What current retailer offers the best overall approach to keeping their business operating during the coronavirus?

Persuasive/Analytical Research Report

Task: complete a 5-7 page research paper which analyzes data from published sources and makes a strong argument.

Purposes: 

• Develop strong research skills by completing a multi component research report project on a subject which interest you.
• Find, organize, and correctly document reliable data from existing published sources. Establish your own strong working central claim. Take a position on a debate, issue, or problem.
• Synthesize your findings using your analysis to create a strong argumentative paper that supports your strong central claim.

4)  Share your central claim analysis, and argument and writing process. Give and receive feedback.

5)  Draft, revise, and polish to create a well-researched, well-argued, correctly documented final paper.

Topic Choices:

Select ONE topic from the list below.

1. What current retailer offers the best overall approach to keeping their business operating during the coronavirus? How does it do so? Choose ONE retailer and provide a detailed report supporting your strong central claim with evidence.

2. What current retailer offers the best overall approach to sustainability? How does it do so? Choose ONE retailer and provide a detailed report supporting your strong central claim with evidence.

3. What ONE period in history offers us the most useful insights for our current struggle with the coronavirus? Choose one historical period. Examples might include but are not limited to: 1919 flu epidemic, the polio epidemic, the Ebola threat, etc. Define the period you choose, including geographic location, dates and a descriptive name. Fully explain its relevant connections to our current moment, and support your strong claim about what we can learn from this period of history that will be of value in our current moment.

4. What ONE period in history offers us the most useful insights for our current struggle to build a truly egalitarian society? Examples might include but are not limited to: the creation of the US Constitution, the French Revolution, the American Civil War, the American Civil Rights Movement, or the movement to end Apartheid in South Africa. Define the period you choose, including its location, dates and a descriptive name. Fully explain its relevant connections to our current moment, and support your strong claim about what we can learn from this period of history that will be of value in our current moment.

5. The Fashion Industry has often enforced biases, oppression, or unhealthy ideals. Choose one clearly focused, tightly defined product or practice and support your strong central claim as to how it damages physical or mental health and to what degree you believe it should be regulated or held responsible. (For example you might consider: corsets, high heels, running shoes, apparel sizing, or beauty products. How might the product or practice contribute to race or gender bias, addiction, eating disorders, addiction, or other threats to public health?)

Sources: 5-10 strong sources must be used for the final report.

• Sources may be print or electronic. Acceptable published sources include books, articles in professional journals, newspapers, or magazines related to the topic/field, and legitimate and official websites produced by professionals, credible experts, or established companies or agencies or organizations. You may also use professionally produced or curated films, documentaries, news broadcasts, or museum exhibits. podcasts may be used if the professional credentials of the podcaster are provided. Find your published sources through established data bases and library based search methods. All references to sources must be properly documented according to MLA standards. Refer to the MLA section of The Pocket Style Manual. 

• Unacceptable sources include Wikipedia, personal blogs, individual tweets or posts, podcasts by non-experts, or other informal, insubstantial sources by non-experts. NOTE:While published interviews that you find in reputable sources such as a newspaper are acceptable, NO interviews, surveys, or any research materials you design or administer yourself may be included. This assignment is a persuasive/analytical research paper that uses traditional library-style research methods, not an exercise in investigative journalism nor personal memoir. As the writer, you must organize and analyze your research. You cannot serve as a source for your own paper.  Undocumented information you recall from classroom lectures, on-the-job experience, or “just know” may not be included unless if can reasonably be considered common knowledge for a non-expert audience.

• You may include graphs, charts, or images, placed at the end of the paper as appendices. (Charts, graphs, pictures, or visuals themselves do not count toward the total required page numbers.) Refer to and analyze your appendices actively in the body of your paper. Appropriate visuals are not mere decoration. They should enhance your reader’s understanding of your topic.

Documentation:

All sources must be properly documented using MLA style. Correct and complete in-text citations must be used and each source must be included in a properly formatted Works Cited page. For additional information, watch the MLA Documentation Presentation, and consult A Pocket Style Manual or The Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab). Errors in documentation will lower your grade and papers with severely inadequate or improper documentation will receive a failing grade.

Graded Components:

The sequence of components breaks down your task, making it more manageable. Each component is individually graded. For point values and due dates, see your course shell and/or course syllabus.

1. Topic and Research Question Memo: In a correctly formatted memo of one page or less, inform your instructor about your report plan. Provide specifics. Include the following:

• Focused working research question (WRQ). Your WRQ must be phrased as a question that responds to one of the above prompts and includes specifics: the company, product, period, or practice you have chosen to research and write about. (Examples: “How do the sizing practices of the apparel chain store Ingrid’s Itty Bitty contribute to an unhealthy body image for their customer base and should these practices be regulated?” OR “How can the response to the Polio Epidemic in the United States in the Twentieth Century offer us a model for a successful response to the Coronavirus?”)
• Research attack plan: Your timeframe and overall strategy for completing the assignments.
• Relevance/Benefit. Describe how this project will enrich your knowledge and/or contribute to your professional goals.

1. Annotated Bibliography: Prepare an annotated bibliography listing and briefly summarizing 6-8 potential sources for your paper. This a preliminary bibliography. The annotated bib helps you determine early whether enough quality sources exist for your topic. If you don’t find the sources you need, this is the time to change your topic to one that you can successfully research. If you find more than you can use, this is good. Narrow them down and select a few. Remember, you do not have to include all of the sources from your annotated bib in your final paper, but you may do so if you wish.

To get started with your research, refer to this library research link: https://fitnyc.libanswers.com/

To evaluate the strength of Web sources, use the CRAAP test:

https://libguides.cmich.edu/web_research/craap   

                                                                                                https://seneca.libanswers.com/faq/196756

Your Annotated Bib must include both of the following for each work listed:

• A correctly formatted Works Cited Entry: List complete information for each potential source using correct MLA format. Include author, title, publication information, or a full description of internet sources including dates of posting and access. Follow guidelines for Works Cited entries in The Pocket Style Manual MLA Documentation section for information on how to format your works cited entries for all types of sources. Place them in alphabetical order and use hanging indent.
• A brief Annotation: For each source, provide a brief summary (2-3 sentences) that describes the overall content of the source, notes the author’s main point or perspective, and states how you think the source will be useful for your project.

Sample Annotated Bib entry. (Yours does not have to be this long, but should contain these elements: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/common_writing_assignments/annotated_bibliographies/annotated_bibliography_samples.html

III. Written Skeleton Outline Discussion: Create a written outline that provides a skeleton of the main argument you will make in the body of your paper.   Begin by stating your working central claim (WCC), then follow the 3×3 rule: support your WCC with at least three main reasons, and at least three cited pieces of supporting evidence for each reason. Do not include the introduction or conclusion in this outline. Remember, the working central claim answers your research question that states the main idea of your paper. A strong central claim must be clear, concise, supportable with evidence from sources and your own analysis, and disputable.

Before you begin, look at the format sample in the course shell. Remember the following definitions:

• Reasons are your own ideas. They are secondary claims that support your thesis, stated as complete sentences.
• Evidence are facts, specifics, details, and examples that support your reasons. They come from your sources so they must be correctly cited. Follow each piece of evidence with an in-text citation.

1. Preliminary Draft of Report: Submit a draft of the body of your report including at least 4 full pages of text and a correctly formatted MLA Works Cited page. Your draft builds your argument using paragraphs based on your Skeleton Outline. Add your own words to describe how what you’ve learned from your research fits together to support your Central Claim. You will be graded on the strength of your working central claim, your overall organization, and your correct use of MLA documentation. Your preliminary draft must include:

• A strong working central claim. This states the answer to your research question and main point of your paper.
• Well-organized paragraphs with strong topic sentencesthat show thorough research and analysis supporting your central claim. Hint: reasons from you skeleton outline may work well for your topic sentences.
• Correctly formatted in-text citations
• A correctly formatted works cited page including all sources cited in the draft. (Note: the Works Cited page for the preliminary draft includes a correctly formatted works cited entry for each source cited. It does not require annotations, nor will it necessary include all the same sources in your Annotated Bib. Follow standard MLA Works Cited page format. )

What current retailer offers the best overall approach to keeping their business operating during the coronavirus?

VII. Final Report must include:

1) MLA page one heading and original title. No separate title page needed.

2) 5-7 pages of double spaced text in Times New Roman 12 point font including:

• An introduction
• A strong final central claim. This is the answer to your research question
• Well-organized text that shows thorough research and analysis and supports your thesis statement
• Your conclusion
• Correct in-text citations for all material from all sources, a works cited page including at least five Follow standard MLA Works Cited page format; Remember to update the Works Cited page for the final draft.
• Proofread: The paper should use a clear, active style and be free from errors in grammar, spelling, or punctuation.
• Include an original title and page numbers. No title page is needed.

What current retailer offers the best overall approach to keeping their business operating during the coronavirus?

APA

Click here for further assistance on this assignment