IT 398/599 Topics in Global IT -- CDM Japan 2011
Assignment #1
(due: 9/17 (Sat), 9/27 (Tue), 10/1 (Sat) 10/4 (Tue), 10/8 (Sat) 10/11 (Tue))

Overview:

For this assignment, you will write a pre-trip research paper.  It is an individual paper. For this paper you will do a background research on a topic of your interest on Japanese videogames or anime/animation, and then write about it.
You will write the paper in four steps, with staggered due dates.

1. Topic proposal -- due 9/17 (Sat)
2. First draft -- due 9/27 (Tue)
3. Peer review -- due 10/1 (Sat) 10/4 (Tue)
4. Final paper -- due 10/8 (Sat) 10/11 (Tue)

You must keep the due date for each step.  Late submissions will be penalized.

Specifics:

You will first write and submit a proposal of the topic which you want to research and write about.  Next, you will receive feedback and an approval from the faculty and proceed to write the first draft paper.  After that, you will read a few papers written by other students and provide your feedback to the authors.  Finally you will revise your paper by incorporating the feedback given by other students as well as the faculty. This last submission will be the final paper.

Paper specifications:  All documents in this assignment must be written single spaced and using a maximum of 12-point font (of any typeface).  Page margins should be more more than 1 inch all the way around (i.e., top/bottom/left/right). 
The number of pages for each step/document is as follows.  These are minimum. The also refer to how much "text" your paper has. So, this does not include the cover/title page (if you put one) or the space in the body of the paper which is taken by figures, references or other non-body texts.

1. Topic proposal -- 1 page minimum
2. First draft -- 4 pages minimum
3. Peer review -- 1 page minimum
4. Final paper -- 4 pages minimum

1. Topic proposal

You first choose a topic of your interest, do a preliminary research on the topic and write a one-page document (a proposal for writing a research paper on that topic). 

Your topic should be related to Japanese videogames or anime/animation.  But it could also be related to the trip, such as the companies/organizations which we will be visiting, or Japanese history/religion/society/culture.  Here are some example topics:

• Japanese videogames of a specific genre (e.g. action, arcade), franchise (e.g. "FF"), or group/category of games
• A specific Japanese game company (e.g. Capcom)
• Status of the Japanese videogame market (including statistics)
• Japanese anime/animation of a specific genre (e.g. mecha, shonen, shojo), title/series (e.g. "Galaxy Express 999", "Evangelion")
• A specific Japanese animation company/studio (e.g. Toei Animation, Telecom Animation), or director (e.g. Mamoru Oshii), or original manga writer (e.g. Reiji Matsumoto, Keiko Takeshita)
• Manga
• Status of the Japanese anime/animation market (including statistics)
• Japanese contemporary culture & lifestyle (e.g. CosPlay, J-Pop, fashion)
• Japanese history and religions
• 'Local guide' of Japan/Tokyo/Kyoto/Osaka on a specific theme (e.g. Japanese burger chains, CosPlay stores)

To help you narrow down a specific focus of the topic, here are a few possible 'templates' (or forms/patterns) for you:

• "History of XXX"
• "Customs and practices of XXX"
• "Influence of XXX on YYY"
• "Personal profile of XXX"

So by plugging in a topic (or two) in a template (for XXX or YYY), you can make a paper title such as "History of Capcom", "Customs and practices of Japanese shojo anime", or "Influence of CosPlay in Japanese arcade games" (?).  You can of course come up with your own title (and topic & focus).

Whatever you come up with, think of a topic which you are (or have been) most interested in AND want to do research on (i.e., want to spend time investigating) about Japan or Japanese games/animation.  But remember the goal of this assignment is for you to LEARN MORE about the topic than what/how much you already know, through research.  Also this is an academic paper, so try not to select a topic which is seemingly too 'soft' or 'casual'.

IMPORTANT: The proposal document must have the following format:

• Title, your name, your major
• 1st paragraph -- should describe the topic and your specific focus (i.e., deeper explanation/description)
• 2nd paragraph -- should explain why you chose that topic/focus (i.e., personal motivation, why should anyone else care? why is it important/relevant? what's interesting about it?)
• Primary sources -- should list at least 5 primary sources which you found on the topic.  A source could be a page on the internet, but CANNOT be a Wikipedia page. For your final paper, we expect you to use more than five sources!

After you submit your proposal, you have to get an approval from the faculty.  You may have to revise or possibly re-think the topic then before proceeding to write the first draft. Feel free to contact the faculty if you want to bounce ideas or get feedback on your proposed topic!

2. First draft

After your proposal is approved by the faculty, you start writing the first draft of the paper.  The paper has to be at least 4 pages.  See the paper specifications above.

You should start a new, blank document, rather than adding on to the proposal.  You can copy-paste some content from the proposal, but the paper should be different in content from the proposal.  In particular, the paper should

• not include your personal motivation for selecting this topic
• include the details of the research you have done
• include discussion of your research findings (e.g. your/subjective opinions, others'/objective opinions, published statistics)
• include your reflection -- what you personally learned from the research (e.g. things you didn't know before, things that make sense now)
• include summary and/or future work
• include primary sources & bibliography -- in addition to the 5 sources from the proposal, list all others which you read or are relevant to your research

You are strongly encouraged to include figures (and/or tables).  But note that the space taken by them won't be counted in the required number of pages.

3. Peer Review

After all students submit their first draft, you read a few papers by other students and write a peer review. 

• Papers you will review will be either assigned to you by the faculty or you  get to pick the one(s) you like to read -- specifics are to be determined.
• You can write all reviews in one file, and all together the reviews have to make at least one page.  See the paper specifications above.

4. Final paper

After other students as well as the faculty give you feedback on your paper, you make changes to your paper and create the final paper.  You can also include new content as well.  But be sure to polish your writing/English. 

Basically try to make the paper rigorous, as a research paper (rather than a casual article). 

Grading:

This assignment is worth a total of 50 points. Points are distributed among the four steps as follows:

Topic Proposal -- 10 points
First draft -- 15 points
Peer review -- 10 points
Final paper -- 15 points

Submission:

All submissions should be done on COL.  There will be a separate submission bin for each step.