As the NMHH notes, the term "research" can be applied to a range of intellectual activities, from the very simple (looking up a phone number) to the very complex (scholarly research). At the university level, instructors can similarly use the term in a variety of ways. This project is intended to give you a basic understanding of certain research processes and skills that will benefit you when you do more advanced work in other classes, including advanced database searching, scholarly source identification and assessment, use of informational sources to generate background information (from web sties, newspapers, and research encyclopedias), and the synthesizing of this information in a research report. You will need additional skills and knowledge to complete research projects at a more advanced level.

While we have limited the scope of this project to match your level of preparation and the demands of an introductory first-year course, we have still designed it as a valid and (we hope) useful research exercise. The steps you take would be similar to the introductory steps of many more advanced scholarly research project. You will be making introductory investigations in order to identify problem areas and potential solutions that might be researched more completely. Each individual group member will choose a subtopic that can be effectively connected to the whole group's focus. (Note that because of the requirements of the report, the each subtopic will need to have a connection to the state or region.) By working together in a group, you will be able to pool your developing knowledge of a topic area in order to create a more complex understanding of it. Further, the activity will provide you with some experience with collaborative writing and thinking. While each of you will be generating an individual report that will become part of the group's final project, each group will create a poster that will have a collaboratively written Introduction and Conclusion.

After today's meeting, group members will communicate with each other through their Group Page in Blackboard ("Communication" > "Group Pages" > "Your Groups's Name."). These assignments will be described in the "Online Assignment" section of the weekly assignment. The individual report will be a regular Composition Assignment, and the Poster Project will be assessed as part of your Cooperative Learning Group grade. You will receive criteria for this (and a further explanation of the project) later in the quarter.

The report will include the following sections:

• Introduction/Statement of your subtopic's problem
• History of the problem
• Main controversies associated with the problem
• Local features of the problem
• Possible solutions to the problem

The sources for the report will include, at a minimum:

• One scholarly source
• Two valid and appropriate web sites
• Five newspaper articles, with at least two from outside the Puget Sound regionand two within it (bounded by Tacoma to the south, the Cascades to the East, Everett to the north, and the Puget Sound to the west.), and at least one from an alternative media source (described in the workshop).
• Two research encyclopedia entries

You may also use the course readings as evidence.

These sources should be chosen for their ability to provide you with information necessary for a coherent report. The report will include a bibliography using an accepted citation format (APA, MLA, etc.).

Project Schedule:

Thursday, Nov. 8, 3:00pm: Finalize subtopics if not already completed. Post to Blackboard Group Page.

Thursday, Nov. 15, 3:00pm: Select encyclopedia entries, web sites and newspaper articles

© 2001-7 Michael Lewis Goldberg: intellectual property information

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