Topic
You began your research project by reading an article from the news about a current issue or event in society. Your goal in this essay is to explain to your professor how the research and writing you have done for your research project changed your understanding of that issue or event. You will explain what changes occurred in your understanding and how those changes occurred.
Here are some questions you can consider in developing ideas for your essay:
What changes occurred in your understanding?
Do you know more about the issue/event now than you did before? (Probably!)
Do you look at the issue/event from a different perspective following your research?
Have you reconsidered opinions or assumptions that you held at the beginning of the semester?
How did those changes occur?
Which sources from your research had the greatest effect on your understanding?
Did the process of writing about your topic affect the way you thought about it?
What role did interaction with your classmates and/or professor play in your understanding of your topic?
Organizing and supporting your essay
Your essay must include an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion.
The introduction should gain your reader’s attention, orient the reader to your topic, and state your thesis (list three broad points which will shape body paragraphs). Underline your thesis.
The body of the essay should include focused body paragraphs in support of your thesis statement. There are various ways you might choose to organize information in the body of your essay. Here are some suggestions you can consider:
You might focus each body paragraph on a step of the research process and how that step affected your understanding of the issue/event.
You might focus each body paragraph on your understanding at a particular time relative to the research process (before, during, after).
You might focus each body paragraph on a particular aspect of the issue/event and explain how your understanding of that aspect developed during your research.
The essay’s conclusion should answer the question “So what?” by placing the essay’s explanations into a larger context. To accomplish this, you can consider addressing one or more of these questions:
Will your current understanding of your event/issue affect your future actions or decisions? If so, how?
What lessons—about interpreting current events, about your field of study, about the research process—can be drawn from the experience of completing the research project?
Is research of the sort done in WRTG 112 a worthwhile activity? Why or why not?
Point of view
First person (I/me/my) is appropriate in this assignment, but second person (you/your) should be avoided.
Formatting your assignment
Incorporate these elements of APA style:
Use one-inch margins.
Double space.
Times New Roman, 12-point, black font. File: Word document, lastname.firstname.assignment,
Include a title page with the title of your paper, your name, professor name, and the name of your school.
I wrote my research paper on hate crimes. I;ll attach it as an additional document.