Slides for Day 14 in EWRT 2, Spr 18

1. CREM EWRT 2
Day 14
FINDING A RESEARCH QUESTION

2. NYT Evening Briefing Quiz
New experimental format! New!
Write your own quiz.
◦ Three questions.
◦ Relatively short answer.
◦ Three important stories from the NYT briefings
this week.
◦ Write each question and then write what you
would consider the correct answer(s).
I will grade these based on accuracy and
relevance.

3. Business / Participation
These are people who I need to talk to today
(for various reasons):
Esquivel
Esmeralda
Mayela
Seona
As a group:
Ana, Berna, Chris, Jasmin, Tito
Paper 3, Part 1 due on Friday, 9 AM, on Canvas.
(P3, Part 2 due NEXT Friday on Canvas.)
Participation today:
1 point for saying something in class.
2 points for participating in the draft peer review

4. Field Trip: Tech Museum of Innovation
Wednesday, June 13, 10 AM-12 noon.
No Math or EWRT that day.
Meet AT the museum.
◦ 201 S Market St, San Jose, CA 95113
CREM is paying your admission!
But we need a head count and
permission slips today.
◦ Please fill out a permission slip if you
are 85% or more sure that you will attend.
INFO for permission slip:
◦ Instructor: Brian Malone
◦ Campus: De Anza
◦ Date and activity: Visit to SJ Tech Museum,
June 13, 2018
I will sign and collect these during peer review.

5. Research Paper
Pretty much everything we do from here on out will
be part of the Research Paper for this class. This
includes:
◦ HW #7
◦ Paper 3, Parts 1 and 2
◦ Journal 5
◦ Paper 4
This is at least a third of your final grade. It will make
or break the course for you.
You have 3.5 weeks to complete this paper, which
seems like a long time (but it’s not).
You’ve already started, so that’s good.
But after today, your topic is fixed and the
(metaphorical) train is leaving the station. You either
stay on this train (and keep up with the work) or you
risk failing the class.

6. Is this a personal essay?
First things first: there is NOTHING PERSONAL
about this essay
I cannot say this more clearly: this is in no way
a personal essay.
You may be interested in this topic because of
something personal (and that’s fine!), but
◦ You will not tell your reader this.
◦ You will not write about your own experience or
anyone’s experience that you know.
You will be adopting your most scholarly tone.

7. Coming up with a QUESTION
So your research paper needs to be motivated
by a question.
Pretty much all of you have a topic, but now
you need to start focusing, narrowing, and
arriving at a question.
Your research question should be:
◦ FOCUSED.
◦ NOT easily answerable by a quick Google search
or by offering 1-2 facts.
BAD (not good) research questions:
◦ What effects does race have in our society?
◦ How do antidepressants work?
◦ How much warmer has the earth’s atmosphere
gotten in the last 25 years?
◦ What is tuberculosis?
◦ How are men different from women?
◦ How has technology changed lives?
◦ How has college tuition increased?
Why are these bad?

8. Changing BAD to BETTER
BAD
What effects does race have in our society?
How do antidepressants work?
How much warmer has the earth’s
atmosphere gotten in the last 25 years?
What is tuberculosis?
How are men different from women?
How has technology changed lives?
How has college tuition increased?
BETTER
How does racism affect convictions and sentencing in the criminal justice
system?
What are the long term effects of antidepressants?
How might technological solutions decrease the rate of atmospheric
warming?
How could tuberculosis be eradicated globally?
How do beliefs about gender roles and emotional expression damage
relationships?
How has smartphone technology made dating less satisfying?
How have political factors caused college tuition to increase?

9. Not a REPORT
This essay is not just about neutrally reporting
results or ideas that other people have had.
Rather, part of your job in this paper is to
ANALYZE and EVALUATE what other sources
say in order to produce your own “TAKE” or
PERSPECTIVE or POSITION on a topic.
◦ This might mean that your paper will intervene
in a controversy around a topic.
◦ Or you might propose a solution to a long-
standing problem.
◦ Or you might provide your informed worldview
on a topic.
◦ Or tentatively answer an open question.
Intervene
◦ The death penalty is not justifiable because…
Propose a solution
◦ The best way to solve the Bay Area housing
shortage is to…
Provide an informed worldview
◦ Recent fears about Ebola are exaggerated
because…
Answer an open question
◦ There is a likely to be a real danger of serious
long-term health risks associated with vaping…
In all of these examples, there is a “bit of you”—
meaning that there is an opinion that is yours (but
that is backed up by lots of research and sources).

10. How to get to an INTERESTING QUESTION:
Sample topics (some from this class!)
Example: researching a specific major or occupation.
Why might this not lead to a good question?
Not great: “What kinds of jobs can you get with an English
major?”
Better: “Why might English majors be better prepared for the
corporate world than Business majors?
Not great: “What do you learn in culinary school?”
Better: “If you want to be a chef, should you attend culinary
school or should you learn by working? Why?”
Not great: “What do child psychologists do?”
Better: “Why should public schools increase student access to
child psychological resources?”

11. How to get to an INTERESTING QUESTION:
Sample topics (some from this class!)
Example: a topic that is much too broad. How can you focus it?
Not great: “Why is libertarianism wrong?”
Better: “How do libertarian approaches to health care lead to worse
health for almost everyone?”
Not great: “How do we solve poverty?”
Better: “How can we equalize children’s access to educational
resources?”
Not great: “What might space exploration look like in the future?”
Better: “Should colonizing Mars be a top global priority? Why?”

12. How to get to an INTERESTING QUESTION:
Example: moving from a question that a textbook could easily answer for you (a
settled question) to an open question.
Not great: “How do children’s brains develop?”
Better: “What educational resources can increase brain development and how can
we implement them?
Not great: “How does alcohol affect the body?”
Better: “How can binge-drinking be discouraged effectively?”
Better: “How can we increase access to alcohol treatment?”
Not great: “Is there a stigma around mental illness?”
Better: “How can the stigma around mental illness be reduced?”
Not great: “How many people in the US speak more than one language?”
Better: “How can being multilingual make people better citizens?”
Not great: “How much are sea levels likely to rise by 2050?”
Better: “How should coastal cities be adjusting their development plans to account
for rising sea levels?”

13. But what if I’m scared of commitment?
Your question probably may change as you do
more research (even though your topic won’t
change).
It may get more specific:
◦ Early question: “How can cities reduce
homelessness?”
◦ Later question: “Why is free public housing a
better intervention than homeless shelters?”
Your focus or interest may change:
◦ Early question: “Why has college tuition
increased so much faster than inflation?”
◦ Later question: ”Is a college education still worth
it?”

14. And what if I don’t know the answer?
That’s fine! You don’t need to know the answer to
your question yet.
However, you may have a sense of what kinds of
answers are possible or likely.
Example: “How do video games affect performance
in school?”
Possible answers might include:
◦ Take time away from homework.
◦ Affect brain development and distractibility
◦ Improve problem-solving skills
◦ Increase familiarity with technology
These all might be true or not. And you may decide
some are more important than others. But that’s
why you have to do the research.

15. HW #7: Your question
DUE ON CANVAS BY MONDAY MORNING.

16. Paper 3, Part 1 Peer Review
Groups of 3-4. Read the drafts of at least 2 other people.
The annotation for the the source should include 3
paragraphs:
◦ A detailed summary of what that article says. No quotes.
◦ An evaluation of that article. Does the source and author(s)
seem credible? What is this article trying to do? Does it
succeed? Do you agree with what it is saying? Does it seem
biased in some way? What does it leave out?
◦ A reflection of how it may be useful for your own research
project. What about this article will help you to write your
final research paper? What information or ideas will be
especially helpful? How might it relate to what you want to
say in Paper 4?
Your feedback to the author: does the annotation do ALL
of these things? Does it answer ALL of these questions? If
not, what still needs to be addressed?
Help with grammar and style. Be constructive.
Remember: I need to see
Esquivel
Esmeralda
Mayela
Seona
As a group:
Ana, Berna, Chris, Jasmin, Tito
I also need to sign your permission slip.

17. Homework
Paper 3, Part 1 due on Canvas, Friday, 9 AM.
Reading for Monday: three rhetorical appeals.
◦ 1. http://pathosethoslogos.com/
◦ 2. http://pathosethoslogos.com/examples
Discussion Post 14 (question due by midnight
on Sunday and response due by 9:30 AM on
Monday).
HW #7 due on Canvas, Monday, 11 AM.
Keep working on Paper 3, Part 2 (you have a
lot of articles to annotate…)