ECON 321 Fall 2022 Research Project, Step 4
BECAUSE THIS IS TREATED AS A FINAL EXAM, ABSOLUTELY NO EXTENSIONS , EVEN BY ONE MINUTE, ARE AVAILABLE: PLAN ACCORDINGLY.
Question Marks
1 Research 75
Interest 75
Clarity 75
Economics 75
Q1 (Average) 75
2 a. 5
b. 5
c. 5
Q2 (Total) 15
Communication 10
Total 100
Table of Contents
ECON 321 Fall 2022 Research Project, Step 4 1
Question 1 2
1.a. Remember to fill out the blanks in the ‘interest’ section (0 marks) 2
1.b Essay/Narrative/Story (75 marks) 4
Question 2: Relate your topic to current events 5
2.a The past contributing to understanding the present (5 marks) 5
2.b The present contributing to understanding the past (5 marks) 6
2.c What would you change, and why? (5 marks) 7
Question 1
1.a. Remember to fill out the blanks in the ‘interest’ section (0 marks)
You did it! You’ve worked hard on your research project, and now there’s only one thing left to do: write a full, final draft of your economic narrative. Some students (those who are happy with their work so far) may just be able to copy-paste and lightly edit one of the versions they’d submitted earlier (beginning/middle/end, Harmon story wheel, etc.). Other students may take this as an opportunity to completely rewrite their narrative. It’s up to you.
Your narrative/essay/story should be no longer than five single-spaced pages (about 2,500 words, using standard fonts), not counting citations and footnotes. There is no minimum length (but it may be challenging to earn full marks if you only write a sentence or two).
Your essay/narrative will be marked using the R.I.C.E. standard: Research, Interest, Clarity and Economics.
i. Research – Your narrative is informed by research. For full marks:
• The sources chosen are relevant to your topic.
• You have at least two sources.
• At least one of the sources is a peer-reviewed journal article.
• At least one of the sources is a primary source, as defined in earlier research steps (basically, something written about your topic at the time your topic was taking place – so if you’re writing about the Cariboo gold rush, a newspaper article from 1861 talking about the Cariboo would count, while a history of the Cariboo written in 2012 would not).
• Your sources are cited in APA format in a bibliography located immediately below your essay/narrative.
• You actually use these sources in your narrative/essay. You don’t need to quote directly from them, necessarily, but it should be obvious to the reader that you have used information from the sources you’ve cited to inform your writing.
ii. Interest – You’ve made an effort to make your narrative interesting to general readers. Maybe you turned your topic into a human interest story, or used the Harmon story circle to frame it as a compelling story. Maybe you included all sorts of interesting details, or connected what was happening in the past to things that are happening and relevant in today’s world. In any case, instead of just presenting a list of facts, you’ve made an effort to turn your essay/story into something that the general public will want to read.
To make sure the person marking this research step doesn’t miss the ways in which you worked to make your story/narrative interesting, please write down a brief summary of your efforts in this respect below. There are no marks for this, but it may help you obtain a higher Interest mark:
To make my essay/story/narrative interesting to the general reader, I:
iii. Clarity – Your essay/narrative/story is clear enough that a reader previously unfamiliar with the situation will understand the story – and the basic economics behind it – without the need for additional research. You have included all the information needed to understand your story, and you have written everything in such a way that non-specialists can understand it. This is separate from the communication mark, which works as usual (see marking scheme on first page).
The Clarity mark is more about making sure that all the necessary information to understand the story is present within your essay. The goal is that if someone were to be asked to write a 3-2-1 report on your essay, they should find it very challenging to come up with ‘Two things that you didn’t understand or were missing’, because everything was understandable and no obviously important information was missing.
iv. Economics – This is a course in the Economic History of Canada. Your essay/narrative/story should therefore be directly connected to the Economic History of Canada. Moreover, the economics in your story should be clear and correct. Even non-economists should be able to tell that you’re telling a story about the allocation of scarce resources – about sacrifices, choices and tradeoffs. Someone with economic training (such as the person marking your essay) should be able to tell that your economic reasoning is logical and appropriate to the situation you are studying.
1.b Essay/Narrative/Story (75 marks)
References
[Insert your bibliography, with sources cited in APA format, here. This does not count toward your word/page limit.]• Need help with APA format? Try https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/general_format.html
• If you are citing an article from one of my sourcebooks, treat it as “work in an anthology,” with me (Chris Willmore) as the editor.
• In my sourcebooks, I always include the original bibliographic material in a footnote attached to the article’s title. If no author is listed, the work is anonymous.
Question 2: Relate your topic to current events
Studying history can help you understand the present. You’ve worked on this essay, in steps, all term. In this challenge question, you will be asked to reflect on how the essay affected your understanding of the lectures/assignments, and vice-versa.
2.a The past contributing to understanding the present (5 marks)
Give an example how what you learned while working on and researching your essay changed your understanding of certain events happening in the world today. For full marks, be specific about how your perspective on the material was altered. Please try to keep your answer to two pages or less, not including citations. If you need to, cite any sources used in APA format.
What I’ll be looking for:
• You clearly explain the situation in the world today (perhaps in Canada, perhaps in another country, perhaps affecting multiple regions) that you are referring to.
• You make the connection between that situation and your research very clear.
• You are specific about how your research enhanced your understanding of the present-day situation you are looking at.
(For example, if you wrote your essay on debates about the cost of living in Edmonton in the 1920s, you could relate that to the cost of living challenges that people in Canada and other countries are living through in the 2020s. Were the causes similar? Did reactions to high grocery prices and rents in the 1920s help you understand reactions today? Etc.)
[Write or type your answer below.]2.b The present contributing to understanding the past (5 marks)
Now, let’s go the other way around. Spend some time (at least a few hours) researching the present-day situation you looked at in part a. Many of the same tools you used to investigate the past, can be used to investigate the present. Feel free to use social media, wikis, streaming sites, etc. as sources if appropriate. Once you feel you have a good understanding of the present-day situation, give at least one example of how what you learned from investigating the present helped you to understand the historical topic you wrote your essay about. For full marks, be specific about how your perspective on the material was altered. Please try to keep your answer to two pages or less, not including citations. If you need to, cite any sources used in APA format.
(For example, in recent years, we’ve seen a lot more households where the burden of housework is shared much more equally than it used to be. Suppose that your topic was about housework in the Canadian prairies during the early 1900s. Watching YouTube videos or reading Twitter threads about why certain couples or families today are decided to divide the burden of housework equally may give you some insight into why housework was not divided equally in the historical time period you studied. Maybe there is something common today, mentioned in all those threads and videos, that was completely absent in the past, such as particular technologies, styles of work, or perspectives on what it means to live a respectable life.)
[Write or type your answer below.]2.c What would you change, and why? (5 marks)
Knowing what you know now (from the lectures, assignments, your own research, TA & instructor feedback, etc.), what would you change if you were starting your research project over again, and why? Please try to keep your answer to one page or less.
(This question was suggested by a student in one of my other courses. For full marks, I need at least one thing you would change, with the reason for the change clearly laid out, and why it was you chose a different path in the project you actually completed.)
