FRST 1101-015 College WritingFall 2014Pam Cross, Instructor
Office: J-105i; office phone: 609-652-4899 (x4899); cell: 609-442-2293
e-mail:
course blog:
Assignments for Tuesday, October 7:
Class meets in F-210 on Tuesday.
Intro to research and APA style. Sorry, October is our “must work hard to make this fun” month.
Over the weekend, please give some thought to what issue or problem you would like to research.
I want you to consider this topic from a neutral point of view. Therefore, if you have strong opinions (one way or the other) about a topic, you should move on and select another topic about which you can take a more neutral stance.
For Tuesday, I want you to do four things, and three involve Wikipedia.
1)Go to Wikipedia and read the entry on Neutral Point of Vew (NPOV)
This part of the assignment should take you about 30 minutes tops.
2)Go to Wikipedia and check out their terrific list of so-called controversial issues:
It’s a huge list. Please spend at least an hour (maybe two) deciding on an issue that you think you want to research. Click around. Remember that you are going to spend the whole month of October on this topic, so choose wisely.
3)Read the Wikipedia entry on this topic. Some of the entries are long. It’s OK to skim, but read through carefully enough to understand why this issue made the list of controversial subjects. Remember, all we need to have a controversy is a difference of opinion involving some aspect of the issue. For example pedophilia makes Wikipedia’s list not because there are experts out there who argue it’s a good thing, but because there are differences of opinion about causes and treatments.
4)Type up a neat and meaty paragraph (8 – 12 sentences) about the topic you want to research and why you have selected this topic. What do you hope to learn?*
To earn all 10 points for this assignment, I suggest you work with a tutor. Come on, it’s one paragraph: it will take 15 minutes of your day or evening on Monday.
* Please note the question. I am asking you what you hope to learn, not how much you know. If you are choosing a topic because you already know a lot about it, you are thinking about this project all wrong—or a little bit wrong. This paper will be about consulting the experts, not about showing how much you know. (We’ll do that on another paper later in the course.)
In Tuesday’s class we will talk about APA formatting and how to narrow your topic. Also, more on why I love Wikipedia but not on your References page. Not a class to miss, young people.