Research Paper FNAT 304

Students will research and write a research paper (approx. 12 pages) on a topic related to First Nations and self-determination.  The paper should be in three roughly equal parts:

Part One:  Students will select and describe a First Nations organization, society, association or department: its structure, its mandate, its mission statement and its general activities.  Keep this section descriptive only: no opinions.

Part Two: Students will evaluate the structure, the mandate, the mission statement and the general activities of the organization/society/association/department in terms of successful demonstration of supporting self-determination.  Be sure to support your evaluation with references to readings, tellings, lectures, films and discussions.  Do not use the words “I” or “my” in this section.  It is understood that it reflects your opinion.

Part Three: Students will imagine how they would change the organization/society/ association/department to maintain or better demonstrate its ability to demonstrate First Nations’ self-determination.  Be sure to make clear how you would proceed, and why you would choose that path. This section is a personal reflection, and the use of personal pronouns is appropriate. 

Notes and tips from our conversation:

in Google, try "organization name " in quotation marks

also, try site: to search within the organization website, e.g. site:gitxsanhealth.com mandate

Use site: to search for a directory, vision, newsletter

info:

related:

Use Google to assist with spelling.

Places to try searching for information:

Journals, local newsletter, news media such as: CBC News, APTN

Look in search results for additional key words and related terms - "ecosystem based management"

Content Types

Dissertations and theses can offer a wealth of information. Extensive investigation to provide specialized information on a topic or an organization may be found in theses. They have an extensive list of references.

Trade publication articles can provide industry related information.

Construct an OR statement to broaden a search. Maintain a list of keywords and OR statements.

(HaiCo OR "Haida Enterprise Corporation" OR "TAAN Forestry")

Evaluating Effectiveness of an Organization

Think about an organization in a broader context to find more information. What kind of organization is it?

("friendship centre" OR "friendship center" OR "Aboriginal resource centre")

Then think about ways of expressing evaluation to search for and expand the search to include those terms.

("friendship centre" OR "friendship center" OR "Aboriginal resource centre") AND (evaluate OR assess OR models)

community based, community driven, governance, leadership, models

review, evaluate, assess, models, reporting, critical analysis, scrutiny, evaluation, examine

"friendship centres" ("first nations" OR aboriginal OR indigenous OR "indians of north america" OR "native peoples") (evaluation OR assessment) (standards OR criteria OR models)

If an aspect of your search is not surfacing in the results, you might look to the Subject Terms list to focus your search results.

What concepts or ideas express your idea of successful self-determination?

"cultural renewal"

"ecosystem based management"

"harm reduction"