Important: Whenever you post to a blog for this class, do not use your full name or the full name of any classmate for the sake of privacy. First names or nicknames only, please.
Part I: Sharing Topics
Your first task for the argumentative research paper – due at the end of the day on Thursday, February 28th – is not for yourself. Rather, it is a gift to your classmates.
Your assignment is to post two high-quality possible research topics to the class blog to help your peers brainstorm some new ideas. These topics are going to be fair game for anyone to pursue, so you probably don’t want to post a topic that you are really excited about researching yourself.
For each topic (two topics, two sources total), post the following:
- Identify the topic in the form of a specific question.
- Then include a potential source to accompany this topic (like a magazine article). If the article is online you can paste in the link. If it is in print, give us the citation information so we can find it on our own (title, author, publication, date). Summarize the article's contents in one sentence.
As you propose topics, keep an eye on scope. For example, researching “educational reforms” would not be an appropriate topic: it’s far too broad. What are you really interested in? Whether affirmative actions really helps minority students? The effects of voucher programs on public schools in states that have them? The efficacy of charter schools? Whether the bilingual program should be reinstated? Then determine a position that you can “defend, challenge, or qualify.” It’s okay if you need to refine this statement over the course of your research, but you have a target in sight.
