ECON1221 – Guidelines for the research project Your task is to find two recent (published over the last year, that means from January 2022 until now) news articles (newspaper, magazine, website, reputable blog, etc) about a topic related to what we have seen (or will soon see) in class, that includes the GDP, living standards, inflation, unemployment or money supply, etc. You then need to explain how your reading and understanding of the articles have changed thanks to what we’ve learned in class. You therefore need to make the necessary connections as well as expanding on the articles themselves. You can’t simply describe or summarize the articles, you need to go much further. It isn’t as simple as finding one article talking about the GDP! I want to see connections to what we have done in class, explicitly. For instance, here’s a quick simple example: you find an article talking about a recession with some numbers. You could then put those numbers in context (are they worse than previous recessions? Etc) and explain to me how you understand the numbers and their limitations better now than before the course. Or you can find articles that have shortcomings (or straight up errors!) and correct them (or improve them, it doesn’t have to be fully incorrect to be improved). The two articles can’t cover the exact same topic, they have to be different. Due date: Thursday March 23rd at 6:20pm (end of the class), both electronically and on paper. You’ll need to come and see me (in person or virtually) to discuss your two articles and what you intend to do. This is mandatory. A ‘booking’ system will be implemented. Format: You need to submit both a paper version (printed) in class as well as an electronic version online (under ‘assignments’) on D2L/Brightspace. Word or PDF are accepted. Both versions need to be submitted by the deadline or points will be deducted. Include a copy of the two articles as appendix but only in the printed version. The printed version must be stapled. Length should be 5-6 pages (excluding appendix), double spaced with a few graphics or figures. Use Arial or Time New Roman or Calibri, size 11 or 12. Please include a title page with your name on the top right. Marking: Your assignment will be graded based on the following criteria: – Are the two articles relevant and respecting the requirements above? – Are you correctly relating the content of those articles to what we have seen in class? Is your analysis correct? Are you expanding on what the article talked about thanks to your economic knowledge? Don’t try to connect your articles to as many concepts possible. Instead, focus on 1-2 connections and explain in detail, expand on them. [most important part] – Is your presentation (grammar, syntax, spelling, etc) good? Don’t use different font sizes throughout your paper, it looks unprofessional. Don’t have typos. Notes: – You must cite your sources and references in a clear manner. Remember, plagiarism is an academic misconduct. The Library has useful resources on that topic. I’m not particularly strict on this but be clear and consistent. – The English department provides help in the Writing centre. You may want to use this resource, especially if English isn’t your first language. – You can use other sources to sustain your analysis, you aren’t limited to the two news articles. If anything, having other sources to sustain your analysis is strongly encouraged. – I’ve said it before but I want to repeat it: your job is not to summarize the articles. Your job is to find articles and show me how you understand them better thanks to what we have learned in class and how you could improve/extend the analysis in these articles. – If you need to draw graphs, you can do them by hand and add them to your paper. – No idea where to find such articles? Just try to read and follow the news for a few day (not the sport section obviously!). Chances are, you all encountered such articles before (especially during the pandemic). Alternatively, try to browse r/economics on Reddit or #cdnecon on Twitter (the latter might be too labour market focus however). Given the events over the last year, I can guarantee you that economics topics were discussed! Note that you cannot use the examples from the textbook (it’d be too easy!) or examples directly mentioned in class. – Do not wait until the last minute! Ideally, you should check with me at some point to make sure you’re on the right track. You do not want to submit your assignment only to discover it’s wrong and you lost all the points.