Final Paper FAQ

How many site review should I include in my final paper?

The final papers are not like the web guides. You do not need to include any site reviews. some topics can be researched entirely from secondary sources (articles, books, or reports on your topic) while others need primary research (such as direct observation of web sites, analysis of online discussions or e-mails, or e-mail interviews).

Original research could include qualitative analysis of a few web sites, or quantitative analysis of a larger number of sites. If you conduct original (primary) research by visiting and assessing web sites, you may end up presenting something that looks a bit like the site reviews you included in your web guide.

What do I mean by "qualitative analysis"?

For some topics, particularly ones that haven't been widely addressed by other researchers/publications, you may focus on a few sites in-depth. By a few Imean something between 2-5; or even a very in-depth study of a single web site/organization. In a way this would be something like a more thorough version of what you did in the web guides. Your in-depth analysis should include a description of whatever feature(s) of the site(s) are relevant to your argument, but more importantly, your own assessment/analysis of how the features that you are describing support your argument.

For example, if you were looking at a topic like how Canadian political parties use the Internet, you might focus on the question of how they use online discussion to increase communication between ordinary members and elected members/candidates/party staff. In this instance you might decide to look at the web sites of the 5 parties in parliament (or perhaps just focus in on 3 of them), and analyze each party's web site in some depth. Let's imagine that what you observe on these sites leads you to argue that online discussions increase communications between ordinary members, but almost never provide access to party officials/politicians. You could then use your descriptions of each party's site, excerpts from discussions, and examples of when politicians did log in to the discussion, as evidence in support of your argument. You would want to be very explicit about how the forums you describe, or quotes you select, support your argument

What do I mean by "quantitative analysis"?

For some kinds of topics or arguments, in-depth web site analyses won't help you to make your case. Instead, you may want to look at a larger number of sites (as few as 8 or 10, as many as 30 or 40) to find one very specific piece of information about each site. Then you can use statistics or charts to make a point about how many web sites share X characteristic or have X feature

For example, what if you wanted to follow up on Smith & Smythe's observation that a disproportionate number of online anti-globalization organizations seem to be based in Canada. You could use your paper as a way of finding out whether this was still true. In that case, you might go to Yahoo or the Google Directory for a list of anti-globalization organizations online. Then you would go to each of these web sites (let's imagine there are 30 of them) and figure out what country each one is based in. You would present your results as statistics or charts showing what percentage of the top 30 anti-globalization sites are Canada-based.

What kinds of secondary source material can I use?

Almost any paper will be improved if you use some secondary source material to help you develop your argument. Reading two or three articles or book chapters that other people have written on your topic, or on subjects that are related to your topic, will show you how other people have thought about the issues you are examining.

This can be especially helpful when you are starting out, since it can suggest an interesting idea or example for you to focus on in your own paper. Citing secondary sources can also complement your original research (such as your descriptions of relevant web sites) by providing additional support for your argument. For example you might find that citing 2-3 books/articles on how political parties use the Internet could provide some support for the idea that online discussion forums rarely bring party members into contact with party officials.

Sources could include:

- articles/books about the Internet, or articles on broader themes in political science (like the causes of political participation, or the process of democratization in Latin America)

- articles from journals in the UBC's electronic journal collection. Note that the best full-text journal resource for political science and sociology journals is JSTOR, and that JSTOR only has articles that are at least 3 years old. Most Internet-related articles will be more recent than that and therefore only available in paper form, in the library itself.

- articles from print journals, magazines, or newspapers

- book chapters/books. Note that there still aren't that many books on topics related to the Internet and politics -- altogether, maybe only one or two hundred. So it's very unlikely you'll find a whole book on the topic you're writing on. But it is more likely that you will find a book chapter that is related to your topic, published in a collection of papers on Internet-related topics.

- online articles from newspapers, online news sites, academic web sites, or personal web sites. Here be sure you are aware of who is writing/publishing this article, whether their information is credible, and what their agenda might be. The article you read early on, "criteria for evaluating internet resoruces" (http://www.library.ubc.ca/home/evaluating/) can help you assess the credibility of articles you find online.

- reports from academic or organizational web sites. Again, pay attention to the qualifications and political/commercial agenda (if any) of the source.

- e-mail interviews (don't be shy about sending a few questions to the webmaster of a web site you are analyzing. E-mail is a great way to get answers to your specific questions, and you can quote the answers in your paper.)

- online discussions, web site content, bulletin board postings, e-mail messages.

How do I know what part of my topic to focus on?

Read one or two articles, book chapters, or online reports on the broader topic you are interested in. Look for some example or idea that you can could focus on. Some possible ways of limiting your focus:

-       choose one type of organization. Instead of looking at parties online, look at federal political parties' campaign sites.

-       choose one country. Instead of looking at parties online, look at Canadian parties online.

-       choose one tactic or technology. Instead of looking at parties online, look at how parties use e-mail lists.

-       choose one issue. Instead of looking at parties online, look at how parties use the Net to address health care. Instead of looking at copyright, look at the protection of copyrighted software.

Whatever you choose at your focus, be sure you can make a strong argument about your area of focus. Instead of arguing "Canadian political parties use e-mail lists" argue that "Canadian political parties use e-mail lists to build community among members" or "Canadian political parties use e-mail lists to encourage members to be more active in providing financial or volunteer support to their local candidates."

If I do my paper in the form of a web site, can it be shorter? 

Yes. The required page length for web sites is 10-15 pages (2500-3750 words); for written papers it's 12-15 pages (3000-3750 words). Note that the page requirement does NOT mean that your web site should consist of 10 separate web pages; one web page might contain the equivalent of one, two, or more pages of printed text.