Valade Judith Community Research Project: Getting Started (Community Research Project)

After choosing your topic which is related to our local area of Kentucky, write your proposal. Include in your proposal the information listed below.

• The topic that you chose

• Where your topic is located (or how your topic relates/is related to your community)

• Why you chose this particular topic.  State the question(s) that you would like answered about the topic.  What do you want to know about your topic?  You will be researching the answer to your question(s).

The proposal will be written in proper format. This means that the heading will be in left hand corner as in essays – Times New Roman, 12 pt font, double spaced, etc.  The proposal will be approximately 1/2 to 3/4 page in length. This is a formal piece of writing and will be graded as such.

For the rest of the semester, you will be involved in doing a community research project.  It will involve choosing and writing about something of particular interest in your hometown (or close by) and will be separated into three parts: a proposal, research, and essay.  A personal interview with someone related to the topic is a must for the completion of this project.

You will need to choose a topic, for example, a statue, a bridge, or an historic building (your town hall, a school, a church, a museum, etc.)  There are many types of topics you can choose from, for example, a place where you have a family reunion every year.  Some topics that may interest you are the following:

• Himler Mansion        
• John C.C. Mayo Mansion       
• Mayo Methodist Church   
• Butcher  Holler (Hollow)
• Dils Cemetery                   
• Floyd County Bus Accident
• Samuel May House       
• Pioneer Village                 
• West Prestonsburg Bridge
• Mountain Home Place

Make sure to choose a topic that interests you. This will make the research much more interesting.

Now that you have a topic, you are ready to do research. You will use library resources books, articles, databases, microfilm and Speical Collections to complete your research. Please look at the Completing Research Community Project Tab of the LibGuide for more information.

Don't forget to take notes!!

This is a description of the research process (how you went about finding information).You will discuss information about the site (your topic) such as its physical condition from the notes you took when you visited the site and its importance.  You will include who you chose to interview for the project and why.  You will be able to discuss how you found this person and what the interview was like. You will also explain any other research that you did including the campus library, public library, local historical museum, internet, etc.

Your final essay should be four to five pages in length and in proper MLA format.  This is the part where you get to share all of the information that you discovered during the research project.

• Title
• 12 Point font
• Double Spaced
• Works Cited Page

For this part of the project, you will be thinking of a way to present your topic in a visual format.  It can be whatever you want it to be:  a PowerPoint, video, poster, poster collage, a drawing, etc.  Your presentation will be on display, hopefully in the Student Center.  You be with your presentation during the time of our class.  The presentation part of this project is not optional.