WRTG 391 7970 Advanced Research Writing
Week 1 Discussion
DQ1 Searching Basics: Getting Started on WA #1
1. In your opinion, what is the most important step to take when reading research articles? According to the material you’ve watched and read, what is the most important step to take when reading research articles? Answer in one or two sentences.
2. What research topic do you think that you will focus upon for this semester’s work? Why? Answer in one or two sentences.
3. After reading “Searching Basics” and/or watching the first two library tutorials, please find one (1) article on your chosen research topic that review and give the findings of a research study.  In responding to this discussion topic, give the author(s), the title of the article, and a brief one- or two-sentence description of the research study and its findings.
(The activity in this last task will help you get started on your Critical Annotated Bibliography, which is Writing Assignment #1.)
4. Now take a moment to reflect on one classmate’s chosen topic (refer to #2). Respond to his or her thread and write one to two sentences sharing your thoughts on his or her topic.
DQ2 Practice in writing the annotated bibliography
Please access the article, “The CSI Effect at University: Forensic Science Students’ Television Viewing and Perceptions of Ethical Issue,” by Roslyn Weaver, Yenna Salamonson, Jane Koch, and Glenn Porter.
This article is in the e-reserves section of your class.  You can access the article by taking the following steps:
click Content
select Class Resources
select eReserves
select the icon for eReserves in the middle of your page.
in the list of items that appears, locate the article and download it
After accessing the article, complete an annotation of this article as if you were considering it for a source in a paper.  In addition, please read the document titled, “Sample_annotation_CSI_at_University_391_model.pdf,” which is listed in Content for Week 1.  That document provides an example of how to annotate an article for writing assignment #1 in this class.
Please complete the following in responding to this discussion thread:
1. List the article in APA format, as the video describes.
2. Write a 100-to-150-word summary/critique of the article in which you not only summarize the article but also note any strengths or weaknesses you find in it.  In addition, mention whether it will be a possible article for an essay on the topic of the CSI effect.
Your annotation thus should include the following:
Focus of the study (~ 1-2 sentences)
Conclusion(s) of the study (~ 1-2 sentences)
Analysis of the study (e.g., any strengths or weaknesses? Any thing that was particularly remarkable/helpful?) (~ 1-2 sentences)
Its relevance to research on the CSI Effect (~ 1-2 sentences)
 
 
WRTG 391 7970 Advanced Research Writing
Week 2 Discussion
DQ1 Library Exercises #1 and #2
Please watch Library Tutorial #1.  You can access it in Content for Week 2:
Then answer the following questions and complete these tasks:
1. What topic are you considering for your Critical Annotated Bibliography (WA #1)? In other words, on what general area of interest are you going to locate five (5) scholarly articles?
2. Find one article for your annotated bibliography using the tips mentioned in the tutorial.  Then list the source in APA format and write a summary/critique of 150-200 words.
After completing those two tasks, please watch Library Tutorial #2, “Subject Search in UMUC OneSearch.”  You can access it in Content for Week 2.
Then answer the following question and complete these tasks:
3. Now that you’ve perused various articles on a topic using OneSearch, has your topic changed or become more focused in any way?  If so, please describe how it has changed.  If not, please tell us what your topic is again.
4. Find another article for your annotated bibliography, this time using subject terms, as Library Tutorial #2 describes.  List the subject terms you used.
5. List the source in APA format and write your summary/critique of 150-200 words.
After completing this exercise, you’ll have completed two annotations for your WA #1, the Critical Annotated Bibliography. 
DQ2 Examining a sample four-source essay: The Onion Router (TOR)
Please examine the sample paper for writing assignment #2 (the four-source essay).  The paper is about The Onion Router (TOR).  You can access it through Content for week 3.
This is not a perfect paper.  However, it serves as a good example of how a topic can be researched and how four articles on the topic can be synthesized into a four-source essay for this class.
Please read through the paper.  Then answer the following questions.  Your answers can be in short paragraphs.
1. In the paper, notice how the writer integrates all four sources into his second paragraph.  How does he integrate all four sources?  In other words, what distinctions is he showing among the four sources?  Does he indicate any similarities among the four sources?
2. The writer cited Jahani and Jalili in various parts of the paper.  What did Jahani and Jalili add to the literature on the TOR router, according to this paper?  You might focus on paragraphs 2 and 4.
 
WRTG 391 7970 Advanced Research Writing
Week 3 Discussion
DQ1 Library Exercise #3 — Adding Databases
This discussion thread is designed to help you become familiar with some additional features of OneSearch.  OneSearch is a service that is available through UMUC’s Library and Information Services website.  It allows a user to locate scholarly articles and other resources through a single search engine.
Please watch library tutorial #3.
Then respond to this discussion thread by completing the following tasks and answering the following questions:
1. Select two different additional databases on the right-hand side of the OneSearch interface, as the video tutorial describes.  What additional databases did you choose?  Why did you choose these particular databases?
2. Did you find any additional potential articles for your research?  If so, please post the name of the article and why you feel it is useful to you.  If not, please describe the types of articles you found through this new method and why you did not feel they had the potential to add to your research.
DQ2 WRTG 391 students,
This week , you are reading four movie  reviews of the movie Steve Jobs.  The reviews are from Ann Hornaday, Rex Reed, Benjamin Lee, and Anthony Lane.
After perusing the four movie reviews, please complete the following tasks:
You will notice that the four reviewers do not agree on their evaluation of the acting in the film.
1. First, analyze all four reviewers and, for each reviewer, write at least one summary sentence describing what the review says about the acting in the film.  In addition, for each reviewer, quote the reviewer at least one time to demonstrate the sentiment he or she expresses about the acting.
Ann Hornaday-
Summary statement:
Quote from this reviewer to support the summary statement:
Rex Reed-
Summary statement:
Quote from this reviewer to support the summary statement:
Benjamin Lee-
Summary statement:
Quote from this reviewer to support the summary statement:
Anthony Lane –
Summary statement:
Quote from this reviewer to support the summary statement:
2. Then, construct a synthesis matrix on the four authors and their views on the acting in the film.  The first item in Content for week in our class is a link to a document from North Carolina State University on using a synthesis matrix.   Use that handout as a guide.
For example, you might make “acting by Kate Winslet” a category in your matrix.  Then you would write notes about what each movie reviewer said about Kate Winslet’s acting.  You might make “acting by Michael Fassbender” a category in your table.  Then you would write notes about what each movie reviewer said about Michael Fassbender’s acting.   Continue with this theme by creating three or four categories.
3. Finally, write three or four short paragraphs that synthesize all four reviewers and the points they make on the acting in the film.  Remember, when synthesizing, you don’t simply list what each author says about the topic.  You write about the issue of acting in the film and integrate the points of all four reviewers into that analysis.
In writing your paragraphs, you would use your synthesis matrix.  You would group authors into categories, if possible.  For example, consider the reviewers that tend to praise the acting and write about them in a paragraph or two.  Then consider the reviewers that did not like the acting and write about them in a paragraph or two.  Following this analysis, you might write a concluding paragraph that summarizes all four reviewers’ views on the acting.
 
WRTG 391 7970 Advanced Research Writing
Week 4 Discussion
DQ1 Analyzing the Results of Two Research Studies
This discussion task is designed to help you learn how to analyze research studies on your own topic for WA #3.
To complete this task, you will read over the following two articles:
Dante E. Mancini, “The “CSI Effect’ in an Actual Juror Sample: Why Crime Show Genre May Matter.”
Janne A. Holmgren and Judith Fordham, “The CSI Effect and the Canadian and the Australian Jury.”
To access the articles, please take the following steps:
click Content
select Class Resources
select eReserves
select the icon for eReserves in the middle of your page.
in the list of items that appears, locate the articles and download them.
After you find these two articles, please read them over and complete the following tasks for each one:
list the source in APA format
list key terms in the article
describe the focus of the study
describe the methodology the author(s) used
summarize the study’s findings
write your reflections on the article itself.  Comment on whether you found the study difficult to interpret, whether you understood the methodology, or other items that might be of interest to your fellow classmates.
This task will help you become more familiar with finding research studies on your topic, reading them over, gleaning the main points of them, and summarizing their findings.  These skills will be helpful as you continue to research for WA#3.
DQ2 Preparing for the six source essay and the synthesis of sources essay
Your third writing assignment (WA #3) in WRTG 391 will be a six-source essay, or an expanded synthesis. This essay will lead you to your final essay (WA #4), a multiple-source synthesis essay, also known as a literature review.
Watch the two video tutorials from UMUC Library, “How to Write a Literature Review” and “How to Write a Synthesis Essay,” and complete the following task.
Imagine that you are working for department within a large company.  The manager of your department is considering allowing workers in your department to telework, in other words, to work from home.
However, your manager is not sure what to expect from this possible change.
She is not sure what the advantages, pitfalls, unexpected issues, etc. are of allowing teleworking. For example, she is not sure whether workers become less productive because they will be working from home and not supervised.  She also considers the possibility that workers will become more productive because they won’t have to worry about traffic and parking.  They won’t have to take large amounts of time off to get children to a doctor’s appointment, to see a doctor themselves, to take care of errands, etc.  It is possible that working from home will improve productivity.
Other questions abound in her mind.  For example, how many days a week should the workers be allowed to telework?  Should they be limited to one day?  Two days?  Or should they be unlimited to telework as many days as they would like per week?
In addition, she is not sure if everyone should be allowed to telework or if perhaps only people in certain positions should be allowed to telework.  For example, she knows that the janitor cannot telework.  His job could not be done at a distance.  But some individuals could telework, as their jobs involve meetings and other functions that could be accomplished at a distance.
Overall, your manager is somewhat at a loss on this issue.
Your manager has asked you to review the literature on teleworking.  She has asked that you submit a literature review to her next month on the topic of teleworking.
From what you have gleaned in this class about what a literature review is, what is your manager asking you to do?
Does she want a proposal that supports a new teleworking arrangement?
Does she want a persuasive paper that takes a stand against teleworking?
Or does she want something entirely different from those two options?
Please give your answer in a paragraph of 5-10 sentences.
 
WRTG 391 7970 Advanced Research Writing
Week 5 Discussion
DQ1 Analyzing Results Research Studies
This discussion task is designed to help you analyze some research studies on the topic on which you will be writing WA #3.
To complete this task, you find three articles through UMUC’s OneSearch that report on research studies.  Many scholarly articles are actually reports of the findings of a research study. For this reason it should not be difficult to find three such articles.  For example, if your topic is teleworking (which is a very general topic), you could easily find three studies on teleworking.  If your topic is white-collar crime, you could find three studies on the very general topic of white-collar crime.
After you find your three articles, please read over the three articles and complete the following for each one:
list the source in APA format
list key terms in the article
describe the focus of the study
describe the methodology the author used
summarize the study’s findings
write your reflections on the article itself.  Comment on whether you found the study difficult to interpret, whether you understood the methodology, or other items that might be of interest to your fellow classmates.
This task will help you become more familiar with finding research studies on your topic, reading them over, gleaning the main points of them, and summarizing their findings.  These skills will be helpful as you continue to research for WA#3.
DQ2 Developing Categories for the Literature Review
In this discussion topic, we will explore some resources that are designed to help students understand the concept of a literature review. Please browse these resources and then complete the discussion post below.
the article by Ted Zorn and Nittaya Campbell, “Improving the Writing of Literature Reviews through Literature Integration Exercise” — this article is available in the e-reserves section of this class.  To access the article, please take the following steps:
click Content
select Class Resources
select eReserves
select the icon for eReserves in the middle of your page.
in the list of items that appears, locate this article and download it.
the tutorial from The University of North Carolina on writing literature reviews.  It is linked to at the top of the Content for this week.
the tutorial from UMUC’s Effective Writing Center on writing the literature review.  It is linked to at the top of the Content for this week.
Task:
After reviewing the material on the Literature Review posted above, please return to your annotated bibliography and begin developing “categories” to help you to organize your sources. Post one category below and list several sources that might fill that category. Remember that some sources may fall into more than one category. Please feel free to post questions or concerns because your instructor wants to help you. Please respond generously to at least two of your fellow classmates.
DQ3 Applying the Spider Diagram
You can use a spider diagram to help you to structure your discussion of sources for writing assignment #4, the synthesis of sources essay (literature review). The spider diagram can also help in coming up with gaps and unanswered questions that you found as a result of writing it.
A spider diagram is a visual tool usually used for planning your writing. However, you can also use it for evaluating and thinking about a topic in detail.
To use the spider diagram, please print out your draft of writing assignment #4. Then place a piece of paper in front of you and complete the tasks listed below.
For more information on the Spider Diagram, please visit the link at the top of this week’s Content, Spider Diagrams: How and Why They Work.
Task :
Write your idea/title/topic/thesis in the center of a piece of paper. Draw a circle around it. For the purposes of this exercise, you will use the topic of your Literature Review.
Draw a “leg” from the central “body” of your Literature Review topic towards the top right hand corner of the page. Label this “leg” with the first topic/category that you dealt with in your Review.
Add more legs moving clockwise around the page until all the sections have been included, with the final one being somewhere near the top left of the page.
Now divide each “leg” up into smaller “legs” with all the points that you made in each section. (Again work clockwise from the top left so that the sequence of ideas is maintained).
Finally, please be sure that one section is devoted to identifying any gaps or niches in the research literature in your synthesis of sources essay (literature review), or WA#3.
You may have to redraw your spider diagram several times until you find a structure that works for you. Make sure that you find a proposal structure that suits the needs of your Niches and Gaps paper. Please post your spider diagram below.
Respond to this discussion topic with one paragraph describing how this task might have helped you or why it did not help you in organizing your thoughts for WA#3.
 
WRTG 391 7970 Advanced Research Writing
Week 6 Discussion
DQ1 Analyzing a Literature Review, Part I
This discussion thread is designed to help you see how a synthesis of sources essay, or literature review, is organized.
Please download the article, “Beyond Frequency: Perceived Realism and the CSI Effect,” by Evelyn Maeder and Richard Corbett.  The article is available in the e-reserves of your class.
On pages 84-85, the authors provide an introduction to the research study they conducted.   You can read this section if you would like to.  However, for this discussion thread, please read from page 85 “(“The CSI effect defined”) to page 94 (up to the section entitled “Method”).
Then answer the following questions:
1. In the first section (“The CSI effect defined”), do the authors ever give you their opinion on the CSI effect?  How do they support their definition and their expansion on the definition?  How many different sources do they cite in this section?
2. From pages 86-88, the authors discuss lawyers, police officers, judges, and community members.  In this section, do the authors ever give you their opinion on any of the issues discussed?
3.  Examine the section entitled “Verdicts” (pp. 90-92).  How do the results from the study by Shelton et al. differ from the results of the study by Kim, Barak, and Shelton?   How do the results of the study by Baskin and Sommers differ from the results of other studies?
4. As a result of having read this article, please write a few sentences about what you might have learned about a) synthesizing sources or b) the CSI effect.
DQ2 Identifying problems in a paragraph with a source
You have written a four-source essay and a six-source essay and are working toward the multiple-source essay.  Throughout the semester up to this point, you have integrated sources into your writing and have gleaned various strategies in using different ways of integrating sources.
As we conclude the course, please examine the following short paragraph on a hypothetical paper about cybersecurity and the Internet of Things.  The writer has made some errors in his integration of Shindell as a source.
Please identify at least two errors.  Describe what the errors are in a sentence or two.  (You don’t have to re-write the paragraph.  You just need to describe what the errors are.)
One potential method of hacking into a hospital’s records is through a wearable device.  Often, wearable devices are used by health care institutions to monitor blood pressure or other health conditions.  However, such devices expose vulnerabilities in the system.  (Shindell, 2018) argues that hackers increasing integrate malware to infect such devices and then use them as foundations upon which to attack the health care institution’s IT systems.  Specifically, (Shindell, 2018) maintains that ransomware is especially pernicious.  “During an attack, victims will typically encounter a screen giving them directions for paying a ransom to retrieve their data…”   “More than half of hospitals surveyed were hit with ransomware in the previous 12 months.”
 
WRTG 391 7970 Advanced Research Writing
Week 7 Discussion
Analyzing a Literature Review: Part II
This discussion thread is designed to further help you see how a synthesis of sources essay, or literature review, is organized.
Please download the sample literature from the 100-level psychology class.
Please note that this literature review is more informal than the one on the CSI effect by Maeder and Corbett that you read last week.  You will notice a level of informality in its tone and language.  In addition, it is not perfect in its synthesis of sources.  Moreover, the author cites only six sources throughout the review.  Overall, this is a literature review written for a 100-level class.  Please keep in mind that you literature review might not be as sophisticated as the one by Maeder and Corbett.  Nonetheless, it provides a helpful demonstration of how one can analyze studies, synthesize sources, and divide a review into categories.
Please answer the following questions:
1. In the introduction, what is the thesis statement for this paper?
2. In the section entitled “Influence of Mood on Eating Behavior,” does the writer ever give her own opinion?  If you think so, point out where she does.
In this section, the author mentions limits to the study by Oliver and Wardle.  What are the limits of this study, according to the writer?
3. Throughout the paper, does the author ever advocate for programs or other steps to be taken for the problem she describes in the paper?
4. In the section “Influence of Eating Behavior on Later Moods,” the writer cites only one source. If you were to give her advice on this section, what advice might you give her to help her develop it more effectively?  Feel free to search in the library databases for articles on this topic or to suggest key words for her to search on.
5. As a result of having read this article, please write a few sentences about what you might have learned about synthesizing sources.
 
WRTG 391 7970 Advanced Research Writing
Week 8 Discussion
Sharing your gaps and unanswered questions
As you have researched your topic for the annotated bibliography, the four-source essay, the six-source essay, and the multiple-source synthesis essay (literature review), please consider the following questions:
What gaps or unanswered questions do you have about your topic?  In other words, is there an area or are there areas on which you’d like to see more research?
You can write a short paragraph of 100-200 words to answer this question.
Then, please write a response to one of your classmates on their thread, commenting on their research gaps or their research process in one or two sentences.