Folded paper strip with the handwritten sentence "Observation and Research Are Important."
“Observation. Research. Writing.” by Underway In Ireland via Flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Before class on Monday, 10/24, students will…

Write:

  • Compile a list of at least three social justice issues and the questions related to the topic. Remember, try to narrow the question down.
    • For example, if you’re interested in learning more about migrant detention centers (which is a broad topic), you narrow down the scope to the health issues of those in detention (still big), so you narrow that issue down to the health of children, and ask: “How do detention centers affect the health of migrant children?”
    • That means your topic
  • Before class on Monday, create a post, titled Full Name, U2 Questions Brainstorm and save it under the category U2 Work. Record your questions/topics in the body of this post.
    • This is part of the low-stakes writing assignments, which are worth 30% of your overall grade!
  • U1 Reflection: Write a short reflective paragraph (150-200 words) about the process of writing your education narrative. In your letter, discuss whether or not reading “Shitty First Drafts” affected your writing process. If so, how? If not, discuss how you approached the assignment.
    • This is one of the low-stakes writing assignments (worth 30% of your overall grade). Title it Full Name, U1 Reflection and post it under the category U1 Work by 11:59PM on Monday.

Review:

During class, we will…

  • Review â€œReflective Annotated Bibliography” Power Point by Laura Westengard
  • Return to your brainstorming for Unit 2 the topics and pick the one you think is the most interesting.
  • Complete the KWRL activity (see below).

KWRL Activity:

  1. K- KNOW: 5 minutes.  Write about what you know about the topic/question the whole time.  It is important that you don’t pause here, so if you are stuck, write “I’m stuck!” But just keep typing.  Write down everything you can about what you KNOW about this topic or question.
  2. W-WANT:  5 minutes.  Same thing– you’ll write that whole time.  This time, write what you WANT to know about the topic.
  3. R-RESEARCH: 15 minutes. Here is where you do a little bit of research.  Spend time on searching your topic on the internet.   
  4. L-LEARNED: 5 minutes.  Again, write the whole time.  Write what you LEARNED from your 10-15 minutes of preliminary research.  Cite where necessary. 
  5. Based on this activity, refine your question and be ready to discuss it with me!
  • Discuss your Research Question with me.

Before class on Wednesday, students will…

  • Decide on your overall research question. Go to your post (Full Name, U2 Questions Brainstorm) and hit “reply” with your finished question. Be sure to have the question handy during our library visit!
  • Set a timer. Spend 15 minutes writing a substantial paragraph answering the following: How did you get interested in your research question? Why are you interested? What answers and information do you expect to find in response to your research question? (These notes are for you and will help you write the introductory section of the annotated bibliography.)

During class on Wednesday, we will…

  • Meet in front of the Ursula C. Schwerin Library (not our usual classroom). Be prompt! Our librarian will meet us out front and will give us a brief tour before taking us to a computer lab to review how to research databases. Remember to have your research question available and any notes about this question ready!
  • Not sure where the library is? Figure this out before Wednesday! 🙂