This assignment consists in 3 parts.
a) a well-refined one-sentence Research Question
b) an annotated bibliography of 15 academic journals (where you will have to write the the general thesis, supporting arguments, methodology , and ideology)
c) a detailed outline of what would be a major research paper. (Every support paragraph should include the thesis statement, statement of method, statement of significance)
1) The first step is to devise a very carefully constructed one sentence Research Question. You are to choose your own topic. If you do not already have a topic in mind, please focus on Argentina, Chile, Brazil, or a Central American country. You may also wish to cover a theme rather than a country. Do not pose a future-tense question.
Limit your question in terms of time-frame and subject, so that the question is narrow enough to address thoroughly in a 15 page research paper.
Examples of an acceptable question are the following: What were the FARCs chief political interests in its peace negotiation with the Colombian Government from 2012-2017? Or: What have been the major political impacts in Venezuela of black market currency manipulation since 2012? An example of an unacceptable question, one that is too broad, is the following: What are US interests in the Latin America?
2. ) 2) Once you have a research question, use any web library and obtain 15 ACADEMIC JOURNAL sources, the higher quality, the better. Strive for ideological balance in the sources, provide more than one perspective to your topic. Make sure your sources are sufficiently diverse to incorporate a debate into your paper. DO NOT USE BOOKS.
3) Provide an annotated bibliography. That is, provide a bibliography of the sources you are using (alphabetized in accepted bibliographical style), with a one-paragraph annotation for each source. Each citation will address four components: the thesis; supporting arguments; methodology (address quality of sources and coherence of the piece); and ideology, or bias.
The citation should be in complete sentences with careful writing. Do not write more than five sentences (one sentence each for the thesis, supporting arguments and ideology, and two sentences for the methodology commenting on sources and coherence ).
Example of one annotated bibliography:
North, Liisa. Understanding Central America (Toronto: Between the Lines, 1989).
Norths central argument is that US policy to Central America is misconceived and runs counter to the interests of Central Americas majority population. She notes that US military policy is backfiring by causing anti-Americanism, and that US policy is causing a deterioration of living standards in Nicaragua and El Salvador in particular. Regarding methodology, North uses many primary sources such as interviews, government documents, and UN reports. Her argument is logical and well-presented. North writes from a socialist perspective.
4) Provide a detailed outline of what would be your research paper. The outline is to include:
a) Your complete three sentence introduction: thesis; statement of method; statement of significance;
b) The topic sentence of each paragraph for what would be a 15 page paper;
c) After each topic sentence, list the relevant authors and page numbers in parentheses that you would include if you were developing that topic sentence into a paragraph.
