Literature Question

This research paper will be a Problem and Solution Paper, and should be about something on a local scale. This means that you will brainstorm and identify a problem that impacts your life that you would like to see solved. Then you will try to figure out what steps can be made to solve or start solving this problem.

For instance, former students have written about everything from fixing potholes on major Atlanta roads, to ways to assist the unhoused population of Atlanta, to best diets for people with diabetes, to ways to combat high costs of housing in Atlanta, etc. These are just some examples, and next week you’ll do some brainstorming to come up with your topic (what problem you want to address in your paper and what possible solutions you might investigate through research).

Once you have your topic, every major assignment will be about this topic, and each one should help you build toward the final paper at the end of the semester. It is totally fine to switch topics at any point in the semester, but the earlier you land on a topic the better.

• We will start with Research Project Part 1: Personal Response where you will discuss your topic through the lens of your own experiences and ideas, before doing researcher. This will be where you should explain what the problem is that you want to address, what your connection to that problem is, what your personal experiences have taught your about the problem, and what ideas you have for solutions. For this first essay, you will be discussing your topic before doing any research.

For example, if the topic were fixing potholes, for Research Project Part 1, you might write about your experiences driving in Atlanta, why this is a topic of personal concern for you, what problems potholes have caused you, and what you would like to see done about it.

• We will then go through a Peer Review Workshop, based on your Research Project Part 1, where you give and receive comments to and from some of your classmates about what you have so far about your topic, and what you should focus on in the research phase.
• Then, our next step will be Research Project Part 2: Research and Source Analysis where you will then do the research into your topic, finding at least 4 different sources that will give you the information you need to write your research paper. These should be sources that include any background information you might need, details about the problem you want to address, and ideas about possible solutions. This assignment will basically be an essay where you discuss the research process and what sources you found, what makes them trustworthy and useful sources for your paper, and how you plan to use them in your final paper, etc.

So, returning to our example of potholes, you might find a news article that talks about current efforts to fix roads in metro Atlanta, an academic article that discusses how damaging potholes can be and why maintaining infrastructure like roads is essential for a city’s economy, an article about who funds road repair projects, and another about successful efforts to update and repair roads in other cities, for example. Your essay would then consist of explaining what your topic is, and then going through your sources explaining why they are useful to you and what makes them credible.