Lesson Materials: 1. PowerPoint Lecture; 2. How to Read Scholarly Sources
Lesson Objectives: 1. Understand the assignment and identify a strong issue worth writing about; 2. Identify reliable academic and popular sources to learn about an issue and avoid the curse of knowledge problem; 3. Understand plagiarism and how to avoid it; 4. Define and distinguish summarizing, paraphrasing, and quoting; 5. Define and understand the difference between a summary, an analysis, and a synthesis; 6. Articulate the main idea of a summary; 7. Use academic reporting verbs in summaries
Connection to Major Paper/Project: Because the second major assignment of the semester asks you to summarize, analyze and synthesize information from a variety of sources, it is important that you learn to summarize, quote, and paraphrase from sources. These planning lessons help you practice the essential building blocks of a research-based writing, which will later be used toward the argumentative paper. Because you need sources to work with, you will also learn how to identify credible sources, read closely and annotate. The reflective annotated bibliography will draw on these skills to help you learn about an issue and prepare to make an informed argument about it.
Connection to Course Goals: One of the most important goals in the course is to be able to compose within academic writing contexts. The skills addressed in this lesson series are essential in any academic endeavor. Academic writers are expected to understand complex readings and briefly summarize the main message(s). To be able to join an academic conversation or discourse community, you must be able to properly borrow from other experts’ work, and these three lessons preparing you to produce a reflective annotated bibliography introduce you to this process to prepare you to enter academic conversations for your future classes. The planning lessons also reinforce the importance of approaching writing as a process, developing planning strategies ahead of producing a first draft.
Day 1 Activities:
Introduction to the Analysis Assignment: Read the assignment sheet, take notes, and prepare questions/comments.
Assignment Scenario Activity: Open the link to the NPR segment in the assignment sheet, pause after each question and take time to fill in the blanks in the Assignment Scenario Activity handout. Discus with the class the main themes of the NPR segment. During class discussion, reflect on how the research that informs the guest’s answers and relate them to the scenario of the assignment and to your own research that you’re about to embark on.
Think/Pair/Share: Reflective Annotated Bibliography Guide: Take the time to read through the Reflective Annotated Bibliography in detail. The, discuss any questions you may have with a partner. Examine how the worksheet will be a model for how you are asked to structure your own entries for the analysis assignment. As a class, we will address questions about what areas they may not understand.
Think/Pair/Share on List of Sample Topics: Create a table and fill it out following instructions in the PowerPoint lecture in the lesson materials above. Compare your ideas with those in the list of topic choices handout and make a topic choice following guidelines in the PPT.
Research Questions Think/Pair/Share: Go over the example of research questions in the PPT above. Create research questions in the topic you had just chosen. Share your questions with each other, showing curiosity about your classmate’s questions and assisting them in refining the questions to make them more interesting to a target audience. We will discuss as a class too for more feedback.
Day 2 Activities:
Different Types of Sources: We will now begin exploring practical strategies for finding reliable sources of information for your writing. First, review the research guide on finding the sources that you will need for your chosen topic/issue. Second, find a book, an academic journal article that’s peer reviewed, and a regular news article about your topic using the research guide. Third, help each other make sure you found what you needed. Finally, share with the class what you find and analyze to make sure for example that an article comes from an academic journal.
How to Annotate a Text: Read the strategies in this document about how to annotate a text and prepare to apply the strategies toward the next activity. You don’t have to apply all the strategies all them time, but select ones that you feel are most helpful.
PowerPoint Lecture/Activities: The professor will introduce and define key concepts to help prepare you to produce a detailed reflective annotated bibliography.
Day 3 Activities:
Quoting, Paraphrasing, Summarizing, Analysis, and Synthesis Graphic Organizer: After learning why it is important to learn to summarize, quote, paraphrase, analyze and synthesize information, we will move on to practice activities. Read the instructions of the graphic organizer/jigsaw activity. The purpose of this activity is to provide you with an opportunity to practice quoting, paraphrasing, summarizing, analyzing, and synthesizing information. Make sure you sort information from the articles you read using the graphic organizer. The instructor will facilitate and assist as needed. The instructor will validate or raise questions about your decisions as needed when you share with the whole class, capitalizing on teachable moments and encouraging you to build on your insights as you prepare your first draft of the Analysis assignment.
Sample Answers: When instructed, open these sample answers, examine them, and then use them to revise your answers.
Curse of Knowledge Activity: Video using questions in the Viewing Instructions Handout. Practice with the examples in the handout.
Note: Use any remaining time to work on your assignment or collaborative code of engagement.
Day 4 Activities:
- Discussion: Discuss comprehension of the article, asking any questions about what is not understood in the reading. Reflect upon key ideas in the course and potential analytical arguments in response.