Research Project help
your paper; an issue is any claim or statement that is called into question. A significant
issue is one that might be considered controversial; that is, reasonable arguments may be
advanced for opposing or alternative positions on this issue. While you will not be
presenting an argument for one position or another, it is helpful to keep this in mind while
deciding on and researching your question.
Research Project help
Questions that lend themselves to simple explanatory or “how to” answers (for example,
“What is Twitter?” or “How can people protect their computers from hackers?”) will not
work for this assignment. Neither will questions that have obvious or commonly known
answers. Think about this way: there should be a worthwhile purpose for taking the time
and effort to research and write about.
Questions that will work for this assignment appear near the end of this document. Choose one of these for your Research Project. Don’t worry if a classmate selects the same question. Each of you will inevitably turn up different kinds of sources and produce very different final projects.
If none of the questions interest you…
There should be at least one question on the list that interests you, or that you can modify
so that the question interests you. But if you’d like, you may propose a question not
included on the list. Make sure the question you are proposing addresses an ethical or
social issue related to information technology. Also make sure it is not overly broad. Ask
yourself: * Could an entire book potentially be written on this question? If so, the question is too
broad for a short research paper.
* Does the question contain multiple components? If so, select one component to focus on
in your paper. (Hint: If your question includes a comma, it is probably too broad.)
As you develop the project, keep in mind that our focus in ILR 260 is inquiry, not argumentation. Argumentation is a worthy area of study and is a focus of other courses you may take at the university. In your ILR 260 research project, however, your primary goal is to explore your research question with depth and sophistication rather than to persuade an audience of a particular viewpoint. While you will need to propose some sort of answer to your question in the final version of your project, that answer may be tentative. It may, for example, point in the direction of further questions and further research. It may identify contradictions in your research that are at this time irresolvable. Again, in writing this paper, focus on exploring, interpreting, and synthesizing ideas rather than on “defending” a thesis.
Keep in mind, too, that you will carry out your research using published information and opinions. You should not try to do primary research of your own, such as surveys or experiments. This kind of research is specialized, varies from one discipline to the next, and is beyond the scope of ILR260.As you progress through each stage of the project, you might find it helpful to keep in mind that the skills you are practicing have applications well beyond this course, and also beyond the academy. Whether you are writing a college paper or a workplace report, or just trying explain something to another person, you will want to be able to connect ideas in logical ways, to illustrate those ideas with clear explanations and examples, and to explain the nature of any sources you’ve consulted.
EXAMPLE: For an example of a completed ILR260 Final Research Project written by a past ILR260student (and shared with the student’s permission), seehttps://tinyurl.com/y7ek5zjcCOMPONENTS OF THE RESEARCH PROJECT1. Project Introduction (due end of Week 1)2. Library Research Report (due end of Week 2)3. Draft of Research Project (due end of Week 3)4. Final draft of Research Project (due last day of class) FINAL DRAFT SPECIFICATIONSLENGTH900-1200 words (not including citation page)
FORMAT
Please use APA citation style. (If you are majoring in English, you may use MLA instead.)Your final project will not include an abstract (but if you’d like an abstract-writing help resource for the future, here is one you might want to check out: How to write a research abstract)
AUDIENCE
Address your paper to a general audience. Your ILR260 classmates have a wide range of backgrounds and academic interests; assume this kind of broad readership when you write your paper. Assume that your readers are not specialists in your topic area. Ideas must be fully explained and made accessible to a general readership.
SOURCES
Your research should emphasize peer-reviewed, scholarly journal articles from the NU library’s databases. (Be assured that the database search skills you develop will have applications beyond NU.) Reference as many sources as needed in order to substantively
MY QUESTION: How does online infidelity affect relationships?
your paper; an issue is any claim or statement that is called into question. A significant
issue is one that might be considered controversial; that is, reasonable arguments may be
advanced for opposing or alternative positions on this issue. While you will not be
presenting an argument for one position or another, it is helpful to keep this in mind while
deciding on and researching your question.
Questions that lend themselves to simple explanatory or “how to” answers (for example,
“What is Twitter?” or “How can people protect their computers from hackers?”) will not
work for this assignment. Neither will questions that have obvious or commonly known
answers. Think about this way: there should be a worthwhile purpose for taking the time
and effort to research and write about.
Questions that will work for this assignment appear near the end of this document. Choose one of these for your Research Project. Don’t worry if a classmate selects the same question. Each of you will inevitably turn up different kinds of sources and produce very different final projects.
If none of the questions interest you…
There should be at least one question on the list that interests you, or that you can modify
so that the question interests you. But if you’d like, you may propose a question not
included on the list. Make sure the question you are proposing addresses an ethical or
social issue related to information technology. Also make sure it is not overly broad. Ask
yourself: * Could an entire book potentially be written on this question? If so, the question is too
broad for a short research paper.
* Does the question contain multiple components? If so, select one component to focus on
in your paper. (Hint: If your question includes a comma, it is probably too broad.)
As you develop the project, keep in mind that our focus in ILR 260 is inquiry, not argumentation. Argumentation is a worthy area of study and is a focus of other courses you may take at the university. In your ILR 260 research project, however, your primary goal is to explore your research question with depth and sophistication rather than to persuade an audience of a particular viewpoint. While you will need to propose some sort of answer to your question in the final version of your project, that answer may be tentative. It may, for example, point in the direction of further questions and further research. It may identify contradictions in your research that are at this time irresolvable. Again, in writing this paper, focus on exploring, interpreting, and synthesizing ideas rather than on “defending” a thesis.
Keep in mind, too, that you will carry out your research using published information and opinions. You should not try to do primary research of your own, such as surveys or experiments. This kind of research is specialized, varies from one discipline to the next, and is beyond the scope of ILR260.As you progress through each stage of the project, you might find it helpful to keep in mind that the skills you are practicing have applications well beyond this course, and also beyond the academy. Whether you are writing a college paper or a workplace report, or just trying explain something to another person, you will want to be able to connect ideas in logical ways, to illustrate those ideas with clear explanations and examples, and to explain the nature of any sources you’ve consulted.
EXAMPLE: For an example of a completed ILR260 Final Research Project written by a past ILR260student (and shared with the student’s permission), seehttps://tinyurl.com/y7ek5zjcCOMPONENTS OF THE RESEARCH PROJECT1. Project Introduction (due end of Week 1)2. Library Research Report (due end of Week 2)3. Draft of Research Project (due end of Week 3)4. Final draft of Research Project (due last day of class) FINAL DRAFT SPECIFICATIONSLENGTH900-1200 words (not including citation page)
FORMAT
Please use APA citation style. (If you are majoring in English, you may use MLA instead.)Your final project will not include an abstract (but if you’d like an abstract-writing help resource for the future, here is one you might want to check out: How to write a research abstract)
AUDIENCE
Address your paper to a general audience. Your ILR260 classmates have a wide range of backgrounds and academic interests; assume this kind of broad readership when you write your paper. Assume that your readers are not specialists in your topic area. Ideas must be fully explained and made accessible to a general readership.
SOURCES
Your research should emphasize peer-reviewed, scholarly journal articles from the NU library’s databases. (Be assured that the database search skills you develop will have applications beyond NU.) Reference as many sources as needed in order to substantively
MY QUESTION: How does online infidelity affect relationships?
GRADING RUBRIC