English 8121. Digital Rhetoric

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For this project, you’ll write a paper that’s intended to be submitted to a particular journal for publication.

Research Topic
Your research topic is wide open. Anything related to the broad field of digital rhetoric will be fine. Be careful, though, about the scope of your topic. Make sure it’s neither too broad nor too narrow. If the topic is too broad, you will end up with too much literature to review and not enough focus on a particular issue in your article. On the other hand, narrow topics might result in too little literature for you to build your argument on. Ultimately, what topic you choose should depend on your research interest. A good way to start your research is to peruse some current articles in major journals in this particular field. It will give you a sense of both what each journal is focused on and how authors craft their titles.

Content Design
The content design of your paper is certainly up to you. However, to a certain extent, it will be determined by the particular research methodology you’re using for your article, e.g., qualitative vs. quantitative, theoretical vs. empirical, etc. Due to the broad and interdisciplinary nature of the field of digital rhetoric, there’re quite some journals that could be targets for this particular project. If you’re not sure what these journals are, take a look at the readings we’re doing in this class and see where each article was published. This will give you a sense of how broad this field is.

Each journal will have its own submission guidelines, which in many cases will outline the organization of your paper. Make sure you follow them carefully. Whatever journal you pick for your paper, there’re some common elements readers will expect from your paper (other than your intro and conclusion): problem/need/research gap contextualization (otherwise known as literature review), your methodology, your argument/claim, your reasoning for the argument, etc. I don’t expect you to exhaust all literature on the topic in your discussion, but I’d certainly look for support each time you make a claim. In addition to these common elements, the particular methodology you use will also dictate certain elements you must have in your article. A good way to figure out the organization of your paper is to look at similar studies published in the journals in our field.

One thing to keep in mind for this paper is that I’m looking for your original argument, not your ability to summarize current literature, although the latter is important, too. Focus, therefore, on how your paper will contribute to a solution to or a better understanding of the issue at hand.

Format Design
Your format design will be dictated by the particular journal you’re targeting for your article. The journal’s submission guidelines will typically spell out their format requirements. For example, style wise, it could be APA, MLA, or Chicago. Just follow the guidelines closely.

To Turn in
Save your file as “Paper(YourLastName)” and email it to me as an attachment.