Brainstorming and Research Questions

What is a research question?

First...

BRAINSTORM: Think about a few topics that interest you and develop a list. Your weekly agenda (2/24) is set up to help organize your ideas and provide a broad range of topics.

Think about what's been going on in the world socially and politically over the past few years (immigration/family separations, legalization of marijuana, voting, protests and social issues/civil unrest, covid-19, the economy, the Capital) and see if there are any that struck a chord with you or you feel like diving in to.

Think about pop culture (movies, music, streaming, the entertainment industry), technology (app development, diversity in big tech, censorship), sports (anthem protests, covid concerns, gender equality), religion, current events, climate change.

You can browse the Gallup site to look at polls and data on just about every issue under the sun.

Slowly narrow this down to be more and more specific and once you settle on a topic, narrow it down before. Which brings us to...

QUESTION: A research question is a clear, focused, concise, complex and arguable question around which you center your research. You should ask a question about an issue that you are genuinely curious about.

Research questions help writers focus their research by providing a path through the research and writing process.

THREE THINGS:

1. Topic should strongly interest you

2. Make sure your topic is creative  

3. It is not too broad!

Use this link for help: Research Questions: The Good and the Not so Good

The most important thing is to think about the goal. What do you want to accomplish by answering the question?

Please let us know if you have trouble brainstorming, narrowing down, or developing a clear, focused, concise, complex and arguable question. Use the agenda to stay on task.

Next week we will begin to finalize research questions and develop a thesis!

Personal Narrative

Last week you were asked to write a personal narrative:

What does identity mean? And what give you your identity.

For example, in the 57 Bus: 

Sasha identifies as genderqueer. Sasha wears a skirt everyday. Sasha must remind their friends to use proper pronouns when addressing them. Sasha is a happy and well-adjusted teenager from a good family, and they have good friends. Sasha is going to MIT. They are obsessed with all things Russian and love public transit.

Richard is arrested and charged with two hate-crimes. Richard comes from East Oakland. Richard has served time in a group home, and several of his friends have been sent to prison, or worse, have been killed in the violence that is commonplace in Oakland. Richard formed a bond with Miss Kaprice. Richard wants to graduate and make his mother proud. 

Narrative Writing 

What would you say about yourself? 

Use the Pre-Writing Outline to address some of the same questions/topics/themes that we covered with The 57 Bus and come up/jot down with some thoughts about yourself. 

We're going to focus on writing introductions. Each essay should start with a focus on what identity means. Think about three things when you begin writing:

1. Identify the focus - The reader should be able to recognize what your writing is about. This is where you should introduce the topic, aka, address the prompt. For this assignment, think about your definition of identity. What does it mean? What is it the truly gives a person their identity?
2. Outline the scope - What will you be writing about (think about what you wrote after the article: "I believe hate crimes should be prosecuted because of reason one, reason two and reason three...")? Outline what gives you your identity. 
3. State thesis - We're going to really teach thesis writing later this year. A thesis statement is usually only one sentence long that responds to an assignment topic and appears as the last sentence of the introduction. However, for the purpose of this assignment, think of it as a "purpose statement" or a topic sentence. What is the most important aspect of your identity and what will you be writing about?

After you have your intro written, just write. This isn't going to be the most structured essay you ever write, just convey what identity means to you. 

You can write about anything you feel is important to your own identity. It can be..

• And experience in your life that shaped you (good, bad, other...)
• Something your passionate about (sports, politics, social issues, games, movies, music...)
• How you spend you time and with who (friends, family, teams, hobbies...)
• Beliefs, values, goals, attitudes...

What does identity mean? And what give you your identity.

ARGUMENTATIVE/THESIS WRITING TIPS

Helpful Links to help you remember what an argumentative essay is and how to format it. We pulled a few videos that are short and to the point. If you take the time to watch, we promise they will help. Please comment when you watch and let us know what you think.

ARGUMENTATIVE HOW TO GUIDE 

How to write a THESIS STATEMENT

Argumentative Outline- Using the topic of social media as an example