Any TCC student who would like to complete research-related service hours with The John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation should read through this document prior to starting that research.

Any student pursuing this opportunity should plan well in advance – this volunteer opportunity is not for someone who just “needs to get hours in.”

This document explains the goals that your research will help you meet as well as explain what you will need to do to get started.

GOALS

If you are completing this research as part of a service-learning course, the project should help you

  • Recognize needs in the community,
  • Respond to those community needs with service, and
  • Reflect on your service experience.

If you are completing working on this project as a part of your Tulsa Achieves hours, the project should help you

  • Foster a sense of community engagement and awareness,
  • learn the value of service-oriented community engagement,
  • gain an understanding of non-profit organizations in our area,
  • provide valuable experiences for student resumes and career exploration.

Minimum hour requirement: 20 hours

Getting Started:

Writing Standards

  • All writing should observe basic standards of grammar and mechanics. This includes correct usage of capitalization, spelling, and punctuation.
  • Writing should be concise and clear. Paragraphs should be unified and coherent. Students should use an objective writing style that avoids contractions as well as personal pronouns (I, me, you).
  • The John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation reserves the right to deny service hours for any student whose writing does not meet basic standards.

Academic Integrity

  • Students doing research with The John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation should consult and cite primary sources whenever possible. These sources should be cited using MLA format.
  • Any secondary information that a student relies on should be cross-verified with at least one other source.
  • Any information that can be found in at least four sources is considered common knowledge and does not need to be cited. However, in these situations, students still need to utilize their own wording.
  • Students should double check that any citations included are 100% accurate and that any paraphrases rely on the students own original wording and are still cited. Any plagiarism issues, intentional or unintentional, may result in the same kind of academic probation as it would if you were writing this for a course. See TCC’s policies on academic integrity for more information.

Other considerations

In signing up to work with The John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation, students agree to

  1. complete work during agreed upon timeframe
  2. communicate about difficulties/extenuating circumstances
  3. give access rights to The John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation
  4. give The John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation the rights to utilize and edit your writing as they see fit

What happens if I start my research but I don’t find very much information?

Document the steps you took. New research is coming out all the time and information (like newspapers) are being digitized all the time. It’s possible that someone may be able to pick up where you left off one day. Documenting your work will help the next researcher to avoid duplicating the same research steps you took that didn’t result in usable information.

Keep in mind that an “unsuccessful” research project still involved research and so may not be as unsuccessful as you may think. You just learned where not to look next time. Many research projects don’t produce the results we expected to find – this is part of authentic research, and it doesn’t mean that your time wasn’t valuable or you didn’t learn anything. We should always be open to unexpected results with our research, results that challenge our initial idea, or even non-existing results. We can learn from all of these scenarios!

Where can I go to find primary sources on The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre?

  • OSU library has put together an excellent guide on primary sources.
  • Additionally, take a look at The John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation’s curriculum resource guide for secondary sources.