Social Networking Project Overview

Rationale: This assignment fulfills important requirements for both the Information Literacy and Quantitative Reasoning Learning Goal.

• You will demonstrate the ability to find articles on a topic, form a thesis and relate the articles you find to that thesis.
• By choosing 2 articles from inside a database, you demonstrate the ability to navigate a database to find information.
• By choosing articles that are scholarly, you evaluate a source as scholarly and show you can draw information you need from the article.
• By locating numbers that support your thesis and creating a graph, you show that you can present numerical data in a meaningful format, and that you can use Excel to create a well formed graph.
• Your one page discussion on your numerical data proves you can draw inferences from numerical data, explain your findings and use inline citations.
• Your Balanced Issue Research Web pages prove that you can properly cite, evaluate sources and draw inferences from your research and use inline citations.

Overview: You will research one narrow issue of a social networking or technology ethical topic and then produce the following on that topic:

• An issue position statement with a bibliography of five sources, 2 of which must come from a database, 2 peer reviewed and all credible. Your issue position statement will explain a technology issue in a few sentences and take a position that can be argued for and against. Include a very brief sketch of your arguments for and against.
• A Issue Web Site with a Pro and Con page: Present arguments and supporting facts you found through your research. List sources at the bottom. Use inline citations to refer to the sources.
• A one page numerical data presentation: Numerical data Excel graphs and discussion using inline citations. You will find one or two sets of numerical data supporting an argument for your thesis, and then create 2 graphs of that data using Excel and write a discussion explaining how the data was collected, what it represents and how it supports your argument.

This will be broken into separate assignments:

Possible topics: Please choose a topic relating to a ethical dilemma that has arisen due to technology changes, preferrably social networking. Click here for a list of possible topics.

Deliverable #1: Write the issue position statement and bibliography of five sources:

• Research databases to find five sources related to your topic. Click here for database suggestions.
  • Find at least 2 sources from a database, 2 peer reviewed or law reviewed articles, and all credible sources.
• Write an issue position statement in the form of:
  • The issue is:
  • My position is:
  • 2 arguments for my position are: (This is high level so only one sentence is fine. The arguments can be changed later.)
  • 2 arguments against my position are: (This is high level so only one sentence is fine. The arguments can be changed later.)
• Write a bibliography. It can be in MLA or APA format (or ask me if you want to use a different format) but all citations must use the same style
  • Use the Purdue Owl MLA Guide or Purdue Owl APA Guide
  • Please include the database name in the citation
  • Format with a hanging indent so the beginning sticks out to the left
  • Alphabetize the bibliography by the first word in the citation.
  • Many databases have citation tools attached or have the citation at the end. Be sure to choose the correct format (APA or MLA).
  • You may find this powerpoint helfpul.
  • For web sites that are not found in databases: place the root web site name after the citation. For example, put www.adelphi.edu/~pe16132 at the end of a citation on my site.
  • Citation Makers: Don't get caught by relying too heavily on a citation maker. A common issue with citation makers is not including both the title and journal for a journal article. It also commonly does not include the article title, site and publisher of a web site citation. For database articles, you will often have to add the database name yourself.
  • Extra Information after each source:
    • Cite each source used on the page in MLA or APA format.
    • Include all sources from your bibliography. The Pro side needs at least 3 sources and the Con side needs at least 2 sources. The same source can be on both pages.
    • After each source, include answers to these questions:
      • Where you found it : Database, Web. If database, give the database name as well. If Web, give the web link (or just hyperlink the citation to the source)
      • Type of Source: scholarly, popular, trade, government ( See this description of scholarly vs popular vs trade )
      • Is it peer reviewed, referreed or a legal review? (Find out whether the journal is peer reviewed. Ulrich's Web lists whether a journal is peer reviewed or refereed. Also, some databases have a peer-reviewed filter that can prove the journal is peer reviewed. )
      • Are there citations inside the article?
      • Bias Meter: Mention any signs of bias you found: (You can skip this section for peer reviewed articles.)
        • Does it use persuasive language?
        • Does it use sensational language meant to evoke feelings in the reader?
        • Is it missing significant facts or viewpoints from other articles you found.
        • Is it in a publication or site meant to sell or convince of a certain viewpoint?

         

Deliverable #2: Pro/Con Web Site:

• Your goal is to communicate arguments for both sides of a position to your reader. You want the reader to be able to find the source, know how credible the source is, and know what argument support the source contains. You do not have to cover all arguments in depth.

• On your home web page, create 1 link:
  • Issue Position
• Create a Issue Position Page Containing:
• Your Issue resolution statement - with text copied from the last deliverable
• A link to: Arguments for my position
• A link to: Arguments against my position
• Create a Arguments for my position page and a Arguments against my position page
  • Discussion section:
    • This can be in paragraph or bullet form and can include pictures.
    • All ideas taken from sources should have inline citations inside parenthesis - such as (Adams, 3)
    • Every source at the bottom should have at least one inline citation
    • Include facts taken from your research that support each argument
    • Your own opinion should not be included, only information found in research.
    • Remember to use quotation marks if you copy any text at all.
  • Citation section
    • Cite each source used on the page in MLA or APA format.
    • Include all sources from your bibliography. The Pro side needs at least 3 sources and the Con side needs at least 2 sources. The same source can be on both pages.
    • After each source, include this information:
      • Where you found it : Database, Web. If database, give the database name as well. If Web, give the web link (or just hyperlink the citation to the source)
      • Type of Source: scholarly, popular, trade, government ( See this description of scholarly vs popular vs trade ) and mention if it is peer reviewed
      • If you found any bias, mention it here

Deliverable #3: Write the numerical data presentation:

• Preparation:

• Pre-deliverable #3A: Research for numerical data and create one graph to prepare
• Pre-deliverable #3B: Answer questions about that graph. Those answers will be useful as you do the graph analysis discussion later

• Find numerical data in your research that supports or refutes your argument.
• Create at least one Excel graph to convey the numerical data in a clear manner. (done in pre-deliverable 3A, the one graph creation)
• Even if your data was in a graph in your research, you need to recreate the graph in Excel on your own.
• The graph also needs to be clearly marked so that the information is visually accurate and easy to understand on its own, with a clear title, and clear axis labels.
• The graph cannot be misleading, so a pie chart would need to be parts of a whole, and a bar chart would need to start at 0 and have parallel values and trend lines would need to have reasonable outer bound lines, and all data points must accurately reflect the numbers.
• Include the year of the information in either the chart title or axis.
• Include the qualities of the people or subjects studied in either the chart title or axis.
• Write a discussion paper as a word document with these parts: (using information from pre-deliverable 3B, the survey)
  • Insert a picture of your Excel graph with an in-text citation and figure number label.
    
  • Write a one page discussion explaining how the graphed numbers support your thesis.
    • Use an inline (parenthetical citation) under the graph stating the source and label the graph as a figure number.
    • Use at least one inline (parenthetical citation) citation for each paragraph that has any facts that rely upon the source. If you copy text, be sure to use quotes as well.
    • Describe the scope of the numbers including a description of the sample set they came from. Mention the sample size as well.
    • Discuss the graphs themselves and significant information each graph (if you have more than 1) is presenting.
    • Explain the inferences that support or refute your argument. Mention at least one of your thesis arguments that is being supported.
    • You do not need to write about any of your research that is not found in the graph or to prove your entire thesis - this is all about analyzing the numbers.
    • Write this in third person (no "I" or "you") and avoid "I believe".
    • You do not need to explain how you found the numbers, but instead, just cite the sources.
    • It is okay to have more than one graph from the same study or come from the same source.

Adelphi's library page doesn't always show the databases, so here are links to Adelphi's library database resources.

• Adelphi's Databases - to get right to a database
• Adelphi's Database of journals inside databases - to find out which database holds a journal