Research Blog Instructions:
This is an online, casual, version of a research paper.
It is about a specific topic. It uses citations and references for
credibility and legitimacy.
You may use any blog site you would like, or you may submit it as an
attached file.
Do NOT "recycle" a paper from any of your your previous classes.
That will get you an "F."
Step 1:
Choose a topic for your Research Blog. Pick a topic that
you are passionate about and then combine it with ASL and see what you come
up with. For example: ASL and Food.
I know that sounds "crazy" but actually such topics can be fascinating to
research. For example:
What books are there available on ASL and food? Are there signs for
food items? Are there websites that show "food signs?" Do the
web sites agree on the signs they use? Do Deaf people eat their food
differently than hearing people? How do you order food in ASL?
Are there resources for people in the food service industry (waiters,
waitresses, hosts, etc.) to learn ASL? What signs would be good for a
waiter to know?
A previous student did "ASL and Skateboarding." Wow what an odd topic, but
you know what? It was really quite fascinating. And the student learned that
a certain "skateboarding technique" that he has done in the past was named
by a Deaf skateboarder.
If you are unable to think of a topic, scroll
to the bottom of this page and you will see a list of "topic" suggestions.
Remember pick a topic that you personally are interested in.
For example, suppose you like baseball. Feel free to do a research
blog on ASL and Baseball. Are there any famous Deaf baseball players?
Did they use ASL on the field and off? Did ASL or sign language
influence the signs that are used in baseball? Contact a Deaf Baseball
player and interview him or her. Are there any Deaf baseball
organizations? What is their contact information? When and where
do they meet?
See--you can do a great research paper on almost any topic that you are
passionate about and how that topic relates to ASL or the Deaf world.
Remember you will
need to be able to cite your sources--so take good notes regarding where you
get your information. Make sure I
can easily find your specific sources.
Step 2: Post your
research topic to your blog site.
If you don't have a blog site,
you can log onto http://www.blogger.com/start
and set one up. Any decent blog site will do.
I
suggest blogger since it is free and easy to use.
Every semester a few students use their myspace.com account and it ends up
taking me 10 minutes to find their ASL-related blog...this is not good for
their grade. If your blog is on a private site, you can just copy and paste
your blog directly into an email and send it to me so I won't need to log
onto your site.
Step 3: Research your topic and find 3
credible references from professional sources.
In addition to the library you might want to consider:
http://magportal.com/
and http://findarticles.com/
You should list your sources at the end of your research blog.
Step 4: Type up your research using these guidelines:
|
Item: |
Needs improvement |
Okay/good |
Excellent |
|
Choose your topic "title" and post it to a blog
server or web page of your choice.
|
Not posted. |
Topic choice and references turned
in but not posted. |
Topic posted and web address submitted on due
date |
|
Link to Lifeprint.com |
No link. |
Text version of link. |
Active hyperlink. |
|
500 words or more |
Fewer than 500 words. |
500 words that for the most part make
sense and sort of flow well. |
500 words that make sense and flow
well. |
|
3 or more citations in the body of the article. |
No mention in your article of where
you got your ideas from. |
Less than 3 citations
included or incorrect format. |
3 citations, in correct format. |
|
3 or more references at the bottom that go with
the citations. |
No reference list at the bottom of your
article telling people how to find the material from which you got
your ideas. |
Less than 3 references
included, incorrect format, or can't backtrack to the actual
information. |
3 complete and traceable references to credible sources. |
Step 5: When you get
done, you can EITHER: Print a copy of your
blog (include the web address so I can go visit,
write your name on it if you need to)
and turn it in on the due date listed in in your syllabus or schedule OR send
me a direct link to your blog in an email. If you submit it via email
you MUST include three things in your
SUBJECT line:
a. Your first and last name
b. The word BLOG
c. The hour of your class
Extra Credit:
For 2 points extra credit, include a
clickable link to
http://www.lifeprint.com
ASL
Research Blog
Checklist:
Is the topic an ASL or Deaf Culture related
topic?
Is my report 500 words or more?
Is it posted online and publicly viewable?
Did I document where I got my
information? Did I cite at least 3 enduring, traceable sources of
information in my references?
Even if I have changed "every word" in the
sentence-- if I've borrowed someone else's idea--did I provide a reference?
Did I use citations (parenthetical
expressions with the person's name) at the end of ideas that I've gotten
from other people? Do these citations correspond to full references at the
end of the paper? Citations in the body of my paper use an opening
parenthesis, author's last name, comma, year of publication and a closing
parenthesis. For example (Vicars, 2001).
At the end of my document I have provided
a list of references that include at least the author's last name and first initial,
the publication date, the name of the article, book, or journal, the
publisher and the place of publication. ["Dr. V" recommends "APA style"
references. But he doesn't care what style you use.]
I have avoided quoting directly out of
books or articles, but when it was absolutely necessary to do so I have made
sure to cite the exact page number in my reference entry at the end of my
research paper.
Any time I used an author's ideas word for
word; did I put those words in quote marks?
Did I limit the number of direct
quotes in my paper? Did I limit the length of the quotes? (No
paragraph-long quotes.)
Did I use online references only
when I was able to ascertain the actual author's name, date of
publication, title of the document, and name of the publisher. Even so, I've
only used references that are for the most part "enduring." ("Permalinks"
are preferred).
If I've needed to write less than 500
words have I secured permission from the instructor?
I have grammar checked my document.
Does my paper contain fewer than three
misspellings? (Preferably none.)
I know the deadline for when this paper is
due. (See your schedule)
Samples of
Acceptable citations and references (below).
Note: if your blogware doesn't let you format that's okay, just put the
words and don't worry about the underlining or italics.
Citations:
In the body of your document just use
the last name of the author and the year, for example, (Vicars, 2001). Then
at the end of your document you put the word "references" followed by a
list of the books and/or articles which influenced your writing.
References:
If reference is a book:
Author's last name, first initial. (year). Title of book-- underline it.
Place of publication: Name of publisher.
Example:
Vicars, W. (1998). Sign Me Up! Salt Lake City, Utah: Lifeprint
Institute.
If reference is a Journal:
Author's last name, first name. (year). Title of journal article only
capitalize the first letter. Name of journal underline it. Volume number,
starting page number-ending page number.
Example:
Vicars, William. (1999). Teaching ASL online. Journal of ASL. 7,
139-156.
If you find an online
source that specifies the actual author's name, date of publication,
title of the document, and name of the publisher--(good luck)--I'll
accept the reference. Note, this must be from an original source document
on the web, do not quote someone else's research paper.
If reference is a web page:
Author's last name, first name. (Year, Mo. day). Title of the article or
web page goes here, underline it and only capitalize the first letter and
words that are always capitalized. Title of the journal, general
website, or book goes here . Name of the publisher or the sponsoring
organization goes here. Retrieved day Mo. Year: <full web address>.
Example:
Vicars, William. (2001, Jan. 4). Nonlinguistic communication. ASL
University Library. Lifeprint Institute. Retrieved 12, Feb. 2001: <http://www.lifeprint.com/asl101/nonlinguisticcommunication.htm>.
Note: if your
blog site screws up your "formatting" don't worry about it. Just post
the information and turn in a paper version with the right formatting.
Topics you might
want to consider using:
ASL as a World Language (The worldwide spread of ASL)
National Center for Law and the Deaf
American Society for Deaf Children
Artistic Signing
Countries, States, and Cities
Deaf Smith
Drug usage and Deaf people
Telecommunication Relay Services
Video Phones and the Deaf
Facial Expression and Non-Manual Cues
Formal vs. Informal Signing
Furniture Vocabulary
Gender and ASL
Historical Change and ASL
Iconicity of Signs
Idioms
Incorporation of Intensity
Incorporation of Time
Indexing on the Non-Dominant Hand
Inflections: Regularity and Duration
Interpreters in the Educational Setting
Juncture Markers
Kinds of Sentences
Law and the Deaf
Laurent Clerc
Loan Signs
Mental Illness and the Deaf
Miss Deaf America Pageant
Name Signs
National Captioning Institute
National Fraternal Society of the Deaf
National Technical Institute for the Deaf
National Theater for the Deaf
Non-Manual Cues in Expressing Time
Non-manual Cues
Noun-Verb Pairs
Ordinal Numbers
Passive Voice in ASL
Person Marker
Role Taking
Samuel Heinicke
SimCom
Speechreading: "Why it isn't enough"
Numbering in ASL
Telecommunications for the Deaf
Temporal Adverbs
Time Line
Total Communication
Technology and the Deaf