Summary: The teacher gave a short introduction to gathering research and taking notes for your upcoming academic essay writing. You get to upload your research notes into a shared Google Doc. Students take notes on paper, take a picture of it, and upload the notes to the document. We also carefully considered and followed the activities of Alex Essay Writing Tool, steps 1 -3. This writing tool is sponsored by the Royal Literacy Fund, a charitable organization, and was created by Dr. Anna Barker, the speaker featured in the videos.

A Writer’s Quote to Consider:

“Just write every day of your life. Read intensely. Then see what happens. Most of my friends who are put on that diet have very pleasant careers.” -Ray Bradbury

Alex Essay Writing Tool Step 01 -Before you begin

Alex Essay Writing Tool Step 02 – Your Essay (This step is suitable for pre-writing your Write & Improve Essays)

Alex Essay Writing Tool Step 03 – Brainstorming

Instructions for Homework Content: Due at 1 pm, the day before Session 03

1. Researching and taking notes on one issue (the same issue): Please, research the SAME research issue for this paper by using two Internet, book, newspaper, or journal articles about a topic that you are passionate about writing. They are Article #1 and Article #2. Below are five search engine links, each offering a variety of materials and themes for your use.

Then take at least two pages of notes for each article (Article #1 and Article #2) using the keywords on the pages. Remember to write the author’s name(s), the date, and page or paragraph numbers if you use direct quotations. Try to summarize your work. Could you please add the pictures of your notes to your shared Google Document under ‘Research Article #1’ and ‘Research Article #2’ in your shared file so your teacher can edit your APA References?

2. Typing the APA reference of your research: As best you can, please try to type the American Psychological Association (APA) formatted references typed in the document above your notes for Research Articles #1 and #2. You can download an APA quick guide below for your reference.

The details needed are:

Last name, initial. (20??). Title of the article. Publisher. https//:…..

Note-taking Sample on the Internet and Privacy Issues:

Buyon, N., Grothe, C., Slipowitz, A., & Vesteinsson, K. (2020). Freedom on the net 2020. Freedom House. https://freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/2020-10/10122020_FOTN2020_Complete_Report_FINAL.pdf 

Note-taking Sample on the Connections Between Child Labor and Poverty:

Congdon Fors, H. (2012). Social globalization and child labor. University of Gothenburg: Working Papers in Economics 533. https://core.ac.uk/reader/16333210

Free Database Engines off-campus to collect research for your APA Paper: 

New! Zenbird Media: Topics & Issues: Do you often think about researching issues related to your local community, or Japan in general, but find the data in the Japanese language? Then, Zenbird Media is for you!

Carrot 2: Carrot helps you find topics related to your search term. After entering the term and clicking on ‘search,’ you can choose to see the results as a list, treemap, or pie chart, which helps you visualize your issue and narrow your search at the same time.

Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ): DOAJ is a community-designed and maintained online journal directory that provides you access to robust, open-access, peer-reviewed journals. This search engine is independent and free, and it is indexed in DOAJ. Please use this engine for topical issues and authors, and you might find research that provides evidence for your academic essay. DOAJ is an educational outreach search engine that focuses on high-quality applications and submissions.

Google Scholar: Google Scholar helps you do a broad or narrow search of articles. It also enables you to cite your “references” for APA and “work cited” for MLA!

CORE Research Engine UK: This research search engine claims to be the largest open-access research database in the world, providing free access to informative and easy-to-understand information.

Learning About Global Issues–Specifically with Chuo University Faculty of Law English courses. The team hopes that this website will be helpful for students and others in Japan (and other countries) to develop their knowledge and critical understanding of various global issues.

A Very Quick Guide to APA Referencing

3. An option to do Write & Improve practice essay:

 Please follow the instructions as best you can, following one of the five essays you chose to write this quarter. You can write again and again, following the guidance to improve your score. All essays are due at 1 pm before Session 15 in January.