EAP 1015: Research Project One of our goals in EAP 1015 is to gain experience with research-based writing, which will form the base for much of the writing you will have to do at the university. By completing this project, you will be able to: • Independently generate a relevant topic/question for research • Present a research project proposal to the class, create a research plan • Access sources through the Gelman library catalog and databases • Explore additional sources through the open web and community resources • Evaluate the appropriateness of sources and manage source material • Complete and present source charts demonstrating your thoughtful consideration of research materials • Organize and write an academic research paper based on an original claim • Integrate supporting sources using effective documentation (APA style) • Incorporate peer and instructor feedback and employ appropriate revision strategies • Deliver a digital presentation of research findings We have talked a lot this semester about Washington DC’s evolution as a capital and how culture can be defined and represented. We have also tried to develop the habit of making connections as a core element of academic analysis. Under the course theme of cultural perspectives, your task is to undertake a comparative research project that relates your home country’s capital with Washington, DC. To give this project focus, you should narrow your topic to one particular aspect or element of the capitals. We will discuss ideas for this in class, but you have a fair amount of flexibility in how you approach this assignment. Try to approach your initial topic as a how or why question that you want to answer. You may want to contrast the capitals based on a clear difference between them, analyze a similarity, or show that the two capitals interact in some particular way. Your argument (thesis) should be developed based on how you want to connect DC and your home capital. It is important, however, to make sure your topic is researchable and appropriate for the length and scope of this assignment. And please choose something you are interested in, since we will be working on this project for the rest of the semester. Format: • This paper requires at least six well-used sources, four of which must be scholarly. Given the nature of this assignment, you may find that you want to use a couple of sources in your native language, which is fine as long as you balance this with English language sources. • Follow APA style for manuscript format (see Rules for Writers p. 578-595). You do not need a cover page, an abstract, or headings/subheadings for this assignment. • Be sure to cite any information you borrow from a source. The principles of documenting sources in APA style can be found on p. 550-578 and a directory of in-text citation models and reference list models can be found on p. 534-535. Be sure to include a list of references at the end of the paper. This list does not count towards the page requirement of the paper. • This assignment should be approximately 7-8 pages long, not including the reference page