Formatting – To maintain consistency across student evaluations, papers turned in should be typed, proofread, double-spaced, and use Helvetica 12-point font, 1-inch top and bottom margins and 1-inch left and right margins, and have page numbers (1 of xx pages). Cite ideas and words that are not your own using Chicago Manual of Style Notes and Bibliography.
Your research will build upon two media examples that you find. You will see these referred to as media example #1 and media example #2. These are your two primary sources.
Media example #1: (Asian Family Affair 1975) This media example is from one of the three Asian American newspapers published in the Pacific Northwest and listed below. It could be an article, a cartoon, or an advertisement. Most students will choose an article. It should be an example of a broader concept discussed in class, such as representation of “foreign” or “resistance.” Do not use an example you find via a different digital archive, such as a Google search. The point of this exercise is to learn experientially using the library’s resources. Once you find the media example that fits your research interests best, then make a digital copy. Make a note of the publication name, volume, issue, year, date, and page number.
Filipino Forum (available 1928–30, 1942–69)
Asian Family Affair (available 1972–82)
Northwest Nikkei (available 1989–1997)
Media example #2: (Asian Family Affair 1984) Get a second media example for comparison. You have a choice. You may either:
For example, you might compare a cartoon in the Northwest Nikkei in 1989 with a different cartoon in the Northwest Nikkei in 1997.
For example, you might compare an article about a cultural event in the Filipino Forum in 1928 with a different article about a different cultural event in the Filipino Forum in 1943.
For example, you might compare an article about a City Council debate in a 1980 issue of the Asian Family Affair and a different article about the same City Council debate in a 1980 issue of the Seattle Times.
For example, you might compare an advertisement about a department store sale in the Northwest Nikkei in 1993 and a different advertisement about a department store sale in the Northwest Nikkei in 1993.
Compare two examples of media representation (article, cartoon, advertisement) in the same newspaper and across time (at least seven years difference).
Compare two examples of media representation (article, cartoon, advertisement) in two different newspapers in the same time period using the Seattle Times as the second newspaper.
Outline –
You will write a 15-page (14- to 16-pages acceptable) research paper. Use your Research Proposal as a guide. Build on discussions in and out of class. Refer to your notes from course materials. You are expected to have information in each of the section headers, a lead paragraph, and content in each required section. Your Research Paper should have:
Title: This describes your research briefly. It does not have to be a complete sentence. Oftentimes your thesis is embedded in the title.
Author information: This includes your full name, class name, and professor name.
Abstract: This 150- to 200-word summary of your research. It integrates interesting portions of the sections that follow. People use abstracts to understand the nature and scope of your research, identify your research question(s), and understand your thesis. Look at some of the scholarly sources used in this class or ones you found during your library searches as examples of how to write an abstract.
Introduction: This 1.5- to 2-page section should introduce your research and argue why it is important to ask the question(s) you do. It should include a thesis statement and evidence-based claims. In this section and in all the sections that follow, use footnotes to cite your primary and secondary sources.
Literature Review: This 4- to 4.5-page section should say how the issue you raise about Asian American media in the Pacific Northwest has been addressed in scholarly literature. The best research papers provide an overview of this scholarship and identify a gap or question that emerges when comparing the literature. (So, as a hypothetical example, one might say that Asian American Studies literature discusses baseball but not soccer, History literature discusses arts but not sports, and Media Studies literature discusses soccer and sports but not Asian American soccer and sports. Because of this, there is an opportunity to study media coverage of Asian American soccer in the Pacific Northwest.) This literature review section does NOT discuss the two media examples #1 and #2. This section ends with the question or questions your research addresses.
Method or Approach: This 1.5-page section should say how you used primary sources (these are the two media examples #1 and #2) to help you explore and respond to your research question. Central to this explanation is why you selected the sources you did as opposed to other sources you might have selected. Justify why you did your method as you did. This provides a map for a person who might replicate your work to verify your conclusions or build on it.
Findings and Analysis: This 4.5- to 5.5-page section should present what you found. This is where you say what patterns or themes you identified in your research. You also can use this section to explain what makes what you found interesting about your specific research and research question.
Conclusion and/or Summary: This 2.5-page section should tie together what you introduced early on and what you found using the method or approach you chose. It is a good opportunity to return to some of the literature discussions, and it is also important to revisit the research question you posed. You can use this section to broaden what you found interesting about your research project that might be relevant or pertinent to other areas of research or other research questions. It is also a place to describe some shortcomings of the research and reflect on how future research might overcome them.
Bibliography: These pages are not included in the page count of your paper. Follow the Chicago Manual of Style Notes/Bibliography formatting. You do not need to separate primary and secondary sources. (It should include a minimum of eight peer-reviewed sources that are books, chapters of books, or articles that are 10-pages or longer.)
Appendix or Appendices: You should have at least two appendices. The first will show media example #1. The second will show media example #2. You may find it useful to include an appendix for another material, such as a graph, that take too much space in your paper. These appendices are in addition to your minimum 15 pages (14- to 16-pages acceptable).
Terms discussed in this course that could be uses in connecting with this assignment – Coolie, Commodification, Deportation, Media, Minority, assimilation, immigration, imperialism, orientalism, race, radicalization, and diaspora.
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