The Research Paper
In what course(s), if any, do you teach "the research paper," and how exactly do you define that term?
posted by clc @ 11:21 PM
4 comments
Community College English
Teaching writing and literature in the two-year college
Saturday, April 02, 2005
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4 Comments:
We're required to do a research paper in comp 2. The department says that means 5-7 pages, 10 sources, MLA documentation. I changed it to 6-10 pages because after I spent so much time going over documentation, I wanted them to write more than 5 pages. :)
I usually have them do current events arguments and make them find sources that have come out in the past few months, mainly because this cuts down on the possibilty of downloading a free paper online.
My students often say they've never written a research paper before. Some will say they've written one research paper in high school. A few will say they wrote several research papers in high school.
If I had my own way, I'd do a series of documented papers rather than one "research paper," but I'm bound by the department guidelines.
We call it the "documented essay" (or, in the new curriculum, "adding to the conversation") in the UMass FYC course. It's one essay out of 5 or 6, depending on which curriculum you're following or if you've designed your own variant. Like all the other essays, it requires a minimum of 750 words. MLA documentation, usually at least 4 diverse sources (selections from books, popular magazines or newspapers, scholarly journals, electronic media, and personal communication or interviews). As the Writing Program guidance makes clear, it is most emphatically not a "book report" on something like "Burial Habits of the Ancient Egyptians", but rather uses sources in service of some rhetorical exigency other than recapitulating already-extant knowledge.
Mike
We have always done a truly formal - and formidable - Major Report in the EAP class I now teach: it has always involved so many skills that I get as confused as the students - wide reading, citing, paraphrasing, summary, internet searching, conducting students' own research (questionnaires and surveys) etc etc.
Last year, I broke with tradition completely: the students gave oral presentations instead, and we used PowerPoint (which I used to hate) to structure the presentations. It was a tremendous success, and led to what I would call 'real' research: each student became truly involved in their chosen topic, researched it far more thoroughly than in previous years, and we then worked from the oral presentation to the written - which was, by then, well-structured, resourced - and, yes, referenced! I guess the presentation in some ways acted like a major writing conference! One of the most interesting things was the way in which the students used visuals in their presentations - and then wrote about them with an accuracy and descriptive ability which I don't often see.
I'm going to try it again this year - and I'll let you know whether it still works!
Rosa - you said to just carry on taking the conversation in different directions: I guess I am!
C--I'll send you a copy of our syllabus if you'd like. Like DeAnza, research is done in our second of two comp classes, where we study argumentation and expect the students to do several papers that include research and documentation. Let me see what I can find for you.
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