If you’d prefer to access this info as a separate file, use these links for the Research Based Project and the Research Guide.
Research Based Project
This is a multi-part assignment which will be spread over the final month of the semester. It includes research, presentation, and essay-writing assignments. This document lays out the broad parameters of the assignments; expect to receive detailed assignment guidelines for each of these three components as they unfold as well as weekly assignments that should help you with your time-management and workflow by breaking these large assignments down into more manageable steps.
- Resource Guide: Your group will be writing, compiling, and sharing a guide to your research topic. Your guide will have three main sections:
-Research Questions
-Reflective Annotated Bibliography
-Further Recommendations
- Symposium Session: Your group will be planning and implementing a learning session for the class.
- Personal Op/Ed: Each student will be writing an opinion piece that takes a stand on some aspect of his/her issue.
Timeline:
Nov. 11th: Groups Meet – establish Slack sub-channel, brainstorm Research Questions
Nov. 15th: Submit Research Questions (as Google Doc)
Nov. 23rd: Submit Proposal for Op-Ed Essay (as Google Doc)
Nov. 30th: Research Guides Due (Shared via Blogs@Baruch)
Dec. 4th: Op-Ed Essay Drafts Due (as Google Doc)
Dec. 7th and 9th: SYMPOSIA (Teaching Sessions)
Dec. 14th: Op-Ed Essays Due
Resource Guide
Each group will be producing a Research Guide about its issue. The purpose of these guides is to collect, digest, and share useful resources about your topic. This research will also form the backbone for your op-ed essay.
Your Research Guide will contain three sections:
-Articulation of Research Questions
-Reflective Annotated Bibliography
-Further Recommendations
- Articulation of Research Questions – a short, concise list of the Research Question/s your group is focussing on. In some cases, you might have one broad question that guides your overall research plus a few narrower questions that you are particularly interested in.
- Reflective Annotated Bibliography (RefAnnBib) – This will comprise the largest and most substantial piece of your Research Guide. Each member of your group will be responsible for putting together FIVE entries. Identify your entries by placing your initials in parentheses at the end of each entry you create. The bibliography itself will be organized in alphabetical order as a single group document. The RefAnnBib collects important resources about your subject and provides essential and helpful information about them. (See detailed instructions below.)
- Further Recommendations – In this final section of your Resource Guide, you will share additional ways to explore your topic. This could include accounts to follow on social media, organizations who are working on these issues, or ways to get involved. This section should have at least 4-6 entries.
Reflective Annotated Bibliography
The reflective annotated bibliography (RefAnnBib) works as a research device, having been adapted from the traditional academic document called an annotated bibliography. While the conventional form only includes a bibliographic entry and a summary, this adapted annotated bibliography adds sections for keywords, reflections, and quotations.
Each entry has five parts:
1.Bibliographic Entry (MLA Format)
- Key Words
- Summary
- Reflection
- Quotables
Directions and Sample RefAnnBib
Part 1: Bibliographic Entry
This section gives the publication information: author, date, title, book or journal, vol., page numbers, print or web.
Sample:
Fitzgerald, Jill. “Research on Revision in Writing” Review of Educational Research. 57.4 (Winter 1987): 481-506.
Part 2: Key Words
This section lists key words that the author uses. These terms will often be specialized according to the topic under discussion. You do not need to provide definitions, but if these terms were unfamiliar to you, you should have looked them up before including them here.
Sample:
Coding System
Cognitive Theory
Error-Detection Method
Linear Model
Participant-Observer Method
Problem-Solving View
Process
Part 3: Summary
This section provides an objective summary of the reading. It should only convey exactly what the author states in the article without including your opinions. It should state the author’s primary claim(s). Be sure to use the present tense when drafting your summary.
Sample:
From a two-decade period, this author compiles research studies, perspectives, and re-definitions about revision and its role in the improvement of writing. According to the author, these last twenty years of revision studies have reshaped the definition of meaningful revision to move beyond editorial actions. As the author states, “This paper presents a brief historical perspective on the development of the meaning of revision, presents findings from research on revision, and, finally, discusses limitations of the research” (481). Moreover, this survey of revision research considers various aspects of revision decision-making, including age, grade-level, expertise, and instructional response (aka, response to drafts). After summarizing and analyzing the revision studies and limitations, the author suggests further research studies that future composition/rhetoric researchers should pursue.
Part 4: Reflection
This section reveals your opinion about what the author has stated. What questions do you have? What don’t you understand? What other information do you need to look up to better understand this article? How did this source affect your thinking about your topic?
Sample:
This article provides an historical viewpoint for my articles albeit one which needs updating since 1987. Along with articles from 1987 to the present, this information provides a framework to discuss revision and the types of assessment systems in which productive revision—beyond editorial actions (aka: surface characteristics such as spelling, punctuation, and sentence correction)—can take place. The point accrual system that I suggest offers students a course policy system in which they can take control of their earned grade and see the value in revisionary efforts. By reviewing these revision habits, I can make a better argument for the types of classroom policies we might put in place to encourage, even instigate, revision.
Part 5: Quotables
This section directly quotes 2-4 statements that the author made in the article that you feel really exemplify its claims or interpretations. Or, choose sentences that you feel the author expressed exceptionally well. IMPORTANT: If applicable, include page number(s) where you find the quote. Place quotation marks around the chosen phrase and make sure you cite the phrase verbatim.
Sample:
“[T]heory has not always mirrored the practitioner’s belief that revision has a central role in writing. Early views of revision were theoretically dry and uninteresting” (481).
Sources
Each student will be contributing 5 entries to the RefAnnBib, with the following guidelines:
– (min) 1 Academic or Scholarly Source: one source taken from a peer-reviewed, academic publication. You will be using Baruch’s Newman Library databases to find these sources.
– (max) 2 Newspaper Articles
-1 non-traditional source: Video, Documentary Films, Photographic Collections, Podcasts, Oral Histories, and other Primary Sources would all fall into this category.
