The research project will explore an emerging social trend of the student's choosing, with approval of the instructor. The topic may be tangentially related to the student's major or minor, but not directly related to their studies. The research project will involve a substantial paper (approx. 1500 words). It's expected that the paper will have supplemental graphical assets.
The purpose of the research report is to thoroughly define an emerging, transformative social trend- its origin, its current state of maturity, what other trends it impacts, and so on. The report should be written so that a non-specialist will understand its implications are currently for society and/or the environment. Remember that this paper is not intended to be predictive - that is the purpose of the final project.
Examples of past presentations can be seen on the showcase page.
Your report should be approx. 1500 words (2 - 3 pages). not including figures or citations. Your paper should have 3 - 6 high-quality citations (do not cite dictionaries or encyclopedias). You may use whatever citation format you prefer, be it MLA, APA, etc.
The prose format is single space, 12 point text, Times New Roman font, 3/4 inch margins. You will submit the essay through Brightspace's TurnItIn (so avoid “quoting at length”). As a standard we use MS Word or PDF files.
The paper should have a title, but sections and subsections are up to you. A strong paper has an introduction or overview which contains the thesis, a background for context, the body of the paper in which you build a case for your thesis, and a conclusion that ties it all together.