For your third assignment, you’re going to write a post that is essentially research notes about at least three disciplines you’ve identified for your project. This might be the same project you described in assignment two, but remember that it can change as you learn more (or change entirely!). I have provided an example for this post called “Epistemologies and Methods” that provides a structure I want you to follow. You should begin by reading chapter 5 from Repko et al’s Introduction to Interdisciplinary Studies. I encourage you to begin taking notes as you read this chapter. You can incorporate other things you find to help you understand the information in that chapter (I included a couple of YouTube videos), but that is not required (and you must cite anything you incorporate). After you’ve finished extracting information from Repko’s chapter, I want you to find at least three peer-reviewed journal articles closely related to your project (one roughly aligned to each discipline you’ve identified for your project). Beyond extracting information from a dense textbook chapter, your primary challenge in this assignment will involve reading academic journal articles in three different fields to identify the researchers’ understanding of phenomena, epistemologies, assumptions, and methods.
Step 1: Identify at least three disciplines that will help you pursue your project and extract information about them from Repko’s chapter (phenomena, epistemologies, and assumptions).
Step 2: Using my “Epistemologies and Methods” post as a template, create a post that includes and comments on Repko’s description of phenomena, epistemologies, and assumptions for these three disciplines. I chose to quote directly from Repko’s chapter, but you can also try to paraphrase what you read if that helps you better understand the information (still include in-text citations if you do this)
Step 3: Find three peer-reviewed journal articles related to your project (one roughly aligned to each discipline you’ve identified for your project), read the articles, and describe the methods employed in each article. After describing the methods to the best of your ability, identify the phenomena being studied in each article, the epistemology evident in each article, and any assumptions you note that the authors are making. Note whether this matches what Repko’s chapter describes or not.
Tip: You may find it useful to compose in a document outside of OpenLab (Microsoft Word, a Google Doc, or something else).
Step 4: Upload a featured image for your draft blog post.
Step 5: Gather information needed to describe your featured image and make sure the media file has accurate information in the “caption” and “alternative text” fields. We will work together in class to learn how to reproduce images on a website carefully, ensuring we provide proper attribution and make the image legible for all readers.
A complete blog post should have the following components:
- Title
- Featured Image (something you’ve created or something you’ve found)
- Complete media file details for featured image (“caption” and “alternative text”)
- Captions conveying attribution statements for all images in the post
- Actual post with source material clearly cited with hyperlinks (flyby hyperlinks and actual citations)
- A list of works cited at the bottom of your post formatted according to MLA guidelines (use Zbib or guidelines from WAC Clearinghouse)
