To combat students being overly concerned with page length and the number of quotes/paraphrases when writing research papers, I decided to take the paper out of the equation. For this research project, students use the research process to determine how realistic the science/technology is in a selected Marvel film. By removing the paper, the students are able to focus on and practice the various steps in the research process, such as crafting a research proposal, annotated bibliography and outline. Additionally, they hone various skills like searching and evaluating resources, revising a working thesis statement and determining the best outside sources to use for support. Fall 2016 was the first time that I implimented this assignment and the results from the oral presentations showed a increased understading and depth with the topic. Additionally, students did better on the various parts of the project in general when compared to scores from previous semesters when the paper was also required.
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Comments
Interesting idea. I have the same questions/concerns posed by students in my Psy 290 Research Methods course. Students are extremely concerned about the length of the paper. Similarly, the paper is broken up into parts (introduction, lit review, research questions, methods, findings, discussion, abstract, reference). They need to submit first to the writing center and submit to me their writing center draft with comments as well as the revised version for each section. When they submit the second section, it's supposed to include a revised version of the first part. In theory, there should be several iterations throughout the course. This makes writing the final paper much more feasible. However, I can imagine this would be extremely difficult in a 5 week course given the turnaround time needed for grading and revising. My concern might be that they don't actually put it all together. I'm curious if that's a concern that you have because putting everything together gives them an opportunity to revise the different parts of the paper?
This is a great learning tool! We tend to be in the habit of assuming that a paper demonstrates development of research skills. Indeed, a student can't really write a good paper without going through the process, but the reality is that I would rather see the process! I like the idea of using contemporary media (e.g., Marvel!) to trigger interest and get students to evaluate critically what they watch. A truly great paper begins with a robust outline based on the steps of research and analysis. I like your approach - it ultimately develops writing skills by getting students to think about their work and organize it before putting pen to paper. Because of the skills you are developing in them now, there is no worry that they will write great capstone papers later as upper classmen, er...upper classpeople!
I love it! I ight have to "borrow this idea :)
Hi Erin,
Are you doing this again in the Spring? I think you completed the cycle on this because you said scores went up from previous semesters. If you are doing this again this semester, are you seeing the same results? Thanks for taking time to submit a CATS.