Cross-cultural Research Paper

Instructions Paper

• In this final research paper students will synthesize the information from papers #1 and #2. Students will discuss the interconnectedness of the elements in papers #1 and #2, such as family structure, parent/child relationships, gender issues, and food and nutrition, within and across the 2 cultures you had chosen to discuss in papers #1 and #2.  Students will compare and contrast the cultures using analysis and information gathered from references.
  • How is each of these elements important to the culture?
  • How do each of these elements impact the identity of the culture?
  • How are these elements similar in each culture (compare)?
  • How are these elements different in each culture (contrast)?
• Students will also explore how the macro-environmental factors (which are made up of components of the environment such as the economics, technology, sociocultural [combination of social and cultural aspects] interactions, legal regulations and natural forces) distinctively affects families in the two different cultural backgrounds.
• How do economic factors; demographics; legal, political, and social conditions; technological changes; and natural forces, affect families and these cultural elements?
  • Macro environmental factors refer to major external and uncontrollable forces that affect the decision-making, strategies and functioning of the family in relation to the cultural elements you are discussing
• Students will use library research for the topic with a minimum of 5-6 peer reviewed reference articles and professional journal articles based on research that pertains to your paper topic.
• Peer-reviewed referenced articles – articles written by experts and reviewed by several other experts in the field before the article is published in the journal in order to insure the article’s quality
• Professional journal articles – a professional journal is a scholarly journal addressed to a particular professional audience such as doctors, lawyers, teachers, engineers, or accountants and published by a professional organization.  They may contain research articles, reports, and practical articles applicable to the profession
• These references will be properly cited within the text of your paper and listed in your reference page
• Students may include images and photographs in this assignment. These should not exceed two pages. Recommended number of photographs is three to four per culture.
• The format of the paper will include the use of headings to effectively organize ideas, structure the content, and guide the reader
• The headings should begin with the Introduction and end with the Conclusion and in between include topic headings that introduce what you will be discussing in each section throughout the paper
• Be sure that your headings are meaningful and that the discussion that follows the heading reflects it
• Your headings should be: Centered on the page, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Headings with the first letter of each work capitalized
• This assignment will be 7-10 pages:
• Example of Headings:
  • Introduction
  • Discussion of Culture #1 Element/s
  • Discussion of Culture #2 Element/s
  • Comparison of Element/s in both cultures
  • Contrast of Element/s in both cultures
  • Influence of macro environmental factors
  • Conclusion

Introduction
Name of Element and Culture #1
Name of Element and Culture #2
Comparison/Similarities of elements in Cultures #1 and #2
Contrast/Differences of elements in Cultures #1 and #2
Influence of Macro Environmental Factors – name them
Conclusion