Research Portfolio Assignment

As students in the 21st century, we have gone beyond library searches and handing in bibliographies of what we plan to do.  Old school research is good, but there is more to explore.  In this century, we need to go beyond the library, especially when we are dealing with international policy issues.  Developing your research area and researching a topic in international public policy requires a commitment to investigating educational resources found not only in library databases, but also in research institutes, international financial organizations, government departments and ministries, public media, non-governmental organizations, blogs etc.  All of this is on the Internet and it takes time and effort to find information that is valuable to your research topic.  This is your assignment for the semester and it is worth 15% of your final grade. 

Step 1:  Blogging Policy Heads

Students will be expect to set up a web blog to post articles, research and other content that they find important to their topic.  The first part of Step 1 will be accomplished with the fine help of Veronica Arellano, our librarian who will take us through the details of setting up a blog.  (Thanks, Veronica!)

The second part of Step 1 will be to define either an issue or a geographic region in international affairs that you care about.  This will serve as the basis for defining a research topic that you will submit later on.  You will be required to introduce your topic, post entries and open your blog by October 3rd. 

Step 2:  Whoa, What Should I Post?

I don’t know! It is your blog and your research.  Start from the beginning: newspaper articles, overview articles, quick policy guides or introductory journal articles.  I expect that the content will reflect a wide range of related issues.  Once you get into your research, things will become more specific.  I expect that the final product will reflect lots of different content.  Part of what matters here is your effort.  You will be expect to post articles each week to show that you have been working on the topic. 

Step 3: Dudes (Dudettes): Organize Your Blog!

As you post content you will need to provide the reader with topics, descriptive categories and subcategories, ideas about what the reader can find and help with understanding the topic you are working on.  It can also serve as a framework for your research paper containing main ideas, data, charts, related studies, maps, current news and other information that you will use to write your final paper.  The drop dead due date for organization entries is November 2nd; however, I expect you to have imposed earlier organized content prior to that date. 

Step 4: Now Its Ready for Prime Time: Finalizing Content

At the end of the semester you will be have your blog completed.  The due date for submitting your final blog product is December 3rd and we will discuss and evaluate your blog together. 

Grading Your Blog

1. Process (5%):  You will get a grade for the number, diversity and quality of your blog entries.  This grade will reflect the consistency of postings that you achieve.  

2. Content (5%):  You will receive a grade for the organization of your blog and the diversity of resources that your blog is able to capture.  

3. Final Product (5%):  You will receive a grade for the final product that reflects interest, professionalism and relevance of your blog to your final topic.