Research Paper Assignment Instructions Overview Learning to research to discover

Research Paper Assignment Instructions
Overview
Learning to research to discover the truth is very important in finding one’s way in our current culture. Sources are critical, as there are many who desire to bend the truth to fit their narrative. Discovering the path of ideas connected to art or technology in a given culture is also important to understanding its acceptance by the culture.
This assignment will help you sharpen your abilities to discern both historic and practical applications of research, following ideas, and drawing conclusions.
Instructions
A successful paper will include the following:
The paper should have a minimum length of 1500 words
The bibliography, title, and footnotes are not to be counted as part of the 1500 words.
The topic: The Printing Press
Format of the paper should be the current MLA style if you are a SADA major, or the format of your department otherwise.
You must cite at least 5 references
The source must be noted in the body of the text (regardless of format style) and the bibliography must be in the format style of your major.
Acceptable sources are scholarly articles (print or web), books or magazines.
Sources should be listed in the format used by the student’s major (APA, MLA, Turabian, etc.) at the end of the paragraph in which the information was used and in a bibliography at the end of the paper.
Sources may come from books, magazines, web articles.
Print-based references should have full bibliographic reference.
Web-based references should contain the author, website, and URL for the source.
For technology, the publish date of the article may be important to whether it speaks of the most current information or technology.
One of the best places to look for sources is JSTOR https: // www – jstor- org. ez proxy . liberty . edu /action /show Advanced Search or the Jerry Falwell Library https : // www. liberty. edu / library / , where you will find Research Guides https: // www. liberty. edu / library /research-guides / for just about any area, including databases https: // www. liberty. edu / library / databases. These links are included under Research Paper Assignment Resources section.
Required reading from a Module may not be used; all sources should be found by the student’s own research to support their reasoning.
Wikipedia is not considered a reliable source, but images (only) from Wikipedia or Wikimedia Commons may be used to support a post. These will not count toward the necessary source, however, which should be in addition to any images.
Steps To Achieve A Good Research Paper
Choose a topic
In this assignment, you will be writing a paper of at least 1,500 words (not counting title and bibliography) on a particular technology of your choice from past to present—era does not matter, but it must be a particular technology, not just a broad area such as graphic design, social media, or digital art.
The technology should be something you find interesting, whether or not it is something you have used personally.
Special attention must be given to address the development of the technology and the impact on culture (including religion) because of the technology’s introduction, as well as how the technology has specifically affected art. The topic should intersect all three areas of art, culture, and technology. You must also be able to discuss how your chosen technology has been used for the good and/or ill of mankind.
You must cite at least 5 references in current MLA style if you are a SADA major, or the format of your department otherwise.
This topic must be cleared by the instructor, so you are sure you have a viable topic that covers all areas. You can post as many times as it takes for your topic to be approved.
Formulate how you intend to approach the subject.
You need to correlate the technology, how and why it sprang from the culture, and how that in turn affected the art of the culture.
Look in particular at these areas:
What particular thing that man does already did the technology enhance?
Why would man desire to enhance or change how that particular thing is done?
What was happening at the time in that culture that pushed the desire to enhance that particular thing?
Were there other technologies that had to be invented before this technology was possible?
What did this technology make obsolete?
What is the innate morality and what is the popular use of this technology?
What ideological bias might this technology have?
Has the technology been used for good, evil, or both?
What are the potential pitfalls of this technology?
How does/did this technology affect or change art directly?
How does/did this technology affect or change the culture directly?Outline
Once you have answered most of these questions to your satisfaction (or at least once you see evidence that it is possible to answer these questions), begin to outline how you expect to approach the topic in these areas:
The enhancement(s) to what man did/does
The historical setting
The cultural setting
The movement in the direction of this technology
Other technological developments prior to your selected technology
Possible philosophical/spiritual movements (at least think about them)
Implications for good and evil
Future of the technology
An outline is not mandatory but will improve your chances of an excellent grade.
Research:
Begin with your topic as outlined above.
Research the topic thoroughly. Use the library, and the library search engine by topic. You can also use Google Scholar to find articles or books. Google Books is helpful and JSTOR is particularly helpful for articles when you are on the campus network. JSTOR can be accessed off-campus through EZProxy. Remember, how you cite references differs between books and internet sources. For citation information, visit the Liberty University Online Writing Center. You can also utilize a citation maker online. (See the Research Paper Assignment Resources section)
Be careful taking information from the internet!
Internet references that do not list their sources must be considered suspect and not used for the paper. It is always good research to look up an author’s sources to see if they quoted information correctly. Wikipedia must not be used as a source.
Write:
It greatly helps to write an outline for your paper, giving the main points you wish to cover; include a minimal amount on the technology’s inner workings or production, but cover mainly its influence and use.
Be self-critical and ask:
Do I spend too much time on information and not enough on analysis?
Do I show a logical progression of the technology’s influences and development?
What are the religious, philosophical, or political uses?
Do I cover where this technology might take us?
Your outline must meet the following criteria:
Document format must have margins of no greater than 1 inch.
Paragraph line-spacing must be 1.5 lines.
Font must be Times New Roman, 12 pt.
MLA format is the Studio & Digital Arts Department format, but you may use the formatting mandated by your major if it is outside of SADA.
Note: Your assignment will be checked for originality via the Turnitin plagiarism tool.