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A. Walden

Assignment One:

Primary Research & Inquiry Planning

Key Vocabulary
Primary Research:
Research that you personally
collect. This could be
collected through means of
observation, surveys,
interviews, and/or
experimentation (Brizee &
Driscoll, 2010).

Its that time: PICK a topic of interest that you truly enjoy. Select
something that has value to you, an activity, or film series which you
cant seem to get enough ofand this will serve the basis of your
first assignment. This first phase is the beginning portion of our
extended, semester-long inquiry project. As a part of this project,
you will be conducting interviews (primary research), and you will
be tentatively planning an area for extended inquiry/research
(secondary research). You will summarize, interview, analyze, chart,
and propose an area for extended observation & inquiry. The result
will look more like extended note-taking & planning rather than a
traditional paper.

Source: Goins Writer

Secondary Research:
This type of research involves
collation, summary, and/or
synthesis of existing research
studies/work; in other words,
you are taking someone elses
primary research and
summarizing, synthesizing,
and integrating their findings
to a particular study/research
work of your own (Baker &
Brizee, 2013).

RELAX!

&

WRITE
ON!

I. Summarize/Give Background: Select a particular area of

interest that you would like to do a semester-long project on (this
may be a movie series, TV series, game, etc.)
A. Write at least a 500 word summary which describes relevant
background information on your site in such a way someone
unfamiliar with your topic can get a sense of what you are
talking about
B. In a cohesive paragraph, address items like:
What is the site? Film? Show? Game?
Who are the significant players/people within the site?
Who are the behind the scenes staff that make the event
happen?
Significant background on the evolution of the site
General facts/trivia

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II. Conduct 2 Interviews: After providing background on the site, select 2

people to interview that have some knowledge or familiarity with your
selected figured world.
A. Conduct at least TWO interviews with people who have familiarity
with your selected site. If you select a TV show, a good interviewee
would be a fan or a real life counterpart (e.g. If I were interviewing
someone about Sherlock, I could interview an actual detective).
This interview can be recorded as a part of your observation notes; it
does not need to be a completely separate document.
B. Prior to the interviews, you need to develop your questions and clear
them with me.
III. Develop a Chart: Take the ideas that stood out from what you have
gained from your interview and general knowledge from the site and
search for reputable sources via Google Scholar, NPR, the UNCC
Library Databases, and/or TED Talks.
a) List ideas/questions/things that stood out to you when you
collected your sources, re-visited the site/played the game/
watched the show, etc.
b) Convert these detailed ideas into shorten search terms (3-4
words max)
c) Use the above databases to find at least 8 reputable sources
on your topic (Sources used should be published from 2000
onward; no sources prior to 2000 will be allowed)
d) List the search term that you tried, and all the necessary
publication information including the active internet link so
that you can return to the source
IV. Write a proposal: In 100-200 words, propose an area for research and
inquiry based on what you have observed and the 8 sources you have
found. Explain what you are you are interested in, give a bit of
background information, and state what you intend to research.
V. Write a Literature Review: Write a cohesive, theme-organized literature
review which briefly summarizes the conversation so far on your selected
topic.
a) Summarize the main thesis of the source as it relates to
your research.
In other words, only include summary
information about your source as it specifically relates to
your topic; DO NOT summarize the article in its entirety.
b) Every summary should be between 3-4 sentences long, and
not OVER 4 sentences.
c) ONLY 2 direct quotations allowed; the rest of the source
material MUST BE PARAPHRASED
d) Use credible sources such as peer-reviewed journals, public
radio segments, & TED Talk presentations.
e) Parenthetical or footnoted citations should be throughout this
section depending on the citation style.
VI. Works Cited/Reference Page: Create a works cited/reference page with
all the sources you have summarized for the project. Follow the
formatting guidelines of APA, MLA, IEEE, Chicago, etc. as appropriate
for your intended major.

A. Walden

Formatting Concerns
12 pt, Times New Roman
Font, Single-Spaced,
Saved and Uploaded in a
Microsoft Word Document
Works Cited or Reference
page included with your 2
interviews cited, and 8
secondary sources,
meaning you will have a
total of 10 entries on your
works cited/reference page
Cite your materials in
whatever citation style is
appropriate for your
intended major (IEEE,
MLA, APA, ChicagoTurabian, etc.)

TO FIND SOURCES:
NPR
TED Talks
UNCC Library Databases
Google Scholar

DUE DATES
Assignments are ALWAYS
due prior to 11PM on
Saturdays.
1. Draft for Peer
Workshop (9/24)
2. Draft w/ Peer
Commentary (10/1)
3. 2nd Revised Draft (10/8)
4. Reflection (10/8)
Due dates also listed on the
Canvas calendar, agendas,
& assignment submission
link.

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A. Walden

Once you have completed the workshop and revisedits time to REFLECT on
your work
Assignment One Reflection

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The reflection is a separate, letter-like, Word Doc that you write

to me after completing your peer workshop and after you have
made revisions to your assignment work. This piece is to help
provide a larger context for me to respond to your work.
What are you particularly proud of in this paper? What would
you rewrite/revise if you had more time? Give explicit textual
examples.
Describe what comments were helpful/not helpful from your peer
responders and explain how you incorporated the feedback or
why you chose not to use some of the feedback. Again, give
explicit textual examples cited from the actual feedback.
Explain how you have gone above and beyond guidelines;
make a case of how you have exceeded the expectations, giving
explicit examples.
What Student Learning Outcomes SLOs (rhetorical
knowledge, critical reading, composing and processes,
knowledge of conventions, and/or critical reflection) did you see
emerge in the second draft of this project? Explain which ones
you see and how these function as examples of rhetorical
knowledge, knowledge of conventions, etcagain use explicit
textual examples. REMEMBER: NOT ALL OF THESE SLOs
MAY BE PRESENT IN THIS PIECE, SO DO NOT USE
THESE AS A LAUNDRY LIST OF QUESTION/ANSWER.
500 Words, 12pt, Times New Roman Font, single-spaced.
Saved and Uploaded in a Microsoft Word Document.