8 Middle East Research Project

MERP 2017-2018: Conflict and Compromise

General Information

Major Due Dates:

  • Research (citations and notecards in NoodleTools) will be due by Friday, December 15th.
  • Your thesis (a paragraph that includes your opinion statement about your area of focus and main supporting arguments) is due on Friday, December 15th.
  • Final paper and bibliography: Mid- January - Ms. Sparrow will let you know.

Important Documents:

Research Rubric and Grade Sheet

Choose a Focus Area

What Do I Do Now?????? This doc has super helpful suggestions for what to do when you aren't sure what information to find, or what to do next.

Homework Calendar with daily due dates

Part 1: Research

Overview:

  • You will use NoodleTools to organize your citations and research notes. To earn an A, you will need to collect notes from a minimum of 5 sources, using a variety authors/publishers (please ask if you aren't sure what this means). The number of notecards will depend on the length and usefulness of each source, but you will generally have at least 3-5 notecards for a useful source. You may complete up to 7 sources. A finished source includes a citation and all completed notecards for that source.
  • Notecard/citation due dates vary by class. See the monthly homework calendar for your specific due dates. Unless otherwise noted, sources (citations plus all notecards) are due at the beginning of the class.

Research Expectations:

  • You will use high quality, trustworthy, expert resources and will take detailed, comprehensive notes that are succinct and thorough.
    • Notes will be bullet-pointed lists of facts and important information.
    • Notes SHOULD NOT be in complete sentences.
    • You should complete multiple notecards for each source. This will be helpful when it comes to creating your outline.
  • You will be required to use Noodle Tools throughout this project. You need to review any comments left for you and make appropriate changes as needed to your citations or notecards.
  • A portion of your grade will depend on your selection of sources for your research. If you aren't sure whether something can be trusted or is from an expert, ASK!
  • Bias can be a major problem when researching controversial topics.
  • Remember that notes should be in your own words. Use your own voice to demonstrate your understanding of your topic. To avoid problems with note taking:
    • Don't write notes in complete sentences. Instead use bullet points, short phrases, facts and ideas.
    • Don't take notes sentence by sentence. Instead read "chunks" and then summarize what you believe are the main points in your notes. You can always look back quickly to make sure dates and other specific pieces of information are correct.
    • Pay attention to the notetaking tips in NoodleTools! Use the boxes on notecards for direct quotations, paraphrases, and original ideas.

Additional Research Requirements:

  • Step 1: Explore World at War and other expert sources to locate a topic that interests you
  • Step 2: Select your first source
  • Your third, fourth, fifth and any additional sources should include information that supports your area of focus/thesis.
  • In general, you should work from the "big picture" down to the smaller details. Use your research question sheet to make sure you've covered the major areas required and to generate narrower, more specific questions as you move through your research.

Databases and websites to explore:

History in Context: World database. NOTE: The reference items contain good historical overviews and there are current events articles in the news and magazine sections. Be sure to check the dates on reference and news articles, since they might not reflect the most recent developments.

BBC World News: The Middle East Look for information about Syria, or another country affected by the crisis.

The New York Times: The Middle East Check for current articles (the most recent is usually listed first) or look for specific countries on the drop-down list to the right. Each country page contains current events articles and links to recommended sources beyond the NY times. Special Note: CWA has a school subscription to the NY Times, that only works on campus. At home, the NY Times only allows you to view 10 articles/month for free unless someone in your family subscribes. If you get a message when using it at home telling you that you have reached your 10 articles, save a link to the article and you can work on it at school the next day.

Al Jazeera: Syria's War - Refugee Crisis There are more sections of Al Jazeera you might explore, but this link goes directly to the page with all the recent articles on the refugee crisis.

Al Jazeera: Battle for Aleppo If you are interested in what's happening in Syria right now, this page collects articles about one of the current crises in Syria.

Other resources from experts:

      • History Study Center database. Note: There are a number of excellent articles in the Study Guide section of the database. Study Guides > History of Asia and the Middle East > The Middle East > Explore! There is so much good stuff here. Each article is a separate source, just make sure you aren't getting all your information from the same author or publisher (like all from The New York Times, or The Guardian, or The Encyclopedia of British Military History).
      • National Geographic Online There are some very interesting current and historic articles on topics in the Middle East.
      • eLibrary database of newspaper and magazine articles, interview transcripts and more.
      • The US Department of State website includes information about US policies on issues relating to the Middle East.
      • Print encyclopedias and books from the library! Because a large portion of this project includes current events information, print books may not be helpful. However, if you are looking for background (historical) information about people, places or events, you can Search the library catalog, or ask Ms. Everill to help you find what you need. Use indexes and tables of contents to pinpoint the information you need. You will rarely need to read an entire book.

If you find an excellent source that isn't on this list, let Ms. Everill know and it can be added so that others can use it as well. In fact, if you've read this far, go ahead and email Ms. Everill now and tell her your favorite animal.

    • Note: You can limit a Google search to a particular type of site by starting your keyword search with the term - site:gov (or site:org, site:edu, etc). Although you can't always trust every result, it will decrease the number of sites you find to those that might be more helpful (such as sites from libraries and schools).
    • BEWARE of the sites below. They frequently show up near the top of search results but are not good choices (for different reasons) for this project. If you have a question about one of the sites, please check in with Ms. Everill:
  • globalissues.org
  • Wikipedia
  • Associated Content
  • globalsecurity.org
  • about.com
  • Answers.com
  • eHow
  • Ask
  • Yahoo! Answers
  • Even more can be found on this list of content farms...in case you are wondering if your site might be one.

Part 2: Prepare your outline (after winter break)

Part 3: Write your paper (after winter break)