Slides for Day 7 in EWRT 2, Spr 18

1. CREM EWRT 2
Day 7
Research Topics, Library Skills

2. Wednesday, May 2: The Disaster of Housing
 On Wednesday, for the first part of
EWRT class, we will attend a teach-in
about housing issues.
 Conference Room B in the Campus
Center.
 We will meet there. I will already be
in that room.
 Your attendance is required—just as
if it were regular EWRT class.
 We will return to our classroom and
take the NYT quiz at 11:30 AM.
 EXTRA CREDIT OPPORTUNITY:
 If you arrive at Conference Room B
for the Housing Teach-In at 10:40 AM
(instead of 11 AM), I will give you 10
discussion points.
 That offer expires at 10:45 AM.

3. Business / Participation
 There are still a number of you
who need to clear your Integrated
Project question with me. That
should happen in the next three
days.
 If I approved your question, still
need to get Amanda’s approval.
 Agenda for today:
 The damage of fake news
 Research Project topic brainstorm
 Library Skills
 Participation for today:
 1 point for something you say in
our full discussion.
 2 points for participating in the
research topic brainstorm activity.

4. What damage does fake news cause?
 Fake videos
 Did you look at the deepfakes?
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/0
3/04/technology/fake-videos-
deepfakes.html
 Why is video more convincing than
articles? (Drew)
 When/how will fake videos start to
have a noticeable effect on public
life? (Eric)
 Why are people shrugging at the
truth? (Dean)
 Is “fake news” actually subjective?
How? What does this mean?
 Counterknowledge
 Why was there so much
counterknowledge about 9/11?
What are some current examples?
(Daniel F.)
 Monique: mass shootings.
 Why do people want to believe
conspiracy theories? (Seona)

5. A Tale of Two Projects
CREM Integrated Project
 Come up with question to ask
about people’s beliefs or opinions.
 Needs to be approved by both
Brian and Amanda.
 Collect data.
 Do statistical analyses.
 Write up results.
 Grade by Amanda (the stats) and
Brian (the write-up).
 Worth 15% of your grade in BOTH
Math and EWRT.
EWRT Research Paper
 Come up with topic that you want to
do in-depth scholarly research on.
 Do significant library research that
includes a book and scholarly journal
articles.
 NO data collection. Only needs to be
approved by Brian. Does NOT need to
relate to the CREM Integrated
Project (though it could).
 Will involve multiple assignments:
Journal 4, Journal 5, Paper 3, and
Paper 4 (P4 is the final research
paper).
 Together, these assignments are
worth 36% of your final grade in
EWRT.
You will be working on both of these projects simultaneously and will need to be able to “juggle” them.

6. “What do I want to know?”
 1. Brainstorm a list of thing that
you know something about and
that you might even consider
yourself an authority on.
 Make the list as long as possible
and try to be as specific as
possible.

7. “What do I want to know?”
 1. Brainstorm a list of thing that
you know something about and
that you might even consider
yourself an authority on.
 Make the list as long as possible
and try to be as specific as
possible.
 2. Brainstorm a list of things you’d
like to learn more about. Be as
specific as possible.
 Don’t worry if something appears
on both lists.

8. “What do I want to know?”
 1. Brainstorm a list of thing that
you know something about and
that you might even consider
yourself an authority on.
 Make the list as long as possible
and try to be as specific as
possible.
 2. Brainstorm a list of things you’d
like to learn more about. Be as
specific as possible.
 Don’t worry if something appears
on both lists.
 3. Look at both lists. Circle ONE
thing from either list that you want
to take a closer look at.
 Now, brainstorm a list of questions
about that thing that you’d love to
learn the answers to.

9. “What do I want to know?”
 1. Brainstorm a list of thing that
you know something about and
that you might even consider
yourself an authority on.
 Make the list as long as possible
and try to be as specific as
possible.
 2. Brainstorm a list of things you’d
like to learn more about. Be as
specific as possible.
 Don’t worry if something appears
on both lists.
 3. Look at both lists. Circle ONE
thing from either list that you want
to take a closer look at.
 Now, brainstorm a list of questions
about that thing that you’d love to
learn the answers to.
 Match up with a partner (on the
other side of the room) and share
your lists.
 Suggest ONE additional question
about your partner’s topic that
you’d like to know the answer to.

10. Choosing a topic for your
EWRT Research Paper
 Your topic should be something that you are
interested in.
 However, it should also be something that
can be approached in a scholarly way.
 How can you tell if a topic is scholarly?
 It requires some specialized knowledge in
order to have an informed opinion about it.
 Lots of researchers (scientists, college
professors) have written about it.
 There are many ways that researchers
disagree about the topic.
 GOOD topic examples: student debt, climate
change, housing, police violence, prison
privatization, food insecurity, online privacy,
international trade, etc.
 BAD examples: Cardi B, cars, pizza.
 Your topic should not be a
question that can be answered
with a quick Google search.
 BAD Example: “What is the
average rent in Cupertino?”
 GOOD Example: “What factors
have caused Cupertino housing
costs to increase?”
 HOWEVER, you may indeed answer
some of these basic Google
questions as part of your research
on your topic.

11. Library Skills I:
Newspaper and Magazines
(HW 4 and 5)

12. HW for Wednesday
 There is reading and Discussion 7
about the reading (due the night
before class).
 HW 5 is due on Wednesday.
 We will meet at Conference Rm B
in the Campus Center.
 If you arrive at 10:40 AM, you
receive 10 discussion points.
 If you arrive after 10:45 AM but by
11 AM, you are not late for class.
 If you arrive after 11 AM, you are
late for class.
 We will have the New York Times
quiz at 11:30 AM.
Participation for today:
1 point for something you said in our full discussion.
2 points for participating in the research topic
brainstorm activity.
Total possible: 3