RESEARCH PROJECT INSTRUCTIONS PLUS REFERENCING INFORMATION General Project InstructionsYour research project may take the form of a standard research paper, a power point presentation, a short (12 minute) video, a play, OR whatever other form suits your topic and skills. Instructions are given below for standard research paper and power point projects. If you choose to submit your project in one of the other forms, you MUST contact me prior to beginning work on your project so that we can set up some guidelines for your project. Suggested Project Topics The purpose of this project is to allow you to investigate a topic in cultural anthropology or linguistics that interests you in more depth than is covered in class. The project is also designed to help you improve your information literacy, communication, and critical thinking skills and is something you may wish to place in your E-portfolio. To complete this project you may research any ONE of the following suggestions or you may investigate a topic of your own choosing (if doing the latter, I recommend that you clear your topic with me before hand to make sure it is relevant).1. Conduct a Service Learning (volunteer) project. Describe and discuss your experiences. NOTE: if you are interested in this option you should start the process early. This option is not feasible if you are two weeks away from the project due date!! A Service Learning project is an excellent way to gain experience in your chosen career field, explore career options, or simply meet new and interesting people – all while giving back to the community and practicing participant observation like an anthropologist!!2. Locate and discuss ethnocentric statements and actions found in the mass media. This task can be completed by watching a diversity of television programs (e.g., children’s programs, the news, comedies, dramas, and commercials), looking through an issue or two of a popular magazine (Time, Newsweek, etc.), or by looking through several issues of a major newspaper (be sure and look at all sections – even the advice columns and the comics). Write up a report on what you find. What role may the mass media play in perpetuating ethnocentrism? Is ethnocentrism necessary for a culture to maintain its identity and for its members to have a sense of order about the world?3. Discuss how anthropological research can provide insight into, and may help solve, global problems (e.g., social inequality, gender inequality, OR overpopulation, etc.). Investigate only one problem. Support your answer with anthropological projects that have tried to solve such problems. To find anthropological projects consult your textbook, the American Anthropological Association website, anthropology journals, and anthropology websites. Do NOT just use any website that investigates the problem you are researching. You are to use sources that use the anthropological approach. 84. Discuss how anthropological information and methods can be applied to the medical, business, legal, OR educational fields. Investigate only one field. Support your discussion with anthropological projects that have worked with these fields. To find anthropological projects consult your textbook, the American Anthropological Association website, anthropology journals, and anthropology websites. Do NOT just use any website that discusses the field you are researching. You are to use sources that use the anthropological approach.5. Apply an anthropological perspective to solving a problem at your workplace. In your write-up – first define the problem and then discuss how you could use an anthropological approach (e.g., the holistic perspective, cultural relativism, bottom-up approach) to solve the problem.6. Discuss why it is important to know a culture’s language in order to understand a culture. Why is this not only important for U.S. businesses, but also for tourists? Note: at least one of your sources for this topic must be an anthropological source.7. Discuss how the different subsistence strategies impact the environment. Use examples from real cultures to support your discussion. In your discussion of the real cultures, you must discuss how that specific culture has impacted their environment. Simply mentioning that a particular society uses a particular strategy is NOT sufficient. Is there an ideal subsistence strategy?8. Compare and contrast the “shadow economies” of two different cultures. Go beyond the economic numbers and be sure to discuss the reasons for why people participate in the shadow economy. Use an anthropological approach in your discussion (e.g., explain what it is about the culture that encourages people to participate in the shadow economy). Remember that a shadow economy is one in which you do not report your income to the government – it can include legal or illegal work.9. Compare and contrast one aspect of another culture with that same feature in your culture (for example, compare the role of music in the U.S. and in Japan). Your information on the culture different from your own may be obtained from a consultant (informant) or from library or Internet research. Be sure to describe your culture in as much detail as the other culture and discuss why both cultures do what they do. If you use a consultant to obtain your information, and if your consultant prefers, you may use a pseudonym to protect their identity. You still must, however, provide a brief background of the individual, noting where they are from, and their approximate age. NOTE: make sure that both you and your consultant come from different cultures. This means that you both were born and raised in different countries for at least the first 15 years of your lives.Standard Research Paper Guidelines The research paper must be 9 to 10 pages in length, double-spaced, with one-inch margins on all sides. Please use the font size of 12 point. If you write a traditional research paper you must use at least three outside references. General encyclopedias, Wikipedia, introductory textbooks, and class notes may be used for background information, but you cannot count these as one of the three sources and they CANNOT provide the majority of your information. Anthropology encyclopedias, however, can be used as one of your required sources. Suggested locations to help you find information include: Google Scholar. Send the drafts as a Word document or in .pdf formats; I cannot open Works, Google documents, .odt documents, or Apple documents.Standard Research Paper Grading Rubric. A) Proper Topic Selected. This is worth 5% of the project grade and 5 points. The topic must be related to cultural anthropology or linguistics. B) Introduction. You must begin your paper with an Introduction Paragraph. As a general guideline the paragraph should be a minimum of 5 to 6 sentences. This paragraph should clearly state the topic and purpose of the paper. The Introduction paragraph is worth 5% of the project grade and 5 points. C) Data Presentation. The data presentation section of the project is worth 35% of the project grade and 35 points. This is the first portion of the body of your paper. In this portion you should describe the information that you have collected. This information should be presented in a concise, in-depth manner. As a general guideline this portion of your paper should be 4 to 5 pages in length. Due to the length of the paper, all information must be paraphrased. If you use quotes, points will be deducted. The reason that you cannot use quotes, and that all information must be paraphrased, is because I want to see if you are understanding the information that you are collecting. In order to accurately paraphrase something, you need to understand it. D) Discussion. The discussion section of the project is worth 35% of the project grade and 35 points. This is the second portion of the body of your paper. In this portion you should critically evaluate/interpret/explain the information that you collected. As a general guideline this portion of your paper should be 3 to 4 pages in length. Note: this portion of the paper may be incorporated with the data presentation if you desire. Note 2: in this portion you are NOT evaluating your sources, but rather the information that you have collected. You also CANNOT have any quotes in this section. All discussion must be in your own words. E) Conclusion. You must end your paper with a concise Conclusion or Summary paragraph. This paragraph should clearly summarize the information in the paper and your evaluation of the topic. As a general guideline the paragraph should be a minimum of 5 to 6 sentences. The conclusion is worth 5% of the project grade and 5 points. 10 F) Documentation of Sources. At least three sources must be utilized. See the note above about General Encyclopedias, Wikipedia, textbooks, and class notes NOT counting as one of the three sources. Paraphrased information must be properly cited using APA format within the text. A bibliography page must also be provided and properly formatted using APA format. Proper documentation of sources is worth 10% of the project grade and 10 points. G) Proof Reading. Your paper should be grammar and spell-checked. Also proofread it yourself to locate errors the computer will not catch!! Please note: definitely is not spelled defiantly. Proof Reading is worth 5% of the project grade and 5 points.
