NOTE: Readings for a specific week’s class are shown below the week we will be discussing them. Be sure to read the materials before the week they are assigned so that you will be prepared for the class.
TEXT: Booth, Colomb and Williams, The Craft of Research, 2nd Ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003
Other Readings:
Packs, Peter, Tearing Down the Gates: Confronting the Class Divide in American Education, University of California Press, 2009
Posner, Richard A. The Little Book of Plagiarism , Pantheon (January 16, 2007)
Bazerman, Charles. Shaping Written Knowledge, Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 1988
(available at: http://wac.colostate.edu/books/bazerman shaping/)Others as indicated in the syllabus below.
Week 1 : Defining Research and Meeting Your Potential Research Partners.
Writing Assignment : 2 one to two page papers :
- First : Short essay on the significance to our topic of Meyers’ Basho and the Fox.
- Second : Describe a mundane/routine research activity you have undertaken during the past week
Class Activity :
- Introductions & Expectations
- Basho and the Fox
- Write for 20 minutes: Describe yourself and why you are here. What are your assumptions about research, writing and your abilities to do both.
- Our learning agreement (covenant)
- Learning Objectives
- Learning Resource Center Tour
- Computer Center Tour (6:00 p.m.)
- Introduction to on-line communications and e-mail address exchanges
- Library Tour & Scavenger Hunt
Suggested Activity : Watch the movie Erin Brockovitch (on reserve or rent it for yourself and watch at home)
Week 2 : Determining a Research Topic.
Read : Read: Part I Chapters 1 & 2 in The Craft of Research (Including the Preface), Part II Chapters 3 & 4 in The Craft of Research and Chapters _ of Sack's Book.
Class Activity :
- Seminar on Readings and first week writing assignments
- Brainstorming session - Confirming and sharing your interests
- Create research partnerships
Writing Assignment : Answer (to the best of your ability) the three questions posed in the section on how to develop a working research problem (page 49-52 in Craft of Research) . There is no page limit on this assignment. It is to your advantage to think these questions through thoroughly and write extensively so that you have an understanding of what you are interested in and how you perceive your interest can be made to be interesting to others.
Week 3 : Where are the Research Resources?
Read : Part II Chapters 5 in The Craft of Research and Complete Daughter of Time.
Class Activity :
Suggested Activity : Watch the movie Party Girl (on reserve. Form a party with some (or all) of your classmates).
Week 4 : Using Digital and/or Traditional Resources.
Read : Chapter 6 in The Craft of Research
and Bazerman Chapters on Writing and Disciplines (see links below)Part One: Writing Matters
Chapter 1: The Problem of Writing Knowledge (79K)
Chapter 2: What Written Knowledge Does: Three Examples of Academic Discourse (522K)Class Activity :
Week 5 : Evidence + Reasons + Claims = Arguments. Creating meaning from data.
Read :Part III Chapters 7-9 in The Craft of Research
Class Activity:
Written Assignment: 2-3 page paper on the relationship between elements of a research project
Week 6 : Qualifying your Arguments.
Read : Part III Chapters 10-11 in The Craft of Research
Class Activity :
Week7 : Drafting and related exercises
Read :
- Part IV Chapters 12, and 15 in The Craft of Research
- Elbow, Peter: Articles on getting started writing, Lawyer as Writer
Class Activity :
- Seminar on Readings
- Presentation on Writing Manuals
- Scavenger Hunt II: Arts and Humanities
Written Assignment: Draft description of your project
Week 8 : Revising
Read :
Class Activity:
Week 9 : Research and Writing Ethics
Read: Part V of The Craft of Research and Posner's Little Book of Plagiarism
Writing Assignment : Finalizing your presentations
Class Activity :
Week 10 : Project/Proposed Paper Presentations (length depending on the number of students and available time)
