Context

Also written in Florence, this piece is perhaps the lengthiest and most demanding research project of my academic career thus far. While as an English major I am not usually subjected to research methods, my required upper-level General Studies class mapped out the process throughout the semester abroad to ensure the soundness of our research. My professor facilitated an exhaustive search which channeled into the development of insightful conclusions regarding various facets of Italian culture. This paper was one of several deliverables – each research team (we conducted research and designed our presentations in small groups but wrote our papers individually) also led a presentation in order supplement our class’s understanding of the culture in which we lived for three months. This paper should be read as a companion piece under the framework of a teaching exercise. Research experience adds a practical element to my academic writing as the latest addition to my marketability as a potential grant writer. This discipline gives purpose to the writing process that was forged by intensive undergraduate training in literary analysis.

Rhetorical Decisions

Perhaps the most difficult stage in my group’s research process was inferring a conclusion about gender roles based on our research. We had plenty of support showing that women carry the bulk of household responsibilities while men hold the workplace, but we needed to explain the effect this has on families and children in order to relate the research back to the theme of the class (a childhood psychology course). Of course, we would never have found a scholarly article supporting our research verbatim, and as our professor explained we needed to draw educated inferences. The result was a thesis of our own creation that was anchored in research.

At first, I lacked confidence in doing this but I realized that my background in social justice had already informed my thesis: "given the data showing that Italian women gravitate toward domestic pursuits (due largely to traditional, institutional, and administrative factors), their overwhelming presence in the home will serve to perpetuate gender roles for younger generations." My essay has a very strong voice for the overturning of gender roles, which is unconventional for this type of research paper but nevertheless is effective in delivering a well-supported and well-documented thesis.

As with my essay on If on a winter's night a traveler it was crucial that I did not use this medium to enforce my own opinions. Rather, I took my personal beliefs as a launch point to confirm my suspicions that Italian culture is guilty of perpetuating gender inequality within domestic units. It was especially necessary to take care not to approach this delicate subject with an ethnocentric lens; as an outsider I was wary of over-prescribing Americanized ideals to an independent culture. To address this concern directly, I noted that "although every nationality is certainly entitled to its ... customs, culture cannot be cited as an alibi for patriarchy." This technique of observing the opposing argument is also demonstrated in my "Feminist Critique."

I appreciate that my professor lead us through a highly structured research process. As a novice in research methods, I was a tabula rasa willing to learn the proper habits of a researcher. One of the most useful practices she instilled in me is the creation of an annotated outline, pictured above. I have always written informal outlines to give shape to my papers, and without fail these outlines morph into new structures as I work through the issues my papers address. The act of writing an annotated outline forces the author to think critically about the logical flow of the paper with regard to supporting evidence. The format is meticulous: our thesis was divided into sections, which included subheadings explained by the exact points to be used in the paper. For example, under "Section II: Current trends in the division of time amongst work/household labor/child labor" I include four subheadings that detail key points within this topic. These are each supported by a scholarly article and several bulleted details apiece. After the consideration of organization and support demanded by an annotated outline, the subsequent task of writing the paper is more natural. I will certainly employ this device in future research papers.

Evaluation

As stated, this research project is almost entirely responsible for the development of my research writing and procedures at the collegiate level. My professor was the director of the Elon Honors Program so my work was held to advanced standards. I had little prior knowledge or bad habits that would have impeded my research, and so I easily adopted the practices this process taught me. Looking forward, I am likely to be in contact with research projects in my career, particularly with grant writing. When this happens, this paper will have prepared me well. The product of my diligence is a sound argument rich with support built on the foundation of strong research methods. The research itself adds to my storehouse of knowledge that will inform my future career endeavors in the field of human services.

 ---

Please click here to download: 

Gender Norms and Consequences in Contemporary Italian Families.pdf

Please click here to download:

GENDER_annotatedoutlineformat.pdf