Transcript Today’s Goals

TODAY’S GOALS
• Understand expectations for the Exploratory Narrative major essay
• Deconstruct exploratory narratives as a genre
• Begin selecting topics for your own exploratory narratives
EXPLORATORY NARRATIVE
KEY ELEMENTS
• Open ended research question
• 6 Credible sources (3+ peer-reviewed library database sources)
• Source evaluation
• Critical thinking and reflection
• MLA format- citations
EXPLORATORY NARRATIVE
STRUCTURE
• Introduction
• Grabs reader attention and presents topic in an interesting way
• Poses a significant, open-ended research question
• Explains your initial personal view on the topic
• Body paragraphs
• Narrate your research experience and you find sources
• Do a with and against the grain analysis of each text, analyzing the strong and weak
elements of the source
• Reflect on how each source has changed your understanding of the topic
• Conclusion
• Restate your research question (finding a specific answer is not necessary)
• Explain how your viewpoint or understanding on the issue has changed as a result of
your research
• Leave readers with new questions or ideas about the topic that still remain
GROUP ACTIVITY-EXPLORATORY
NARRATIVE ANALYSIS
• In your unit 1 groups
• Read through the example Exploratory Narrative samples provided to your group and
answer the following questions:
1. What is the topic that the student chose to investigate? Does this seem like an
arguable topic that is appropriate to our class’ assignment?
2. What is the research question that the student uses to guide their exploration? Try to
take this directly from the text.
3. What is the student’s initial view on the topic? How does this view or understanding
develop throughout the essay?
4. Does the student write more in first, second, or third person? Does first person writing
seem to be acceptable in this genre?
5. Based on the assignment sheet grading criteria, assign a grade for each section and
provide an explanation of why you gave the essay that grade for that section.
(Important: this should include four individual letter grades and an explanation, usually
about a sentence, for each one.)
YOUR RESEARCH IDEAS
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Video game ethics and effects
Virtual reality
Gambling laws and ethics
Institutionalized racism
Police brutality
Official language (in the US)
Stem cell research
Embargo against Cuba
Representation of the hero in literature
Student loan debt/cost of education
Immigration reform
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Food production
Minimum wage
Labor reform
Income inequality
Women’s rights
Glass ceiling/gender wage gap
Women’s representation in STEM fields
Global warming
Effects of religion
GMOs
GROUP ACTIVITY: RESEARCH
BRAINSTORM
• In your unit 1 groups (make sure to write down your group number!)
a) Select 10 possible research topics that you could use in this class. These
can be ideas you mentioned on Monday, things from our class discussion,
or even ideas we just discussed
b) For each topic, identify one specific problem that needs to be solved or a
question that needs to be answered.
c) Then for each topic list the type of source that you think will provide you
with the most helpful information: primary, secondary, peer reviewed,
newspapers, magazines, academic journals, etc.
HOMEWORK
• If you have not already done so, set up your blog/online journal and submit your Url via email
• Find and bring a copy of the first source you would like to use for your Exploratory Narrative
• Journal Entry 3
• Focus: Research/Exploratory Narrative Topic Brainstorm
• Now that you have had the opportunity to examine previous successful exploratory narratives as well as have
experience using the library databases, begin thinking about what topic you will research for your own exploratory
narrative
• Of the topics we brainstormed in class, do any of these seem like subjects you would like to research further
• What sorts of problems/topics are currently being investigated by your major/career?
• Where do you think you will find the most helpful information for this research topic? (Newspapers, magazines,
documentaries, scholarly articles, etc)
• It may also be helpful to think of your exploratory narrative as a problem solving activity. What are the problems
related to this topic that need to be addressed, and what makes their solution so difficult?
• If you already have a topic in mind, take this entry as an opportunity to explain why you think this topic is so
important and problematic.
• If you have already narrowed your topic down to a few ideas, take this entry as an opportunity to weigh the merit
of each research topic.