Research Unit and Schedule

RESEARCH UNIT

DATES

Week 9-Week 13

October 17-November 20

LEARNING GOALS

  1. Write your own texts critically
  2. Compose as a process
  3. Use conventions appropriate to audience, genre and purpose

SUMMARY

“Students need to be taught not to look for answers, but to look for problems that need solving and for questions that need to be answered” (Witte 228)

“genuine inquiry–the kind of research that often leads to new ideas and important choices–tends to begin with unsettled problems and questions, rather than thesis statements and predetermined answers” (Wierszewski 232)

“embrace uncertainty” (Wierszewski 234)

TEXTS

WEEK­­ 9: OCTOBER 17-OCTOBER 23

Reading

Turn In

  • Writer’s Journal Prompt[7] [Blogs@Baruch]

Writer’s Journal Prompt [Blogs@Baruch]

Invention, the process of thinking about a topic and then creating, is often the hardest part of the writing process. Antlitz acknowledges this at the beginning of “Taking Flight” and goes onto reveal important connections between the challenge of invention and writing anxiety.

Try at least one of the Invention Strategies here for the Research project. Then, in your response, consider the following:

  • What strategies have you used to generate ideas in the past? What has worked or not worked for you?
  • After trying some of the Invention Strategies which ones were most interesting to you or seem to mesh with your writing process best?
  • What was the outcome of your invention activities?
  • What is your tentative Research Question? (this can change and evolve but include a rough idea here; look at the Research Assignment Sheet for examples)

WEEK­­ 10: OCTOBER 24-OCTOBER 30

Reading

Turn In

  • Writer’s Journal Prompt[8] [Blogs@Baruch]

Writer’s Journal Prompt [Blogs@Baruch]

This week is all about searching for and evaluating sources in research. Because that is such a complex process, this week’s prompt has two parts. I recommend doing the first part and then returning to complete the second part after you’ve found at least one source. You only need one complete source for the second part and it need not be a source you use in your project – in fact, the source evaluation is to help you determine if a source is useable. You might do a source evaluation and decide the source doesn’t pass the CRAAP Test. That’s great! That’s exactly what the source evaluation is for.

Part 1

To conduct secondary research we have to develop methods for searching for materials. This can be a bit more difficult than a simple Google search, especially when using an academic tool like OneSearch or other scholarly databases.

Before beginning to search, writers and librarians both suggest developing a list of search terms you can edit and add to throughout the research process. When creating this list you should think of words that are relevant to your topic as well as synonyms or alternative phrasing for those terms.

Example:

  • First-year writing
  • First-year composition
  • Freshman writing
  • Freshman composition
  • Required writing courses
  • Required writing classes

Though search algorithms often have accounted for these similarities, sometimes different phrases turn up different results even when they mean the same thing.

You’ll also need to use what are called Boolean Operators (conjunctions like “AND”, “OR”, “NOT”, OR “AND NOT” to combine or exclude terms in your search. This practice can target your results for the kind of sources you’re hoping to find. You might refer to “Using Databases” for more ideas.

In this first part of your response, please start your list of terms—10-15 is a good number to start with—and consider combinations you might want to experiment with using Boolean Operators.

Part 2

As described in the Writing Commons’ “Summary, Evaluation, and Synthesis”:

When evaluating a source in an assignment such as an annotated bibliography, it is important to evaluate the credibility of that source. There are many elements that work together to make a source reliable or unreliable. In evaluating a source’s credibility, a writer is considering its rhetorical situation. A source evaluation should consider the following questions. While a source evaluation does not need to answer every single one of these questions individually, these questions guide a thorough consideration of the source’s credibility.

Conducting source evaluations helps writers not only determine how useful a particular source is for their research but also the source’s purpose and argument.

Use at least one of the Source Evaluation techniques found here. Not all questions may be relevant to your source but you should thoroughly analyze the source and dig below just surface level content.

Finally, describe how the source relates to the research question.

BONUS: You can add this Source Evaluation text to the entry for the source in Zotero under “Notes” if you’re using that. Then, you can easily refer to your notes for each source in one place.

WEEK 11: OCTOBER 31-NOVEMBER 6

Reading

Turn In

Writer’s Journal Prompt [Blogs@Baruch]

Finding sources to respond to a research question can be challenging, but depending on your confidence level you might find it even more challenging to incorporate those sources into your writing. Often, beginning writers copy and paste lots of quotations into their essays. This might show that there are lots of people writing about a topic, but it doesn’t do much rhetorically to present a new argument in the writer’s voice.

In Synthesizing Your Research Findings Photinos suggests, “when you synthesize, you are not just compiling information.  You are organizing that information around a specific argument or question, and this work—your own intellectual work—is central to research writing.” She also explains:

[S]ynthesis is about pulling together information from a range of sources in order to answer a question or construct an argument. It is something you will be called upon to do in a wide variety of academic, professional, and personal contexts. Being able to dive into an ocean of information and surface with meaningful conclusions is an essential life skill. (Photinos)

When is a time you had to synthesize information beyond a school project like to make a large purchase (ex: your first car or computer), decide between options (ex: selecting what college or university to attend), or educate yourself on a topic (ex: to learn a new skill, understand a medical condition), etc.

  • What did it look like?
  • What information gaps or unanswered questions were there?
  • How did pieces of information speak to one another or add to one another to help you make a determination, answer a question, make a choice, etc.?

Now, look to the sources you have. Use a technique like mapping or charting or even just listing to identify similarities and differences, agreements and disagreements between your sources. What seems to be “settled” (the sources generally agree it’s fact/the truth) and what is “unsettled” (the sources don’t agree or it seems up for debate)?

When you identify those connections and points of debate, where do you want to insert your voice to join the conversation and make your own argument? What are you arguing for and how is it supported by these sources?

Research Rough Draft [Blackboard]

Assignment Sheet available on Blogs@Baruch.

WEEK 12: NOVEMBER 7-NOVEMBER 13

Reading

Turn In

Writer’s Journal Prompt [Blogs@Baruch]

Now that we have rough drafts to work with, this week we will work on revising those drafts to form rhetorically sound arguments. An important factor in the arrangement and style of a text is well-developed paragraphs.

First, review Developing Paragraphs: MEAL Plan Method and Developing Connections: Signals of Synthesis

Then:

  • Consider your thesis Does it make a clear claim based on evidence?
    • If not, how can you revise the thesis to respond to your Research Question and make a claim?
    • If yes, move on to your body paragraphs.
  • Highlight M–E–A–L in your text using different colors
  • What do you notice about the distribution of content?
  • Are there paragraphs where you’re missing one of the components?
  • Are there paragraphs where you have unbalanced components (e.g. six sources but one sentence of analysis?)
  • Make a revision plan to balance the M–E–A–L in each body paragraph.

Reflect on the questions in your post and include your responses as well as at least one paragraph where you highlighted the M–E–A–L.

WEEK 13: NOVEMBER 14-NOVEMBER 20

Reading

Turn In

Writer’s Journal Prompt [Blogs@Baruch]

Reflect on the process of writing and composing your Research project. Answer any or all of the questions below that feel relevant to your practice:

  • When you first read the assignment or realized we would be doing a Research project, what were your expectations? What were you concerned about? Excited about? What did you think it would be like?
  • How were your expectations met or countered? Were your concerns or fears justified? How so?
  • How did you grow as a writer during the Research project? What did you learn to do, do for the first time, experiment with, etc.?
  • How do you think you’ll feel about Research projects in the future? How do you think you’ll approach them after going through this process?

Research Polished Draft [Blackboard]

Assignment Sheet available on Blogs@Baruch.

Go back to Research Assignment Sheet.

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