Critical Thinking Project Part 4: Giving Information a Social Life

Critical Thinking Project General Guidelines

Grading Rubric CT4 (wiki help)

How do you search for, use, and share information? That is, how do you help in giving information a social life using internet technology and new media (e.g., mobile phones and on-demand information searching technology)? Also, address relevant digital inequalities in the ways in which information, media, and data are accessed and used between advantaged and disadvantaged social groups in American society. Of central concern here are the “digital divide” and digital “skills gap.” Consider how the dominant culture (i.e., the established norms, values, and beliefs) in American society influences how information is used. Lastly, do you think that we are currently doing a good job of narrowing the digital divide and digital skills gaps in American society?

• Go to the page you created in the class wiki for your CT4 project (you will find a link to the wiki on our MyGateway class site navigation menu and in the "Assignments" area, or use this link to access the wiki outside of MyGateway--if you are not logged into MyGateway, you'll be prompted to log on).Discuss the ways in which you give information a social life. How do you search for, use, and share information online? (250 words minimum)
• Address some of the relevant social and digital inequalities in the ways in which information is used between advantaged and disadvantaged social groups. (500 words minimum)
• Do you think that we are currently doing a good job of narrowing the digital divide and digital skills gaps in American society? Why or why not? Explain your reasoning. We want to see critical thinking. (250 words minimum)

Additionally, you are expected to integrate the following:

• At least 3 images throughout your page.
• At least 3 “external” hyperlinks (i.e., links to sites on the World Wide Web) into your text. Do NOT simply copy URL addresses (e.g., https://www.youtube.com/) and paste them onto your page. These will not count toward the minimum requirement. Use the wiki features provided in the user interface to create your external hyperlinks.
• For the remaining parts of the project, your images and external hyperlinks should reflect the substantive matter of your exposition. They should be relevant to the assigned topic, and not simply “add-ons” aimed at filling space.
• Scholarly resources. Integrate and annotate (i.e., interpret for the reader) information from 3 scholarly resources. These can be either peer-reviewed journal articles or chapters from scholarly books. If you quote verbatim from your resources, you MUST use quotation marks! Paraphrasing is also an excellent way of demonstrating your understanding of the material and ability to distill information. Whether you quote directly or paraphrase, you MUST include citations in your text and a reference list at the bottom of your wiki page! Otherwise, your work may be mistaken for PLAGIARISM! You should also draw from the assigned textbook that we use for this class, but that text does not count toward the scholarly resources requirement.
• In this class, you will be using the American Sociological Association (ASA) style to cite and create your reference lists. Here are some Quick Tips for ASA Style http://www.asanet.org/documents/teaching/pdfs/Quick_Tips_for_ASA_Style.pdf
• Appropriate spelling and grammar are crucial elements. This is a university-level course, and I expect your work to be free of mechanical errors. Check your spelling and proofread ALL of your work to insure grammatical correctness and ease of reading!

Finally, you need to review the work of at least four other students and post comments (minimum 125 word--constructive critique) on their wiki pages (you'll find a place to add comments near the bottom of every wiki page). Your Comments are due by Sunday, April 26 by 11:59 PM. You must email Prof. Keel with the names of the students on whose work you commented and include the text of the comments in the email (no attachments). If email notification is not made, comments may not be evaluated.

For help working on a wiki page, see Prof. Keel's video tutorials on "Working in a Wiki, "making links," and "inserting images" in the Wiki Help folder of the class MyGateway site (Critical Thinking Projects). See also: Wiki Help and Tips and the "Wiki User's Guide." Be sure to review the changes made to the wikis since I last updated these tutorials.

Outside Sources: Peer-reviewed sociology journals (other peer-reviewed social science/humanities journals may be acceptable--ask if you are uncertain), original work by the theorists--not included in the class reading assignments, and other primary source documents, articles and books. Other textbooks--especially introductory texts, encyclopedias of any sort, Wikipedia, online dictionaries, sites like "answers.com," blogs, etc. can be used but will not be accepted as "outside sources" and should not form the basis for your essay. And, don't use "outside sources" that simply repeat information we have in the text, lecture notes, and develop in class discussion--the point here is to go beyond these basics. Before using information found on external web sites, please review the guidelines found at: http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/webcrit.html to insure the information is reliable.  Better yet, try looking for research and information from the libraries database system (http://www.umsl.edu/services/library/databases/databases.html), it's a wealth of academic research at your fingertips.

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