Respond: Collecting Data on Your Own
RESPOND •
1. The following is a list of general topic ideas from the Yahoo! Directory’s “Issues and Causes” page. Narrow one or two of the items down to a more specific subject by using research tools in the library or online such as scholarly books, journal articles, encyclopedias, magazine pieces, and/or informational Web sites. Be prepared to explain how the particular research resources influenced your choice of a more specific subject within the general subject area. Also consider what you might have to do to turn your specific subject into a full-blown topic proposal for a research paper assignment.
Age discriminationPoverty
Child soldiersRacial profiling
Climate changeSolar power
Corporal punishmentSustainable agriculture
Drinking ageTax reform
Educational equityUrban sprawl
Immigration reformVideo games
Media ethics and accountabilityViolence in the NFL
Military use of dronesWhistleblowing
PornographyZoos
2. Go to your library’s online catalog page and locate its list of research databases. You may find them presented in various ways: by subject, by field, by academic major, by type — even alphabetically. Try to identify three or four databases that might be helpful to you either generally in college or when working on a specific project, perhaps one you identified in the previous exercise. Then explore the library catalog to see how much you can learn about each of these resources: What fields do they report on? What kinds of data do they offer? How do they present the content of their materials (by abstract, by full text)? What years do they cover? What search strategies do they support (keyword, advanced search)? To find such information, you might look for a help menu or an “About” link on the catalog or database homepages. Write a one-paragraph description of each database you explore and, if possible, share your findings via a class discussion board, blog, or wiki.
3. What counts as evidence depends in large part on the rhetorical situation. One audience might find personal testimony compelling in a given case, whereas another might require data that only experimental studies can provide. Imagine that you want to argue that advertisements should not include demeaning representations of chimpanzees and that the use of primates in advertising should be banned. You’re encouraged to find out that a number of companies such as Honda and Puma have already agreed to such a ban, so you decide to present your argument to other companies’ CEOs and advertising officials. What kind of evidence would be most compelling to this group? How would you rethink your use of evidence if you were writing for the campus newspaper, for middle-schoolers, or for animal-rights group members? What can you learn about what sort of evidence each of these groups might value — and why?
4. Finding evidence for an argument is often a discovery process. Sometimes you’re concerned not only with digging up support for an already established claim but also with creating and revising tentative claims. Surveys and interviews can help you figure out what to argue, as well as provide evidence for a claim.
Interview a classmate with the goal of writing a brief proposal argument about the career that he/she should pursue. The claim should be something like My classmate should be doing X five years from now. Limit yourself to ten questions. Write them ahead of time, and don’t deviate from them. Record the results of the interview (written notes are fine; you don’t need to tape the interview). Then interview another classmate with the same goal in mind. Ask the same first question, but this time let the answer dictate the next nine questions. You still get only ten questions.
Which interview gave you more information? Which one helped you learn more about your classmate’s goals? Which one better helped you develop claims about his/her future?