Assignment Paper

1. The individual and social Dimensions lesson 2
1 page double spaced

Choose a professional article from a peer-reviewed journal (not a magazine article) about the topic you are likely to write your research paper on. One way to find a suitable journal is to go to a university library near you or to use the Library Services Portal link via the World Wide Web. (For more information about how to use the library resources, see lesson 5.) Once you are at the library home page,

Click Find Articles, then click Find Articles by Subject.
Click on the name of a field you are interested in, such as Anthropology, Economics, or Family Science.
Click on a periodical index and search it for articles related to the topic. Once you have chosen an article, you can get a copy of it from the journal if it is in a local library. You may also be able to get a copy of your article online or through Interlibrary Loan.
Locate the scholarly journal in which it was originally published, not from a secondary source (e.g., a collection of reprinted articles). Read the article carefully to be sure you understand its contents, organization, style, and any tables or figures included in it. After you are confident that you understand the article, write brief answers to the following questions. Submit your analysis along with the link to the article you analyzed.

Grading
Your instructor will grade your analysis by determining whether you have given careful, complete, and persuasive answers to all of the questions. Your analysis should be word-processed rather than handwritten; it should be neat and easy to read. It is important to edit your analysis to make it comply with the rules of punctuation, usage, and mechanics that you are learning. Remember to attach a copy of the article you analyzed. This analysis is worth 50 points of the course grade.
PLEASE MAKE SURE TO NOT BE TOO GENERALIZED AND HIGHLIGHT the rhetorical and organizational strategies used by the author
Analysis Questions
Who wrote the article? What credentials does (do) the author(s) have? How do the credentials of the author(s) affect the persuasiveness of the article? (Note that the credentials are likely to be in small type at the bottom of the first page or at the end of the article. If the author’s credentials are not listed, try doing an online search to see if you can find out more about the author.)
What is the title of the article? Does it accurately describe the content of the article? Why or why not?
Does the article have an abstract (a summary of the entire article that follows the title and precedes the introduction)? If so, how well does it summarize the contents of the article? What do you notice about the style of the abstract?
What is included in the introduction of the article? Do you find in the introduction a statement of the main point, the thesis, the hypothesis, or the research question the article focuses on? (Note that a thesis is a claim the author argues for; a hypothesis is a prediction that the author tests using statistics.) Is the main point easy to find? Does it fit with the rest of the article?
What kind of research methods (e.g., content analysis, interviews, surveys, experiments, observations, etc.) did the author(s) use to create the information they report in the article? Is a section of the article devoted to the description of the methods? How carefully do they describe the methods they used? Do the methods seem well-chosen to test the hypothesis or answer the research question? Why or why not?
What are the main findings of the article? Write a brief summary of the new insights this article contributes to its field. Where are the findings reported? Does the article use tables or graphs to present findings? If so, how do these contribute to the presentation of results? If not, would their addition be helpful? Why or why not?
What conclusions or inferences does the article draw from the findings? Are they justified? Notice the language the authors use to discuss the conclusions. How strongly do they assert these conclusions?
How convincing do you find the entire article? How much of the article relies on rational arguments for persuasion? How much depends on the credibility and reputation of the author(s)? Does any of it appeal to your emotions? What seems to be the most persuasive appeal?
What audience does the article seem to be aimed at? Why do you think so?
Write a complete bibliographic reference for the article at the end of your analysis.

2. Library and research lesson 5
This assignment has two parts. The first part is to ensure that you have learned how to successfully search for reliable and timely sources using all the available print and Internet tools at your disposal. You will learn about these by going through the library tutorial. The first part of the assignment will prepare you for the second part, which in turn will help you move forward in your preparations to write a research paper.

Part One: Download and complete the step-by-step research guide on your topic. You are expected to fill in a title, a topic, a term, an author, or a URL wherever there is a numbered blank line for this purpose. You will also create a plausible research question related to your research topic and type it in the space provided. Completing this step-by-step guide will help you locate sources for your research topic as you focus your issue, find relevant search terminology, and search for authoritative sources. The completed step-by-step guide on your research topic is worth 20 points of the course grade.

Here is the form: Step-By-Step Guide form. Complete it and save it according to the directions in the Syllabus.

Part Two: Prepare a bibliography of at least ten sources on your research paper topic. At least five of the sources should come from a search of BYU library sources that you have located via the Library Services Portal link. Two of the ten sources should come from a careful search of the World Wide Web using a search engine or subject directory, such as Google Scholar. Your instructor will grade your bibliography for the perceived quality of the references using criteria such as these: timely, current information; peer-reviewed information; scholarly journals, books, or Web sites; reputable authors; reputable publishers. You will also be graded for correctness of format (either APA or Turabian style).

Please indicate at the top of your bibliography which documentation style you are using. You should follow the guidelines in chapter 7 of the Style packet. Note that the bibliography should use hanging indentation. You may also use RefWorks to format your bibliography correctly, however, be aware that RefWorks often makes mistakes. You will need to review your finished bibliography for errors. Save the bibliography according to the directions in the Syllabus.
The guide is also downloaded

3 Book review lesson 6
3 pages double spaced
This was info she said on a classmates issues on their report
You start out with great info on the book.

“You do a good job introducing the book, telling what the main point of the book is, and summarizing some of the chapters. However, I didn’t read much of an analysis of the book itself. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the book itself? Is it well researched? Are the arguments presented in a logical manner? Does it rely too much on anecdotes and not enough on scientific evidence? Was the author appropriately neutral in presenting the arguments? Thinking through these types of questions will help you review the book and not just summarize the book.
“
To complete this lesson, you will submit a book review of about 3-4 pages, double-spaced. This assignment will probably require more time than some of the other assignments in the course because you will need to take time to read a book before you write the paper. Here are the dimensions of your rhetorical situation:

Purpose: There are two purposes for this assignment: (1) to have you practice writing in a genre that is common in academic and professional worlds; and (2) to help you solidify your choice of a topic for your research paper and make some major progress in finding material to use in that paper.

Audience: Your instructor.

Pre-writing: You will complete this task most efficiently by following these steps.

Choose a recent book that is related to the topic you will write your research paper on.
Email your instructor (shelly.turley@byu.edu) with the facts of publication of this book and a brief statement of why you want to review it.
After receiving clearance from the instructor, read the book, making notes as you go about the purpose, audience, methods, strengths, weaknesses, and other interesting features of the book.
Make a list or outline of the points you want to make in your review; think about the best order to make your points; then begin a draft.
Organization: In many ways, the organization of your draft is up to you. The reviews in the text offer models for you to follow. You may also find reviews in journals and model your review after one that you find effectively organized. There are some standard parts, however, and the following list of questions may help you in making sure you have covered all the bases:

Have you given the publication facts about the book (i.e., the title, author, place of publication, publisher, year, number of pages) at the beginning of the review?
Do you objectively describe the book’s purpose, scope, and contents?
At the beginning of the review, do you state or hint at your overall evaluation of the book?
Overall, is your review positive or negative? Do you give reasons, examples, or other evidence to support your evaluation of the book? Do the proportions of the review devoted to criticism or praise support your overall evaluation (i.e., if your review is mostly favorable, do you give more space to favorable comments than to negative ones)?
If you cite material from other books to support your review, do you include the material effectively? And do you provide a bibliography of the works you cited at the end of your review?
Do you control your tone so that you come across to the reader as a fair judge, someone who has carefully weighed the merits of the book and justified your evaluation of it?
Revision and Editing: You could ask a trusted friend, spouse, parent, or tutor to use the above six questions to help you see where you could strengthen your review. After writing a second draft, edit carefully to eliminate stylistic errors and to make your review as concise as possible.

Grading: Your review will be graded according to its completeness in covering the standard elements in a review; its persuasiveness in supporting your overall judgment of the book; and its conciseness and correctness of style-including documentation style if you cite other works.

4 Research prospectus lesson 7
4 pages double spaced
In your prospectus you will do the following:

state the questions your paper will answer or the claim you will argue for;
justify the worth of your project;
explain how you will carry it out;
outline what the eventual paper will include;
identify the resources you will use to accomplish the task by including a review of literature and a preliminary bibliography.
Here are the dimensions of your rhetorical situation:

Purpose: To persuade your readers that (1) you have selected and narrowed a topic worthy of investigation; (2) you have a plan for carrying out the research and organizing the findings in a paper; and (3) library resources and other data are available to help you accomplish your goal.

Audience: Your instructor.

Pre-writing:

Read pp. 163-178, which describe prospectuses and give an example of a student’s English 315 prospectus.
Go to the best library you can find in your area and locate books, periodicals, or other documents that will help you answer your research questions.
Scan the works to determine what they can contribute to your eventual paper. Read mainly to get a sense of the scope of information on your topic, but begin taking notes that you may want to include in your paper.
Make a record of the works you will want to use, getting complete bibliographic information (author, title, facts of publication).
Complete any other data-collection, e.g., interviews, surveys, observations, or inspections of primary documents.
Organization: Kemarie Campbell’s prospectus in chapter 10 illustrates one possible way to organize your paper. Variations on this format are permissible, but in any case your proposal should have the following:

a title
an introduction that provides a context for the question you plan to research, a rationale for doing the research, and the question or thesis you propose to address (about one page)
a plan of work, including an outline of the proposed paper; a time line for completing your work; and, if applicable, a description of how primary data will be used in the paper (about one page). (See lessons 8-13 for more on how to gather primary data.)
a review of literature you have located on your topic (about two pages)
a list of at least ten preliminary references (bibliography) written in the style appropriate for your discipline
Note: The total length of your prospectus should be at least 4 double-spaced pages, plus one or more pages of references.

Revision and Editing: After completing a first draft, show it to someone whose judgment you trust: a parent, spouse, teacher, tutor, or friend. Using their suggestions judiciously, revise and edit your prospectus before submitting it for grading.
5. Writing the research paper 9
10 pages
This assignment requires you to demonstrate that you can synthesize the information and points of view of a number of different authors, subordinating their voices and arguments to your own, using them to support your unique thesis in a coherent, well-organized, stylistically effective paper of 10-12 pages (more if you desire). It also requires you to demonstrate that you understand and can use the conventions of academic research writing: attributing, quoting, paraphrasing, summarizing, and documenting; and using ellipses, brackets, outlines, headings, tables, figures, captions, and appendices where appropriate.

Audience: Primarily, the instructor, but you may have other readers in mind as well.

Pre-writing: Follow these steps (some of which you have already taken to write your prospectus):

Use the online catalog, computer databases, indexes, search engines, etc., to locate authoritative sources that help you answer your research question(s).
Write complete bibliographic entries for these sources.
Read your sources purposefully, taking notes that may eventually become substance for your paper. Summarize and paraphrase more than quote in your note taking.
Organize your information in such a way that it will support your original thesis, and show this organization in a working outline that can guide further note taking.
When you think you have enough information to support your thesis, begin writing a rough draft.
Refer to a source all borrowed ideas and words and document them according to current conventions in your major field.
If your rough draft has gaps, weak points, too diffuse a focus, or other problems, search further for more information or make decisions about eliminating some points or emphasizing others.
Organization: The final draft of the paper should have these parts:

a title page;
a table of contents preceding the text (this is derived from your outline) and a list of tables and figures, if needed;
an abstract of your paper;
headings that correspond to the divisions of the thesis as found in the table of contents;
a well-developed introduction that gives a context for the research questions, and states the thesis (which, suggests the organization of the paper by listing all major headings);
a well-developed and coherent middle in which assertions are carefully supported with evidence drawn from sources or with sound reasoning, and in which all borrowed information is documented;
an effective conclusion that does more than sum up the information (though it may also do that)-one that emphatically re-states your position and shows the implications of what you have learned from your research;
a list of references or a selected bibliography or a works cited page showing the sources you have used, in alphabetical order and using the correct format for the style guide you are following. You must use a minimum of 10 scholarly sources.
in addition, your paper may have these other parts: appendices, tables, figures, etc.
Follow the research paper in the text for a model of a clearly focused, well-organized, coherent, and clearly written paper.

Style: Your paper should have a rather formal tone (which doesn’t preclude using “I” sometimes). Sentences should be clear and graceful; punctuation, spelling, and grammar should conform to current conventions of edited American English.

Length: The text proper (excluding front matter, references list, and any appendices) should be 10-12 typewritten, double-spaced pages. Pages should be numbered with Arabic numerals.

Other Requirements: Include a brief note at the top of the paper’s title page that indicates which documentation style you used in your paper. If you fail to include this note, the paper will automatically be graded with the assumption that you used APA style.

Submission. Submit your final drafts electronically. Follow the instructions in the Syllabus for formatting and submitting your work.