Culture

Outline #1 Instructions

 The major assignment of this course asks you to investigate and summarize a contemporary culture or micro-culture of your choosing. You will prepare a project paper/portfolio as well as compose an online presentation of your chosen culture using the material in your text or material we have discussed (or will discuss) in class. Choose from one of the cultures listed at the end of this assignment or select one on your own.

The purpose of this project is to demonstrate you have done the research on your culture and not just copy and pasted from the internet!!!  I do expect Times New Roman – size 12 font with 1”margins! .

In your outlines, please use subject headings throughout that are underlined and bolded to identify the required parts/sections and sub-sections(the ones within each of the 4 parts) of your project!!

Preparation

Investigate your culture. Choose a culture other than your own. To obtain information about a country or culture, check regional and local libraries, the Internet, the International Education Office on campus, books, magazines, videos, textbooks, or interview a person or persons from that culture. You can use the internet, but it should not be the only place you get information, please see requirements on sources at the bottom of this document.

Project Requirements

Organize the paper/portfolio into the following parts. Begin by researching the culture’s foundations – the basic elements of your culture.

For the first part of your paper, you will address the ‘nation’. You will select 5 categories from this section to develop in your paper. I eliminated the ‘history’ category because I was getting very long and boring histories of the country. You can include history for a category so people understand – for instance with religion you will need to give some historical context for why they practice the certain religion or why people might be persecuted (but it should be minimal). But I do not want an overall history of the country. Only give history when it is relevant to the category you are discussing.

The Nation –government, educational systems, geography/climate, population, dominant/microcultures, economy, transportation, language, religion, holidays (religious and political).

For the second part of your paper, you will address ‘people’. You will select 7 categories from this section to develop in your paper.

The People - family, dating, courtship and marriage, aging, gender roles, socio-economic levels, work and recreation, diet/food customs/eating, stereotypes or prejudices held, nonverbal communication (gestures, greetings, personal space, personal appearance, touch, etc.), attitudes and values.

For the third part of your paper, take what you have learned about this culture and determine how the culture would be classified using the cultural contrasts discussed in class and in your text AND explain why you are assigning that classification. You may find that this information isn’t written anywhere and you will have to make your own determination. You can (and should) use your book as a starting point but include additional evidence and explanation as to why you would place the culture in a given category.I will be placing heavy importance on evidence you present that goes beyond the text. You should discuss each of the following cultural contrasts. Please consult the example papers I have provided which will demonstrate what I am looking for especially in this section. I want development and explanation here! You will probably not find this listed out in your research, so you will have to use what you’ve learned and apply it to make your analysis/judgments. You can use the textbook as a starting point, which provides where the countries rank on these various scales (for some).

- Is the culture individualistic or collectivistic?

- Is the culture masculine or feminine?

- Is the culture high uncertainty avoidance or low uncertainty avoidance?

- Is the culture large power distance or small power distance in nature?

- Is the culture high context or low context?

- Is the culture monochromic or polychronic?

- Is the culture past– present – or future oriented?

ALSO for the third part of your paper, provide us with some random facts about your culture.  Give 8-10 random and interesting facts.  Make sure you provide sources!! (They should be from a variety of places not just 1 website).

**Fifteen sources are required as the MINIMUM – you are more than welcome to include additional resources (MLA or APA documentation style). Include a bibliography of your primary sources as the last page of your document. You MUST have parenthetical citations. This means, when you use a source (that is not your own original thought), you must show where you got it. So you must at the end of the sentence cite the author and year and page number (if applicable), like: (Easley, 2001, pg. 2). You should have lots of parenthetical citations as much of this paper is going to be based on research and not your own thoughts. I want your information to be SCHOLARLY and not all random internet websites. Your sources WILL BE GRADED ON QUALITY. You SHOULD NOT have all internet sources!! You should use books, magazines, journals, and newspapers as well.  Wikipedia is NOT an acceptable academic resource.  You should also only rely upon a maximum of 3 encyclopedia type resources!

*There is no minimum or maximum page requirement for this project – you will be graded on the development of the subject requirements and categories.

*You should submit a rough draft of an outline that shows that you have thought about and researched your culture.

*Outline #1 should include the required categories (you pick the categories, just must meet the number specified in the assignment) for the ‘NATION’ section of the paper. Please consult the Project paper instructions for more details.

**You are also required to provide a bibliography of at LEAST 5 sources in MLA or APA format (this should be the last page of the outline). Please consult the project paper instructions for guidelines and rules for sources.

**You may use bullets if you want – that is fine too. However, they must be complete sentences and should be structured and organized.

Other things:

- You must have parenthetical citations. This means, when you use a source (that is not your own original thought), you must show where you got it. So you must at the end of the sentence cite the author and year and page number (if applicable), like: (Easley, 2001, pg. 2).

-If you are using information WORD-FOR-WORD this is a direct quotation and should include quotations marks “ “ to indicate this.  If you are paraphrasing, this means you are putting the information into your own words and it differs from the original wording of your resource.  You still put a parenthetical citation for paraphrasing.

-Your outline should demonstrate thorough research for this required section of the project.  It will be graded on depth and quality of research.  I DO NOT want you to simply copy and paste from the internet; you will receive very little points if you do this.