Extended Inquiry Project The Identity of Others

UWRT 1102 MW
Spring 2016
There are 5 components to your EIP:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Proposal
Annotated Bibliography/Screencast
Multimodal Project
Final Essay
Reflection
Due Dates:
Proposal Draft due (in class workshop): Monday, February 1
Proposal Final due (on Moodle before class): Wednesday, February 10
Annotated Bib Final due (on Moodle before class): Monday, February 22
Final Essay Draft due (in class workshop): Wednesday, March 16
Final Essay due (hard copy in class): Wednesday, April 6
Multimodal Project due: Monday, April 4
Reflection Final due (on Moodle before class): Monday, April 18
* All documents posted to Moodle must be in .doc or .pdf format or will receive an
incomplete.
STEP 1: Choose a subject
First, choose an identity to investigate. You are looking for something that is commonly
misrepresented within our culture. There may be other identities to choose from, but youll need
to run them by me if they do not fall into one of these categories.

1. Race Studies
2. Queer Studies
3. Feminism
4. Disability Studies
5. War/Veteran Studies
Within these categories, you will base your project off of 3 separate genres:
1. Film

2. Literature (This extends to ALL writing [not just novels]. Anything that is written specifically for
your topic.)
3. Other (Art, Music, Advertising, etc.)
This semester-long project will consist of researching/synthesizing sources for your topic
(chosen by your group). You will each write your own final paper; however, you will share in the
work of your final project. The project will consist of a 10 minute genre presentation (the genre
can be that of a documentary, movie, or interactive lecture that shows your analysis/results
without summarizing your data. It must have visuals, everyone must speak, and it cannot be
PowerPoint or Prezi).
Your final paper will be your individual contribution to the group based on your
opinion/analysis and examples used for the topic. Each of you will have your own part to
investigate/research (determined together as a group). Although there may be some overlap in
topics/examples, no two papers should be similar.
Your project will be a singular grade for the group.
STEP 2 >> Proposal
Next youll write an investigative proposal. Here, youll talk about what you already know about
the subject youve chosen to explore and what you are looking to find out. There is not a
wrong question to ask per se, but you dont have a lot of time, so you want your questions to
count. Each question should expand upon your curiosity and move you toward a better
understanding of your topic as a whole. Some questions may be based on factual answers, but
others should have more open-ended answers.
Proposal parts:
1. What do you know about your subject already?
2. What interests you most about this subject? (Dont say anything. Think about how you can
approach this topic in a meaningful way.)
3. List the most important questions you want to find answers to.
4. Where do you think you will find answers you seek? Possibilities are:
-

Articles from academic journals or web sites, scholarly research or studies

Government documents for data/surveys, etc.

Blogs, op-ed pieces, popular literature, social media

Individuals who might be good subjects for interview

5. If the results of your initial research are so numerous you need to narrow your subject, what will
you narrow it to?
6. If your preliminary research turns up very little information, in what way will you broaden your
subject to open up more research findings?

Step 3 >> Research

We will read some articles in class regarding how we analyze and look at different sources and
who your understanding of those sources affects your overall approach to your paper and
project. This class is not just a spitting out of facts.
These are the main things that we need to be aware of/look at when researching out topics:
1. Rhetor: Who is speaking?
2. Audience: Whom are they speaking to?
3. Situation: What is the reason for this text?
4. Message: What is the message they are trying to get across?
Understanding these 4 components as you research will greatly affect what you decide to use in
your papers/projects as well as how you will use them.

Step 4 >> Annotated Bibliography

Create a Screencast of your five sources and upload it to Moodle as part of your
conversation on your project and your research.
I will obviously care about what type of sources you are using, but more so I care how you are
using them. You may be using some less academically credible sources such as blogs, or
social media posts, but these have their own value and merit if you are analyzing them correctly.
During your Screencast, I expect to see a discussion of your 5 sources (including a view of them
on your screen as you are discussing them), and I want to know the following:
1) How did you come across this source? (Ok, fine, you just Googled it, but why did you decide
to use it after you clicked on it?)
2) Go beyond an explanation of why you are using it. What I mean is: I dont want you to say,
Well, it has the material I need. What specifically about this source is important to your
research/analysis? Plenty of sources could give you just facts.
3) How do your sources connect to each other? Perhaps you started under databases on the
library website, and then saw there were a thousand more options under journals so you
clicked under that tab and found some more relevant information.
4) Are there are any hesitations/questions you have regarding your sources? Do you foresee
any problems in the context of what you are trying to do?

Think of this as a virtual presentation, where I am your audience. You will need to compose
what you are saying/when you are saying it and it must be clear and succinct. Rambling/being
unorganized will affect your grade. This is a more visual/audiological assignment. Keep in mind
how you can best get your message across in this format.
Step 5 >> Final Essay
Your final paper will be your individual contribution to your groups topic based on your
opinion/analysis. Each of you will have your own part to investigate/research (determined
together as a group). Although there may be some overlap in topics/examples, no two papers
should be similar. This will be where your voice/expertise shines through.
Requirements:

Page limit: However many pages you need to successfully get your point across (Dont
freak out, well talk about this.)
Works Cited page
MLA/APA/Chicago citation/formatting (use whichever you want, just keep it consistent)
Be research-focused You are expected to synthesize your findings (make sense of them)
Genre analysis: Discuss/analyze your topic within the multiple genres your group used (film,
literature, other). You may have only been assigned two genres, and thats fine. Just make sure
each analysis is particularly strong. This is where you show me your contribution to your groups
project.
The Bigger Conversation: Yes, you are doing this project in terms of a specific topic (Race,
Feminism, etc.), but I also want you to analyze how this project/topic influences societys
understanding within a larger context. Remember: these are groups/topics that are often
misunderstand/misrepresented. I do not want a political stance or op-ed piece where you
attempt to persuade OR dissuade me that these issues exist.
Questions You Should Attempt to Answer:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

What have you learned about your topic?

In what ways does its rhetoric affect your understanding of the topic?
What conclusions can you draw?
There are (hopefully) some positive representations as well. Do these change the way people
perceive this topic?
If you see a slow emergence towards the positive, why do you think that is?
What insights have you gathered from understanding this topic and the way it is portrayed
through various genres?
In what ways does each genre (separately and as a whole) affect the overall
(mis)representation of its topic?
What questions do you have for future conversations about this topic and about its literacy
representation as a whole?
What I will be looking for:

Is your essay interesting? Have you developed something that is original and oriented toward
an academic audience?
Does your essay attempt to understand your topic in a way that is more complex than simply a
regurgitation of facts and opinions?
Does your essay come out of a complicated thinking about literacy and genreis it clearly
informed by the conversations and readings from the class?
Does it move beyond the familiar research essay? Does it use your own voice and analytical
opinion? Does it use some of the vocabulary from our readings and discussions in class?
Step 6 >> Reflection
Here, I dont need to know so much what your decisions were, but rather, why you made the
decisions you did. You should at some point connect your reflections to ALL of your SLOs (listed
in the syllabus). You will be graded on how well you make those connections.
There is no page limit, but I expect it should be at least 3-5 pages if you are answering these
questions thoroughly.

Your idea: Using your Question Session as your starting point, and your essay as your end,
how did your idea about your subject change from beginning to end? What changed it? Why did
it change? Detail your progression through the development of your idea.

Your research: In your research, you were required to check five sources for information.
Describe the process of your search, including the type of evidence you found within each place
and its value. If certain places resulted in no useful evidence, why do you think so? If certain
places provided a lot, why do you think so?

The effect of your research on your direction: What surprised you in your research? Did you
find a lot of information about a certain area of your study that you didnt expect? Did you find
too little? Did your findings encourage you to narrow your search or broaden your search or
change the initial direction entirely?

The writing of your essay: Which parts of the Writing Process did you use while developing
your Final Essay? What writing tools did you turn to in order to help you achieve your desired
product?

Your life as a researcher: How has this inquiry project been different from/similar to other
research projects you have undertaken? What have you done for the first time?

Your life as a learner: Evaluate what you learned this semester and how you learned it. (I
expect you to tie this into your SLOs for the class).