INQUIRY PORTFOLIO PROJECT: TOPIC SELECTION ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS OVERVIEW

In order to understand the breadth of this assignment, you need to review the Inquiry Portfolio Project Information document. For this module, you will have to finalize a research topic that you will use for the duration of the Inquiry Project Process. There are two potential paths to take for this assignment, so you need to decide this week which one you will choose: 1. Path #1: Review the syllabi for all other courses you are currently taking. Look through the course’s assigned topics and readings and pick a topic that you find interesting and that is related to the Learn items. If you choose this option, your Inquiry Project will prepare you to participate as an in-class Scholar on the topic. 2. Path #2: Select a research topic that relates to your major and to your academic interests. This topic needs to be relevant to academic discourse, meaning that you must find scholarly conversations and communities discussing the issue. Your professor reserves the right to deny, redirect, or suggest alternative topics if your initial selection does not meet the necessary requirements. a. Remember: if you choose this option, you will soon need to find current, relevant scholarly sources where the issue is being discussed. If those sources cannot be found, you cannot choose that topic. As you think about potential ideas and research interests, keep these reminders in mind: 1. Pick a topic that is directly related to your academic interests. 2. Remember this topic will be used for the duration of this course. 3. This topic should be something that you are personally interested in. 4. Do not pick a topic simply because of its current cultural relevance. While current events can often give us direction for research and inquiry, many of the cultural discussions surrounding these events involve little more than dissenting opinions without supported arguments. a. If you choose a current cultural focal-point, you will need to justify its relevance and be able to narrow to a particular angle within the topic’s conversation while proving its academic relevance. b. This means that large-scale, culturally controversial issues are off-limits. i. Topics to avoid (this list is not exhaustive): Abortion, Gender Dysphoria, Euthanasia, Death Penalty, Gun Rights, Marriage and Homosexuality, Politics, Christianity and Culture Wars, etc. ii. The reasons we have decided these are off-topic are two-fold: 1. Within the span of our course, it will be impossible to narrow and focus your research direction a particular issue within these fields. 2. The required amount of work needed to engage these issues is more than you will have here. These topics are greatly important, but they require more time and effort than is permitted within this course. As a reminder, you must be able to find scholarly sources talking about your proposed topic. INSTRUCTIONS 1. Visit our Writing Center for instruction on how to properly format according to your Academic Discipline: https://www.liberty.edu/casas/academic-success-center/writing-center/ 2. After you have selected a topic, write a scholarly, academic paper explaining your topic and the reason why you selected the topic. Your paper must be a minimum of 75 words. Ensure you address how this topic connects to you, your undergraduate career, and the community of people concerned with this issue. Fully explain what makes your topic important in these three ways.