Guidelines for Research Project - Week 2

Changing China, Spring 2009
Guidelines for Research Project - Week 2

NOTE: These instructions are only for those students NOT going to China this quarter.

For those you enrolled in the Chinese language workshop this quarter, you only need to do one (1) research project.

This research project may be a continuation of your research in previous quarters, or an entirely new project related to China (modern or not).

The research project may either be submitted as a research paper or as a Powerpoint presentation, as you prefer.

You must submit your written research paper or presentation in Week 10 (upload it using the "Main Research Project" link), and present it in class during Week 10.

For those of you *not* taking the Chinese language workshop this quarter, you are expected to prepare two (2) research projects this quarter.

The first research project should cover a new research topic focusing on some aspect of modern China.
The first research project must be submitted as a research paper in Week 9, and uploaded to our course website using the "Additional Research Project" link.

The second research project may be a continuation of your project in previous quarters, or an entirely new project related to China (modern or not).
The second project may either be submitted as a research paper or a Powerpoint presentation, as you prefer, but it must be uploaded using the "Main Research Project" in Week 10.
You should only plan on presenting your second project to class. Time does not allow for presentation of your second research project (unless we make time to do so in Week 9).

Research Paper Overview (for each research project)
This quarter, your research project(s) will be developed as a series of exercises leading to the final completion of your research paper(s) to be submitted in weeks 9 and/or 10.  
Each research paper should be 10-12 pages long, with formal citations, documentation and bibliography (using APA or MLA style). As noted above, your research topic may be a continuation of your paper last quarter, or an entirely new topic.
For new students, if you have never attended a library research workshop before, note the special section about researching topics on China. To find the link, click through the "Assignment Submissions" link on the left side of our academic program webpage. You will find the link on the left hand side of the "elms" (or "Moodle") webpage there. Following the guidelines in the handouts step by step, you should be able to catch up with rest of the program.  If you do run into trouble, talk with David. Also, consider meeting with a research librarian on your own time early in the quarter.

The research project has several components that should be submitted over the course of the quarter:
1.    First Research Proposal-due Thursday, April 9, 11:50pm, Week 3

2.    Draft Bibliography (or Book Review Thesis), due Thursday, April 30, Week 5
3.    Research Project First Draft (4-7 pages)-due Thursday, May 14, 11:50pm, Week 7
4.    Additional Research Project (10-15 pages) - Only for those submitting two research projects this quarter. Please post using the link "Additional Research Project"; due Thursday, May 30, 11:50pm, Week 9
5.    Main Research Project (10-15 pages) If submitting a research paper, upload using the link "Final Draft of Paper - Main Research Project." If submitting a Powerpoint slide presentation, upload using the link "Powerpoint Presentation - Main Research Project". Due Thursday, June 4, 11:50pm, Week 10. See top of this document for detailed instructions)

All of the above should be submitted to David via the elms or Moodle webpage.

Your first submission should contain the following sections:
1. Your Paper Title,
2. The Abstract of your paper,
3. An Outline of the paper, and
4. Bibliography of 5-10 references (for a new research topic; expand to 10-15 for a research topic you are expanding upon from a previous quarter).

1. Title
Your title should reflect both your topic and your take on it.  Because of this dual function, research titles frequently are hyphenated.  The part before the hyphen is your general topic.  The part after the hyphen is your "angle": your mode of organization or your central contribution.  Some examples used in previous instances of this program include:

"Chinese Opera in Seattle in the 1990s: the influence of the microphone on traditional vocal styles"

"Images of Nature in Early Chinese Poetry: Seeing the Moon through Tao Qian's Eyes"

"Women in Modern Dance in China during 1960s: Working Women and Heroic Maidens."

2. Abstract
An abstract, no more than 250 words, is the summary of the paper's main ideas and research methods.  It is similar to the topic paragraph we asked you to write earlier this year, but it needs to be more comprehensive and hence more condensed in form.  An abstract serves many functions for a scholar.  It is required for any publication/grant/conference paper proposal and it is usually the first indication of the paper's theme and content in a journal or electronic database.  It poses the theme, thesis, or the main question clearly, with a succinct definition and explanation.  Following the thesis is a clear mapping of the author/researcher's research methods and approaches to the proposed theme and thesis, supported by selective evidence and ended with a statement which is either a conclusion or a discovery from the research.

3. Paper Outline
Before you write your paper, break your ideas down into a few general sections and place them in a coherent order of progression.  Starting your paper with this step, your paper will more likely have a progressive structure marked by stages of beginning, middle and end.  Give each section a clear heading to indicate the content of individual section as well as the logic of sequence and transition between them.  Then break each general section further down into smaller segments to indicate and clarify the components embedded within the sections.  An outline will have many big headings (I, II, III...); under each big heading there are many smaller headings (a, b, c...), and there could be even smaller headings (i, ii, iii...).  The more complicated and thorough the research, the more headings and subheadings the outline may present.  Each heading, big or small, needs to be clearly worded and defined, and to show connections between all of them.
Once you have created a clear and progressive outline like this, you may easily translate the individual ideas or segments into a series of paragraphs naturally flowing from one to the next.  You will have a better sense of structure in place for the composition of the paper.  You may even want to keep and incorporate the general headings into the body of your paper to help the reader follow your narrative.  Even if you decide to go with your creative flow later in the actual writing of the paper, this outline will help you take the initial step in systematically organizing your ideas and research material/data.
You may decide to include Diagrams, Chronologies, Maps, Tables, Graphs, and Charts in your paper.  Mark out in your outline where you will place these graphic illustrations.  It is strongly encouraged that you will use them to visually explicate your information and discovery; it also supports a great quantitative skill regularly exercised by good researchers.  To learn about why and how to use them in a paper, please go to fall quarter week 6 handout page on our main program website.

4. Bibliography
We would like you to present a bibliography of five-to-fifteen (5-15) entries (depending on whether this is a new research topic for you this quarter, or a continuation of a topic you investigated in a previous quarter) which will include reference books, specialized books, periodical articles (newspapers, magazines, scholarly journals), or websites you have located for your research and for your paper.  We would like to see that you continue to expand your information base and cited works.  So, even if you have created a rather extensive bibliography at the end of the last quarter, we would like you to further edit the existing list of references and continue to revise, expand and polish it, to make these sources really applicable and useful for you as a serious researcher.  The bibliography should be a good mix of different resources; various websites by themselves cannot be the sole or even major sources for your paper.  Preferably the websites you include are those of the government and educational institution only.  Please observe and exercise APA or MLA documentation style.
Again, there is a link to the Changing China library workshop on the side bar of our elms or Moodle website, prepared specifically by librarian Sarah Pedersen for our program, which can give you many good leads and tips on library resources available online and in our library.  Please take a serious look at it again.  It will help your find many excellent resources for your expanding bibliography.