As I read through this, I feel really lost in the kinds of mistakes that you are talking about. I think if we started with your swimming story at the beginning, asked a question, then got into the academic part and kept going back to how it fits with your story in the body of the paper, then returned to the major question and how it fits you at the end, the paper would feel much more cohesive. I am interested in the topic, but I get lost in the “hypothetical” stuff. I definitely need more concrete examples, and your life is the most logical way to do that.
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Nov 15, 9:01 PM
Writing 150—”Riddle Me This…”
Assignment #3
I’m one of those people who always question my surroundings. If you don’t, you will probably start doing so as you go through your college years. What I want you to do in this paper is question something in your immediate family or college community (think daily life). After you’ve figured out what burning question you want answered, shift it to a more general version of your personal question and start researching the answer to that question. In other words, start with a specific question and work on a larger scale answer. I’ll explain further…
Things to consider:
· What bugs you in your family, college life, or daily surroundings? Ex. Why does my mother insist on tracking my every move on my cell phone? Do my parents really think I don’t notice how differently they treat my older and younger sisters compared to me? Am I going to be broke after college?
· Is there an actual academic question or method to research this? Ex. Why are some parents so overprotective? Is “Middle Child Syndrome” a real thing? How much money do most college students borrow to pay for their education?
· Why does this area bother or puzzle you and for how long?
· Where have you seen examples of this phenomenon?
Getting started:
Give us a personal anecdote or hypothetical story.
Show us some proof (statistics, evidence, number of items available on this topic) that this is a researchable, academically valuable topic.
Spend the majority of the paper in that academic area, exploring the details.
Return to the your original, more personally specific question at the end of the paper and try to answer it.
Source possibilities:
Think non-traditional source materials: interviews, pamphlets, organizations, radio, and television.
Look for articles through our databases. Play around with the key words to find the most interesting area to research.
Ask a reference librarian where he or she would start. You may be surprised.
Consult some of the traditional spots: books, magazines, newspapers, textbooks, reputable online sites.
Overused topics:
Anything with birth order (oldest, youngest, middle, only children)
Why GVSU has required general education courses
This paper should be approximately 6-9 double-spaced, typewritten pages with the default 1-inch margins and your name in one and information in the upper left-hand corner. You should be an expert on finding great titles, but if you can’t attract us to your “burning question” in the title and first paragraph, your portfolio will suffer…yikes!
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