POSC 190 Tsukayama

This research guide provides information to allow students to successfully complete two important assignments for the course.  In past semesters students were required to research and write a ten-page paper.  In a revision of the course, the actual writing of the paper has been removed, but learning how to conduct some of the preliminary research has been kept in the course.

Assignment:  You are to conduct research on the topic: DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA IS THREATENED BY...

You are to research information regarding current threats to American Democracy. Your research should prepare you to answer a two-stage question:

1. Is there good reason to believe that democracy in the United States is threatened today?

2. If yes, what are the primary threats to democracy in the United States?

You should NOT approach this research from a pre-determined position.  Instead, you should conduct an honest inquiry to help you determine an evidence-based opinion on the issue.

This research is intended to give you training and experience in locating and evaluating relevant materials for research papers.  It is made up of two closely interrelated sections, the due dates for which are found in the course syllabus:

1. Part 1: Library Assignment:  You will be guided to search a number of different kinds of sources of information.  You will be compiling evidence of having done the research and conducting some simple analysis of the information contained in the sources. In some instances you will be simply provide screenshots of your search results pages. In others you will provide screenshots of individual sources, plus a few sentences or paragraphs of what the source contains.  Finally, in some instances you will evaluate the value of the sources according to four criteria.  In addition, you will be compiling a bibliography according to APA Format, 7^th edition, which is titled “References.” This part of the assignment will be completed using the Library Assignment Template.

1. Part 2: Annotated Bibliography Assignment:  This is a tool used by scholarly researchers as they conduct broad searches for information relevant to a particular research question they are attempting to answer.  The annotations made to the bibliography serves to recap for the researcher what the individual research item (book, journal article, web-page, film, etc.) has to offer about the topic.  It will also contain some evaluation of the strength of the source, such as whether there is an identified bias, or if the book/article is outdated or current, or if the type of source is simply the opinion of a lay pers2n or is the result of rigorous research that has been found by other experts in the field to be worthy of inclusion in a scholarly journal of specialized interest. You will use APA Format, 7th edition.

Using sources you identified while preparing the Library Assignment, prepare an annotated bibliography (be sure to head it “References” and not “Bibliography,” per APA format.)

The annotated bibliography requirements are:

1. Formatted properly in APA format.  (Visit the Library Assignment and Annotated Bibliography tab)

2. List exactly seven (7) sources.

3. The first four (4) sources will be annotated with summary annotations.

4. The last Three (3) sources will be annotated with evaluative annotations.

Attach to the annotated bibliography, (after the full bibliography) one completed Evaluating Your Source Rubrics (see below) for each of the three evaluative annotations. 

http://libguides.usd.edu/c.php?g=752875&p=5395297

BE SURE TO SUBMIT THE SOURCE EVALUATION MATRIX. IT IS A SIGNIFICANT PART OF THE POINTS FOR THE ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY PART OF THE ASSIGNMENT.  

The rubrics should be marked with your rating for each factor, and the reasons you gave it that rating.  The rubric is in a Word document.  You should open it in Word and mark it with your evaluation scoring.  You should type at the end of the document your reasons for giving the score to each of the factors."

Email: marynelle.chew@byuh.edu

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