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ENGL 101: Butler, M. (Fall 2023) - Language, Culture, and Identity: Home

This guide contains starting points for research for students' research project in Professor Butler's ENGL101 class.

What's in this research guide?

This library guide (or "LibGuide") provides links to useful library databases and other reliable resources for English 101 / English 95, resources you can use as starting points for research for the assignments in this course.

How do I use this guide?

This is the home page of this guide, which helps provide context for how this guide helps support your class and introduces key vocabulary used throughout the guide. Use the tabs above to navigate the pages and access the resources included in this guide.

Research assignments in this course:

The assignments in this course focus on issues relating to language, culture, and identity. 

Video: TED Talk about identity, language, and accents

Summary: How do we decide who we are? Hetain Patel's surprising performance plays with identity, language and accent -- and challenges you to think deeper than surface appearances. A delightful meditation on self, with performer Yuyu Rau, and inspired by Bruce Lee.

Source: "Who am I? Think again" by Hetain Patel, TED Talks is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Your research project

The following is your research project description (the higlighting is from your librarian to emphasize the research requirements) ; please ask Professor Butler, if you have questions about the assignment itself.

Research Project Overview: 

Introduction: 

One of the main goals of Eng. 101 is to help you advance your literacy skills that will support your academic, personal, and professional journeys. This means knowing how to find good, reliable information and how to synthesize that information. To do this, you will practice critically thinking about what you read, what you see, and what you think. Throughout the rest of the quarter, you will embark on an inquiry exploring a topic that you care about related to the course. There are three phases to our inquiry process. 

Phase 1- Exploration: 

  • What?  

  • We have read, and we will continue to read several articles that explore various themes and ideas related to language, culture, identity, and power. We will explore these themes and ideas through many lenses and discuss them in order to 1) generate ideas for research topics and 2) to develop and practice academic writing skills and strategies. We will also consider how class texts can be used as models for our own writing.  

  • Why? 

  • Real research is messy! Developing a thoughtful research question and a topic appropriate for your research paper takes time. The main point of this phase is to use writing as a tool to conduct inquiry by critically reading and evaluating a variety of texts. This will help you build schema, develop a clear research question, and practice essential academic reading, writing, and thinking skills.  

Phase 2- Focused Research: 

  • What?  

  • Research Journals- Find 2 sources from the library databases and complete a Research Journal for each one.  

  

  • Why? 

  • During this phase, you will zoom-in on your research topic and questions to find 2 credible sources. Your research journals will help you discern the important ideas and evidence from your sources, critically evaluate the credibility of your sources, and prompt you to record your own thinking based on the information you read.    

Phase 3- Synthesis, A.K.A Putting it all together: 

  • What?  

  • Find at least 3 more credible sources (you will not create research journals for these)  

  • Write an MLA or APA expository (research) essay using the sources you worked with during Phases 1-3 (at least 5 sources total).  

 

  • Why? 

  • The MLA or APA essay is the final step of your research project. You will pull information from your sources together with your own ideas to create a claim that you will defend using evidence from at least 5 sources. We will look at and learn about APA citations in addition to MLA, so you can choose either format for your essay.  

Your librarian

Profile Photo
Heather Gillanders
Contact:
Bldg 7, Library
If I'm not available, please stop by the reference desk to talk to another librarian.

Library workshop agenda, 10/23

CC BY SA license

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