your research paper can be based mainly on a review of secondary sources or what we call a literature review. This is different than basing your study on Primary Sources: or on insights gathered from interviews, observations, or analysis of of census data that you conduct. When we conduct interviews or draw observation, we call these qualitative insights. These interviews or observations require a guide or protocol with a list of themes and questions organized ahead of time.
To conduct interviews, you will need to recruit and select subjects to interview. Some interviews have specific questions that can be answered with a “yes” or “no” or by selecting answer choices already given. These are called structured or survey interviews. Other interview questions are open-ended and cannot be answered with a simple ‘yes’ or a ‘no.’ The respondent is invited to talk in general about a topic, for example, “what led you to choose a major in Sociology or Black Studies”? Or, "how do you think your parents’ immigration has affected your identity or social mobility?" These are general questions and lead the respondent to talk openly about many things, even topics you have not considered. If you are going to interview people over the phone or the web, you will need to first get the respondent’s consent ahead of time. This is why I ask that you first speak with me if you are planning to interview.
Participant Observations: Another form of data collection involves observations. This is the classic method used by anthropologists to understand ‘how’ things happen, for example, the processes that lead people to experience social mobility or inequality. We observe the behavior but also the meaning people derive from relations with others or with institutions, for example, how immigrants find work, make friends or experience social mobility? For example, for my book, I draw on ethnographic insights.
conducted, intermittingly for over a year, in the home of two immigrant families. I had to obtain their consent ahead of time and develop a trusting relation before being allowed to visit the homes of these families. If you decide, for example, to observe how family, friends or even yourself adapt to social isolation or the fears of being infected by the Coronavirus (CODIV-19), and how this process differs by gender, neighborhood, race, or even education, as I said, this will give you an opportunity to practice ethnographic skills. If you are interested in this method, I will give your more tips and materials to read on how to organize your study, the literature review, and analysis of findings.
Stage 4: Organizing the paper and analysis of your main conclusions. The first part of your paper must include an introduction. Here, you state how you became interested in the subject or question selected; how the question was born. For example, you can state: “one day I was watching a t.v. show or Instagram and noticed X and then after that, I read a paper for class and notice Y, then I put X and Y together and came up with research question (Z). For example, “growing up in an immigrant family, I have always been interested in how migration alters one’s identity, but also one’s soul or sense of being? And, how this in turn affects who I fall in love or consider as a spouse?”
You must then state that in this paper you will explore how a racial identity affect social mobility and even marriage choices or vice-versa? The second part of the paper will explain the relevant literature (drawing on the AB you have prepared). Then, the Methods: state the methods you will use to gather the data, for example, a literature review, or census data; or direct interviews, participant observations, etc.) Include the list of questions you will use for the study, attached at the end of your paper. You need to state what areas will be the focus of your analysis of findings or main conclusions; for example, immigration, social mobility, inter-racial marriage). Conclusions: the conclusion includes discussion of 1-3 key findings and then your own opinion about what else you think should be studied that your paper does not fully investigates.
II. Organizing a Podcast. The Podcast cannot be longer than 6-8 minutes: You are to follow the same organizational steps used for the paper (described above) to conduct the research for the podcast. Preparation of a podcast takes a lot of work, just like papers do. You follow the same steps with the only exception being that you will not have to write a final paper, but prepare a voice recording, or video documentary, or a narrated power point with main findings. You can include music in the background or a picture, anything that will enhance the message you wish to convey. But, you should have a story that you researched, via interviews, or analysis of secondary data, reports etc. Then you tell a story. You can film yourself telling the story or you may record your voice. I will provide examples of podcasts and a power point with key points to help guide the final organization of your project.
When you complete the Podcast, you need to also submit an outline of no more than one page, and the AB. You will need to upload a copy of the Podcast in an Assignment Folder I will create for this final project in our course’s Blackboard folder. I will let the class know when this final assignment will be due as well as indicate it in our course's syllabus.
General writing format for the organization of your final paper/podcast:
The paper and any other materials you write should be double spaced, size 12 font, 1 inch margins on each side, and all pages numbered. Your final project should have a cover page; the name of course, your name and my name. I recommend that you follow the MLA style guide for research papers. The following website has excellent online references guide to the MLA guidelines: http://webster.commnet.edu/mla/index.shtml.
All references should be quoted and cited in the text. Honesty is integral in giving proper credit to the authors for their ideas. The final paper should be 8-10 pages long.
Papers/podcast should be uploaded, as explained earlier, to the course’s blackboard folder. I will prepare a new folder where students can upload their papers/podcasts. More on this, as time comes. Please prepare a pdf file for the paper and a ‘zip.file’ for the podcast, to protect the work. When you upload your paper/podcast, I understand the system will send me an email and it will also keep statistics as to who has done it, etc. I will email to confirm your submission. No late submissions accepted unless previously authorized.
Deadlines:
Research idea Blurb: April 17th; Annotated Bibliography: April 26th; Paper/podcast
outline: May 9th; Final paper/podcast due: May 12th by 5pm.
http://webster.commnet.edu/grammar/index.htm
I am available to discuss any questions you may have about your paper or podcast project, immediately after class, during office hours. Office hours remain as usual: M&W, 3:30-600pm. Please do not attempt to hand in a paper purchased on the web or done for another class. It not only defeats the purpose of the efforts we have made in this course but it is unethical and can get you into big academic troubles.
Prof Fuentes.
