RES 104: Research Writing

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RES 104 Research Writing
Social Science

• Oceania

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Objectives

• Review Social Sciences discipline
• Understand basic thesis process
• Explore potential research topics
• Share findings
• Decide on 2 research questions

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http//www.countryreports.org/map/images/oceania.g
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Oceania - Country List

• Australia
• Christmas Island (Australia
• Cocos (Keeling) Islands
• New Zealand
• Norfolk Island (Australia)
• Fiji
• Indonesia
• New Caledonia (France)
• Papua New Guinea
• Solomon Islands
• Vanuatu
• Federated States of Micronesia
• Guam (USA)
• Kiribati
• Marshall Islands
• Nauru

• Northern Mariana Islands (USA)
• Palau
• American Samoa (USA)
• Cook Islands (NZ)
• French Polynesia (France)
• Niue (NZ)
• Pitcairn Islands (UK)
• Samoa
• Tokelau (NZ)
• Tonga
• Tuvalu
• Wallis and Futuna (France)
• Hawaii
• Easter Island

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Social Sciences

• Anthropology
• Archaeology
• Business
• Economics
• Education
• History

• Physical Education
• Political Science
• Psychology
• Sociology

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Traditional Social Science Research

• social sciences have as their goal the
  systematic study of human behavior and human
  relationships in societies using the scientific
  method develop a hypothesis and design and
  conduct a controlled experiment to test the
  hypothesis.
• Hult, p.271

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How many of you have an idea for a topic?
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Start Exploring Topics

• Geographic region Discipline
• Discipline Geographic region
• Event / topic

Research Question
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Australia

• Aboriginal Australians -- Australia -- Sydney
  Region (N.S.W.) -- History.
• Australia -- Civilization -- 20th century.
• Australia -- Colonization.
• Australia -- Emigration and immigration --
  History.
• Australia -- Race relations.
• Australia -- Social conditions -- 20th century.
• British -- Australia -- Biography.

Next
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Australia

• British -- Australia -- History -- 20th century.
• British -- Cultural assimilation Australia
• Convict labor -- Australia -- History -- 19th
  century.
• Cook, James, 1728-1779 -- Travel.
• Immigrants -- Australia -- History.
• Race relations -- Government policy -- Australia
  -- History.
• Oceanic Ancestry Group -- history -- Australia
• National characteristics, Australian
• Nationalism -- Australia

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Micronesia

• Culture conflict -- Oceania -- Congresses.
• Culture conflict -- Pacific Area -- Congresses
• Feminism -- Indonesia -- History -- 20th century.
  
• Indonesia -- Politics and government -- 20th
  century.
• World War, 1939-1945 -- Campaigns -- Pacific
  Women -- Indonesia -- Social conditions -- 20th
• Social Change -- Pacific Islands -- Congresses.
• Social Conditions -- Pacific Islands
• Polynesia -- History.
• Polynesia -- Social life and customs

Next
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Oceania

• Oceania -- Civilization -- Foreign influences
• Oceania -- Discovery and exploration
• Oceania -- Social life and customs.
• Pacific Area -- Social conditions
• Pacific Islanders -- Social life and customs
• Social problems -- Oceania

Next
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Generating Keywords

• What are the key concepts in your topic?
• Most online databases (books, articles,
  magazines) use keywords to organize
• Time saver

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Business / Economics

• Australia gas and oil reserves
• exporter of energy
• Oil prices, mining safety
• Loss of government aid in New Zealand due to
  deregulation
• Raise fall of unions in Australia
• Papua New Guinea primary economics
• Exporters of raw materials
• Little development manufacturing

http//flickr.com/photos/mattyp/14442809/
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Sociology

• Mateship - womens glass ceiling in Australia
  New Zealand
• Fijis average income 2,000 per capita
• urban / rural inequalities
• Tuvalu, Samoa, Vanuatu UN listed as severe
  problems
• underdeveloped high birthrates aid support

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Sociology

• White Australia immigration policy
• Wild Outback Outlaw Ned Kelly
• Americanization of culture
• McDonalds in Guam
• Urban underclass of Maori
• Polynesian emigration

http//flickr.com/photos/geophin/313125287/
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History

• Australia settlement as a penal colony
• European invasion land, disease, conflict
• Colonial legacy, still some control
• Solomon Island (Britain), Guam (U.S.)
• Solomon Island others battles of WWII
• Australias National Sorry Day
• forced removal of over 100,000 aboriginal
  children into white foster homes

Next
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History

• Exploration settlement of Maori people
• Kiribatis phosphate mining history
• Tongas British Methodist mission settlements
• U.S. aid defense of formerly occupied Marshall
  Islands
• Family / chief structure of American Somoa
• French nuclear testing in the Mururoa Atoll of
  the French Polynesia

http//flickr.com/photos/rinux/391036149/
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Political Science

• Political struggles of indigenous people
• New Caledonia, Fiji
• Fijis political coup, 1987
• British monarchy formal head of state
• Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea
• U.S. military political influence
• American Samoa, Guam, Marshall Islands, Northern
  Mariana Islands

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Research Process Topic generation

• 2 Keys to keep in mind
• Topic of interest motivation
• Interesting topics ? good papers

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Research ProcessAdditional background

• Once you have your topic idea, we need more
  information
• Where to go next
• General Encyclopedias - background
• Newspapers Current situations
• Books Journals
• Internet Specific news sources

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Research ProcessUsing Various Sources

• Background on current and historic events
• Good overview and introduction to the topic

http//search.eb.com/eb/article-9082763?tocId9082
763
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Lets Explore

• Use the Encyclopedia to look up a country, event,
  person
• Report 2 potential topics

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Concept Mapping
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Research ProcessNarrowing the Question

• Research Question
• Has a distinct answer
• The answer to this question becomes my thesis
  statement
• This is what my paper is proving

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Research ProcessBringing it All Together

• Building on existing knowledge
• Generating a topic through questions
• Using additional resources
• Narrowing the question
• Research question
• Thesis statement

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Review

• Any event has multiple topics in each discipline.
• Start with your interests
• End with whats possible / provable
• Use sources to
• Narrow the research question
• Define the thesis
• Providing supporting evidence