Project Two: Getting Started

Update: I am changing the calendar to accomodate the error that kept this from being posted originally. Everything (other than your reading response) for this week will be pushed back one day. Also, you can now access the "story" module.

 

For this assignment you will be conducting preliminary research for your client, an independently owned bookstore. In Project Three you will use the information that you collect to create informational materials on the following topic.

Our client, People Called Women, is a locally owned, feminist bookstore in Toledo, Ohio. They are concerned with the increasingly shrinking number of independently owned bookstores. This decrease can mostly be attributed to the rise of "big box" bookstores like Barnes and Noble, Borders and their online equivalent, Amazon.com. However, in your research be sure to look for other reasons that independently owned bookstores might be having trouble staying in business. Our client believes that it is primarily the former, but remember that your job is to give the client information that they do not already have.

Your general topic is independently owned bookstores. Each group should come up with a research plan that investigates the successes and failures of independently owned bookstores. Some more specific avenues that you might pursue in your research are:

• feminist bookstores in particular
• the reasons for success or failure of independently owned bookstores
• marketing campaigns that promote independently owned bookstores (you might extend this to looking at local businesses)
• and so on

These are just suggestions to get you started. Ultimately, your white paper, and thus your research, should provide our client with important information that will help them to succeed in business and convince others of the importance of supporting locally owned bookstores. Begin by looking at their website and doing preliminary research. Your informal proposal will be due Wednesday at midnight. The annotated bibliography will be due on Thursday and your first draft will be due next Monday. You may begin discussing the topic, including questions and ideas that you may have, by posting comments here.