Note: This assignment is part of your Project 2 grade. Please take extra care with this assignment. This blog is worth 20% of your Project 2 grade.
In this blog, you'll build on Log 1, particularly what you wrote for Step 3. You only have two logs left before you are expected to offer potential answers to your research question, so keep that in mind while researching and stay on topic!
Just like in the last research log you'll want to look at several sources and then settle on two sources that you found most useful. Do they answer new questions for you? Can you understand them? Are you finding sources that are moving you closer to an answer to your research question? Then, you need to make sure these are reliable sources (that you've verified by looking at other sources).
- Purpose: For this assignment, you will find two sources that each work to answer questions you have--and that help you move towards an answer for your research question. You have already gathered multiple sources on your topic, so the focus of your research should be narrowing. Your task is to persuade your instructor that you are exploring effectively, demonstrating intellectual curiosity, reading rhetorically and with an open mind. You will want to show that you are learning something new about your topic with each log, that you are building on prior knowledge, and you will ultimately want to show how the process of writing this research log has impacted your understanding of the issue and of the focus of your research project.
- Audience: Your instructor and classmates
- Genre: The genre you are writing in is a research log. Please see the assignment introduction page for more details.
- Skills learned/practiced: source selection, rhetorical analysis, summary, synthesis
Step 1:
Open your Google doc that you submitted for Log 1. You will use the same Google document and add your answer to Log 2 to the document where you wrote Log 1. Prepare your answers for this post under the heading for "Log 2".
NOTE: do not use a new copy of my Google document. Instead, use the document that already has your answers to Log 1, which you submitted for Log 1.
Remember: you can format the answers however makes the information clearer to you (subheadings, bullets, tables, paragraphs, etc). You'll want to be able to understand this information later when you look at it without my questions. However, you might see your logs as polished written texts with your instructor as the audience. You want to persuade your instructor that you are exploring effectively by demonstrating intellectual curiosity, rhetorical reading and an open mind. You will want to show that you are learning something new about your topic with each new log, and will ultimately want to show how the process has impacted your understanding of the issue and the focus of your research project. You'll also want to answer all the questions and to revise your log so that it is well written and easy to follow. |
- Before you begin, review what you wrote: look back at your answers to Step 3 in Log #1. If you want to add new questions to what you wrote in Log 1, list them here and explain how they will help you answer your research question.
- Prepare to write Log 2: Write your research question at the top of the log. Then below that, write out the questions that you will focus on for this Log. (This will be the start of your log).
- Use AI, ChatGPT or Bing, to help you find new, reliable sources rnal site. that answers your questions a) in a way you can understand and b) that help you understand the large conversation better. Explain what search engine or AI tool you used.
- Be sure to practice lateral reading to ensure that these are reliable sources! Once you've found two sources you like:
- Post a link to each source (I’m looking for 2 sources). Below the link for that source, write the author of the source, title of the source, and location of the source. (For example, this might look like: "Waking up Tomorrow" by John Jones in NYTimes, or "Fundamental Skills for Nurses" by Jana Pickett in Journal for Medicine.)
- Then, below each link (so that I know which summary matches which link) include a rhetorical summary with each one of your sources. The Rhetorical Summary for Research Logs Page provides you with the guiding questions that will help you write a rhetorical summary.
- Be sure to practice lateral reading to ensure that these are reliable sources! Once you've found two sources you like:
Step 2:
Put it together and reflect on your next steps.
After you’ve answered the questions above for each of those sources, post a summary of what you feel you understand about your topic, what you are confused about, what questions you still have. You should discuss:
- What questions do you have now that you did not have before? What might you want to research next?
- What do you understand (overall) about your research question and its potential answers? What aspect of the topic are you most interested in? You will have to start narrowing your research to a smaller sub-topic or question within your general topic. What ideas do you have for this narrowed focus? You might think about the article you've found most interesting or what major questions, problem or possible solution, you've found most interesting so far.
- If you were going to explain this topic to someone, what are the parts you would be less confident explaining?
- What are some new terms or phrases or terms that you see repeated a lot in your sources that might help you search for more articles on this topic? (For example, if I'm researching COVID, I might see that some sources refer to it as "coronavirus disease" or SARS-CoV-2. I may see that a lot of sources mention something called "long COVID".) Did any of the terms you used in previous searches turn out to be deadends or hugely useful?
Once you are done writing up your answers, go to File > Download > PDF. This will download a PDF version of the Google Doc for you to submit to me for grading. (You will return to this Google Document in a few days to add your answer to Log 3.)