Project One Overview

Project 1 asks you to develop an Annotated Bibliography. You’ll begin the research process by finding and evaluating different types of sources. To start you’ll need a potential topic and you’ll need to identify a research question you’ll use to guide your exploration in the research process. Over the next few weeks, you’ll engage in a set of in-class activities to develop your topic ideas and research question and find potential sources, all guided by your instructor.  The topic and research question will be used throughout the semester – for the annotated bibliography and for Projects 2 and 3. The Annotated Bibliography will provide a starting point for exploring a topic and its significance, that you’ll write about in the research essay. Note that you will not take a position or argue one side or another in Project 2 (as you may have done in previous research essays) — in this essay, the research question and sources you find will ultimately shape the content of your essay. 

Project 1 will also ask you to study key rhetorical/writing concepts that you’ll need to understand and consider as a writer in this course. If you took ENC 1101 at USF, these concepts will be familiar, and if you took 1101 elsewhere you may have studied these concepts. Through our in-class activities and assignments, you’ll learn to recognize and understand these key concepts so your writing can be tailored effectively for each situation in which you write. Whether you’re reviewing familiar concepts or learning them for the first time, these rhetorical concepts are the subject of study throughout this course. 

Project 1 will incorporate in-class learning engagement and self-review activities, and will involve a collaborative process that allows you to discuss and learn as a group and as individuals. Projects 2 and 3 will also use this approach.

Thinking Ahead: Connection of Project 1 to Project 2

Project 2 is not an argumentative research essay, meaning you aren’t tasked with persuading your audience or taking a stance on an issue, but rather you are raising a question, exploring it through research, and developing ideas around your topic and question. When you write your research essay you will be informing your audience about the full and complex context of your topic and the significance of your question within it. You may not present a definite solution, exactly, but you will write a conclusion in your essay that explores the significance of and possibilities for further exploration into your topic or engages your audience in understanding why the exploration is important and where it fits in the overall research around your topic.

The sources you use in Project 1 do not have to be included in Project 2 ultimately. During the initial research, it is very common to find sources you think are helpful or appropriate until you begin to narrow your topic focus and find better sources more accurate to your goals. This process begins before writing the essay and continues while you write the essay.  You’ll keep some and discard some — it’s important to critically analyze your sources’ relevance to your larger research efforts, and determine additional sources that might be needed, or sources that would be better than something you have. Therefore, source gathering and writing about your topic occur together, and recursively — you’ll move forward, then find you have to go back to get other sources, then forward again as you put your research essay together. 

What You’re Doing in Project 1

• Working in class to develop topic ideas, collaborating with peers on ideas, and choosing a topic you’ll pursue
• Developing a research question that will guide your exploration into the topic 
• Finding sources initially relevant to your topic
• Developing an Annotated Bibliography of your initial sources (5 minimum to start, 4 of which must be scholarly)

Discussion: Your Response to Project 1 Overview

• What will you study during Project 1?
• What will you ultimately submit for Project 1?
• What is your experience with conducting research?
• Have you been required to search for scholarly sources? How have you gone about finding scholarly sources in your past research experiences?
• How do you think a research essay that explores a topic differs from a research essay that argues a position on a topic?