Extended Inquiry Project

Blandford, Spring 2014

This will be the foundation for everything we do in class. You will choose a
topic within the first few weeks of the semester and explore it from various
perspectives. There are nine distinct steps/assignments within the project.
Dont freak out; well go through these thoroughly as the semester
progresses.
1. Choose a subject
First, well choose a subject to investigate. Youre looking for something
controversial or misrepresented. That is, the way images have been used to
manipulate, to sell, to perpetuate bias, to make humor, to cover up. Some
ideas:
History:

How a particular minority has been portrayed in Hollywood films, TV,

cartoons and comics, or childrens books.
The back story and forward story of a particular famous photo
The image of a particular war through photography (TV news, etc.)

Stereotype:
Gender, racial, national, regional, social
Types of people: cheerleaders, athletes, NASCAR fans
Advertising:
Use of stereotyping to sell a product
Brandingselling a recognizable image such as a celebrity or
product
A recognizable logo like Apple or Nike
Question Session: Over the course of 2 days, each person will pose their
topic to the class. The class will have 5 minutes to fire off as many questions
they can think of in relation to that topic. From here, you will each have a
bank of questions to pull from and develop your inquiry question. This may
be a good time to bring a voice recorder (or use your phone) in order to track
as many questions as possible anything and everything can be useful later.
2. Proposal
- After our in-class discussions and brainstorming, you will make a
proposal on your intended topic, purpose and audience and what
your inquiry question will be in 1-2 pages. This will be the
foundation for your semester project.

Here, youll talk about what you already know about the subject
youve chosen to explore and the significance of the subject over
the course of years, its long-term effects, or its influence on future
direction.
Things to address:
1. What do you know about your subject already?
2. Why did you choose this subject over others?
3. Why does it interest you?
4. Where do you think you will find answers you seek?
Possibilities are articles from popular journals or web
sites, scholarly research or studies, government
documents, individuals who might be good subjects
for interview.

3. Research
Where can you best find the information you hope to find? You
probably will Google your subject first. But, as you know, not all
sources from online are acceptable as valid research. Yes, there are
many useful and usable web sites and articles online, but you MUST
be able to explain what makes them valid. (Note: Google images or
other online sites are acceptable for image collecting. Do keep a list
of sites where you found images, for documentation purposes.)
Second, the library databases contain a wealth of sources. These
include scholarly and popular journal articles, government
databases, and other information from a variety of sources. The
librarian will hopefully gear you towards sites that will be
particularly relevant for you. Third, some questions may be best
answered by an individual. Do you want to know how stereotypes of
Native Americans in films in the 1960s influenced white children to
have a false sense of the real culture? Ask someone who grew up
watching those films. Make a list of good, thoughtful, open-ended
questions, and choose someone who is willing to open up and be
honest.
4. Annotated Bibliography
- You will use 5 of your best sources to create a solid Bibliography.
- If you add or change any as you write your essay, you must write
another entry on your Annotated List of Works Cited. So, it will pay
to read carefully before you choose the five.
- You can use any citation format you are comfortable with
(MLA, Chicago, APA, etc.) as long as you stay consistent.

(note: the entries should be alphabetized by the first letter on the left
margin. Be sure to double space and indent the second and third lines.)
-

Write three paragraphs for each source. You'll need to study

each source in depth to gather enough information for a summary
and analysis.
1. First paragraph: Summarize the source. Write an
objective, complete, and accurate summary of what
the article is about and what its purpose is.
2. Second paragraph: Respond to what you have
read. Here you'll also include information on how the
article is relevant to the question youre adressing, or
to providing background or perspective on your
subject. You can also talk about why the article is
weak or not as useful as you'd like.
3. Third paragraph: Discuss how you know this is a
credible source. Look for clues on online sources,
consider reputation, authorship, location, and
content in explaining why this is a reputable source.

5. Genre Product (this will vary depending on your audience and

purpose)
- How will you format this assignment to serve your purpose?
- Who is your audience?
- What is the best way to reach them?
6. Midterm Reflection
- 3-5 pages
- MLA, Chicago or APA format (whichever you pick)
This will be a general reflection of where you are in the process. How is your
research going? What questions have you answered? What questions still
remain? What has surprised you? Where are you struggling still? What is your
plan for moving forward? This needs to be an open and honest discussion
about your current state in the research process. Consider it a practice run
for your final Essay. Approach it as though you are having an informal (albeit,
intelligent) conversation with me, or with a classmate about your progress so
far and what questions you have/alterations you are going to make before
going public with your website. Brainstorm ideas that will help evolve your
project. Although you may still have some unanswered questions in your final
essay and portfolio, the questions you raise here in your Midterm Reflection
must lead you towards a new arena in which to push yourself. In other words,

this is just a snapshot of where you are in the semester. I expect that these
findings will morph/change in your final assessment.
7. The
-

Essay (Portfolio Part 1)

4-6 Pages
MLA, Chicago or APA format (whichever youve been working in)
Works Cited/Reference page

Here, youll synthesize your findings. What this means is you will make sense
of everything youve researched/learned about your inquiry topic and explain
how it fits together. Make it make sense to the reader as it makes sense to
you. This is not a formal academic paper in that youre expected to come
to a specific conclusion. Instead, you want to work through your
purpose/inquiry question using examples and quotes from your sources. You
may also want to include pictures/images to help your discussion.
This is a work in progress. This does NOT mean that your Essay is a mess
of random thoughts that have no coherency or structure. Instead, consider
this as an intelligent conversation between you, me and the class. You need
to be honest about your research and what you have uncovered. What has
worked? What hasnt? Where were you way off? Its okay if through your
synthesis you realize that your inquiry question has morphed/changed.
You may find that there are several ways you can go with the essay itself. In
that case, dont try to do a lightweight job of everything; instead, choose a
direction/topic and cover it in depth.
Formulate a working thesis idea. What, ultimately, are you setting out to
show in your essay? What, in a sentence or two, do you conclude about what
youve found out, and what personal conclusions can you come to from it?
What do you want your readers to know and understand about what youve
discovered? This sentence may not actually appear in your essay (but it
may), but it will help keep you centered on what your focus is, and when
someone else reads it, they should be able to sum up your essay with the
same idea.
Other things about your paper that Im looking for (ie, what I want or what a
good essay of this project should contain):

APA/MLA documentation and heading. This is the four line, doublespaced heading + an evocative title + both a Works Cited page at the
end and internal citations that match the Works Cited list.
Synthesized sources. That is, you dont rely on just one article or
book or interview, but you weigh the variety of information to add
balance and variety to your essay. That probably means at least three

of your sources from your Annotated and probably no more than six. (If
you add or change from your Annotated list, write another entry for the
Annotated for the new source.)
Your voice. That means you can use the first person I. You are the
principle investigator and your conclusions are yours after careful
study. You dont need, however, I think and I feel and I believe,
because those and similar statements are inherent in your essay. Its
your point of view. Mostly hearing your voice means youve
synthesized and understood well the information youve gathered, and
you are able to convey the larger ideas to the reader with convincing,
clear syntax.
Visuals. Since youre writing about images, use images throughout
your essay to support your points.
An accompanying reflection. (See below)

8. Reflection (Portfolio Part 2)

Here, I dont need to know so much what your decisions were, but
rather, why you made the decisions you did.
Your idea.
Using your proposal as your starting point, your essay as your
end, how did your
idea about your subject change from beginning
to end? What changed it? Why
did it change? Detail your
progression through the development of your idea.
-

Your research.
In your research, you were required to check five sources for
information. They
were: Internet, scholarly journals, Newsbank,
government documents, and ARTstor. Describe the process of your
search, including the type of evidence you
found within each place
and its value. If certain places resulted in no useful evidence, why do
you think so? If certain places provided a lot, why do you think
so?
-

The effect of your research on your direction.

What surprised you in your research? Did you find a lot of
information about a
certain area of your study that you didnt
expect? Did you find too little? Did your findings encourage you to
narrow your search or broaden your search or change the initial
direction entirely?
-

The writing of your essay.

Which parts of the Writing Process did you use while developing
your Essay?
What writing tools did you turn to in order to help
-

you achieve your desired

product? Did you write informally (I, we)
or more formally? Whyd you choose
the style you chose?
Your critique group.
How did your small critique group help or hinder your whole
process, from the
question session to your final presentation?
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Your life as a researcher.

How has this inquiry project been different from /similar to other
research
projects you have undertaken? What have you done for the
first time?
-

Your life as a learner.

What did you learnabout anythingthat you didnt already
know?
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9. Web Publication (Portfolio Part 3)

- The most important part of academic inquiry is adding to the
conversation. This is where you do that by going public in a
way that enhances your overall purpose.
- You have a variety of ways in which to establish your Writing
Portfolio: Mahara (Moodle), Weebly, Tumblr, etc.
- It doesnt matter to me how you demonstrate your portfolio
online; however, it should always serve your overall purpose and
audience.
- It must also be clear, easy to understand, and incorporate all
requirements of your Writing Portfolio as this is where I will grade
your final assessment.
10.

Presentation

Prepare a short presentation that highlights your subject and your

findings. This does not have to be fancy, detailed, or comprehensive.
Its mostly for fun and for information. It will be tempting to stop and
discuss each subject and its findings, but we wont have much time for
discussion to allow time for everyone to present.