Young People’s Cultures

Research Essay: Young People’s Cultures

Part 1: Outline and Annotated Bibliography – 10%

This assignment requires you to engage in scholarly research on a specific aspect of children’s and young people’s cultures and to focus on a specific geographical area (this may be a particular nation-state or urban/ rural region within a nation-state. You may also choose a specific cultural group within a specific geographical area, such as Anishinaabe youth in Canada. The key is to have a specific focus and to avoid attempts to research on large areas such as the African continent). You may choose a topic that relates to any of the topics we have explored in class, such as: child/ youth social justice and activist cultures; children’s and young people’s creative cultural expression (written, dance, music, drama, video production, art, etc.); play; toys and material culture; peer cultures and/ or child and youth “sub-cultures”; and new media and participatory cultures.

Your paper should focus on how young people create, produce, and reproduce their own distinct cultures, not on the ways adult cultures impact them. You are encouraged, however, to explore the ways young people’s cultures interpret and reproduce adult culture.

INSTRUCTIONS:

Choose a topic and create a research question that you would like to pursue. Find SIX (6) or more scholarly, peer-reviewed resources related to your topic (books, journal articles, chapters in monographs). Be creative! You must extend your research beyond the internet. You will find excellent resources at the Scott Library’s Children’s Studies resource page: http://researchguides.library.yorku.ca/child?hs=a.

You will submit a full sentence outline with subheadings that includes your research

question and/or your working thesis statement and an outline of your essay. (You will find a useful sample
model and tips for effective essay outlines here:
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/544/01/).

Include with your outline an annotated bibliography of your 6 texts that summarizes and evaluates briefly (approximately 2-3 sentences) your resources, formatted in APA style. (Again, use the Purdue OWL as your guide: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/614/01/). Don’t worry if you think your research question, working thesis and outline will change. In fact, a careful researcher’s exploration will inevitably change as she or he moves through the process of researching and writing.

*Note that the grade for your outline and bibliography will be based on thoroughness and a coherent research plan. It does not predict the grade or success of your final research essay.

Part 2: Analytical Research Essay – 20%

2500 words (8 pages)

The culmination of your research process will be your analytical research essay. (It is highly recommended that you refer to the OWL Purdue website for a description of an “analytical research essay” before you begin writing: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/658/2/). Your paper must be formatted according to the APA method, be double-spaced, and include a Reference list. (See #4 below and the APA formatting and style guide for a sample paper in APA format: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/). Remember to give it a compelling title!

You must submit TWO copies of your essay. One copy will be the hard copy (printed out version) of your paper that you will submit at the beginning of the class. The second copy will be submitted online to Turnitin. You will
CCY 2999 6.0A 2018-19 The Global Cultures of Children and Young People 2
Dr. Cheryl Cowdy, Course Director
find this on the course Moodle site. In order to get a grade you must submit BOTH copies. If one copy is missing you will receive a 0 for this essay.

• Instructions for submitting your Turnitin copy online can be found here: https://moodle.yorku.ca/students/documentation/turnitin.html

• Please upload your file with the following submission title: Lastname_student number

Writing a research paper:

1. First pick your topic. Make sure there is enough scholarly research on your topic of choice. Make sure the topic is not too broad (remember the length of the paper is around 8 pages).

2. Do some research on your topic (research that extends beyond Google Scholar). What do scholars and researchers have to say about your topic? How can you apply what you have learned in this course to your topic? How might the ways we construct children, youth and global childhoods shape the topic of your paper?

3. Come up with a research question/thesis for your essay. Synthesize the research on or about your question/topic. Does the research you have found support your research question? Contradict your research question?

4. Your essay should consist of an introduction, body and conclusion. You should use subheadings in your paper to let the reader know what section is what. For example you might use the headings of: Introduction, Background, Current (or Historical) examples, Conclusion. These are just suggestions, you will need to come up with subheadings that are appropriate for your own paper.
5. The conclusion should summarize your research question and your findings.
6. Don’t forget your bibliography should be in APA format and be consistent! Use helpful tools like Zotero to keep your references organized. If you need more information about this style see: http://researchguides.library.yorku.ca/content.php?pid=239540&sid=1976503

If you need further information on writing a research paper check out these guides on the

York Library website: http://researchguides.library.yorku.ca/content.php?pid=240146&sid=1981857

Reminders:

• Remember to follow APA format carefully! Include a title page, keywords, an abstract and a References page: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/general_for mat.html
• Academic Integrity: Plagiarism is the representation of another person’s ideas or writing as one’s own. You must use quotation marks and parenthetical references to give credit to the source of all ideas and quotations. Instances of academic dishonesty will be dealt with according to the Senate Policy on Academic Dishonesty (http://www.yorku.ca/secretariat/legislation/senate/acadhone.htm). Any paper that is found to contain work that is not one’s own or work that is INCORRECTLY cited will automatically receive a 0 on this assignment.

• Exceptions to the lateness penalty for valid reasons such as illness, compassionate grounds, or an extension requested atleast one week prior to the deadline will be based on a subjective assessment of these factors and appropriate documentation.

*Assignments must be turned in at the beginning of the lecture in person – you may not have your assignment turned in by another person in your place.