HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT DUE FOR FIRST DAY:
Since this course is about teaching research, we want to begin by having all of you put yourself in students' shoes--by doing a mock research project yourself. You will choose from three actual research assignments given to students at BHS. These assignments represent different topics/disciplines. You may work within your own discipline or not, but please choose a topic you don't know a great deal about so you can do authentic research.
American History Research Assignment
World History Research Assignment
English/Literature Research Assignment
Each of these assignments has different requirements. Don't worry - you don't need to actually write a paper! For purposes of this course, we will focus on defining/narrowing a topic, finding sources, and extracting relevant information from sources. Most important, we will reflect on each stage of the research process from the perspective of the student researcher. Therefore, you will need to do the following steps of whichever assignment you
choose:
1. Choose/refine topic(s) according to the assignment guidelines. Assume your research will lead to a 5-7 page paper, unless guidelines state otherwise.
2. Create an account in Noodletools for bibliography and notetaking. Noodletools is the online notetaking/bibliography/research program that students use at BHS. (Link to Noodletools here. Instructions for creating a Noodletools account here)
o Please share your Noodletools project with the following dropbox (Research Class 2014)
o Create a bibliography (see below) on Noodletools
o Create notecards using Noodletools, linking notecards to each source.
o Useful Noodletools tutorials can be found here.
3. Post your research question on your Noodletools dashboard page.
4. Find at least 4 relevant sources, sticking to the guidelines given in the assignment (if possible).
o At least two sources should be BHS online databases. Some of the databases require a password for home use. These can be found by clicking the link at the top of database page and entering the password "BHS" when
prompted.
o Challenge yourself to find primary sources, scholarly articles, online books etc. if your assignment requires them or if you want to see what it's like to locate these sources.
o One or more of your sources can be websites.
o Create a citation for each source, using Noodletools.
5. Once you develop and refine your thesis statement, post it on the Noodletools dashboard page.
6. Take at least 15 notecards. (Again, useful tutorials to help you are available here.)
7. Create a preliminary outline for your finished paper on Noodletools
8. Come in ready to discuss this research process on Wednesday, our first day of class. Only the instructors will see your work, so don’t worry if your final product isn’t perfect. It’s your reflection on the steps of the research process that we care about most.
Since this course is about teaching research, we want to begin by having all of you put yourself in students' shoes--by doing a mock research project yourself. You will choose from three actual research assignments given to students at BHS. These assignments represent different topics/disciplines. You may work within your own discipline or not, but please choose a topic you don't know a great deal about so you can do authentic research.
American History Research Assignment
World History Research Assignment
English/Literature Research Assignment
Each of these assignments has different requirements. Don't worry - you don't need to actually write a paper! For purposes of this course, we will focus on defining/narrowing a topic, finding sources, and extracting relevant information from sources. Most important, we will reflect on each stage of the research process from the perspective of the student researcher. Therefore, you will need to do the following steps of whichever assignment you
choose:
1. Choose/refine topic(s) according to the assignment guidelines. Assume your research will lead to a 5-7 page paper, unless guidelines state otherwise.
2. Create an account in Noodletools for bibliography and notetaking. Noodletools is the online notetaking/bibliography/research program that students use at BHS. (Link to Noodletools here. Instructions for creating a Noodletools account here)
o Please share your Noodletools project with the following dropbox (Research Class 2014)
o Create a bibliography (see below) on Noodletools
o Create notecards using Noodletools, linking notecards to each source.
o Useful Noodletools tutorials can be found here.
3. Post your research question on your Noodletools dashboard page.
4. Find at least 4 relevant sources, sticking to the guidelines given in the assignment (if possible).
o At least two sources should be BHS online databases. Some of the databases require a password for home use. These can be found by clicking the link at the top of database page and entering the password "BHS" when
prompted.
o Challenge yourself to find primary sources, scholarly articles, online books etc. if your assignment requires them or if you want to see what it's like to locate these sources.
o One or more of your sources can be websites.
o Create a citation for each source, using Noodletools.
5. Once you develop and refine your thesis statement, post it on the Noodletools dashboard page.
6. Take at least 15 notecards. (Again, useful tutorials to help you are available here.)
7. Create a preliminary outline for your finished paper on Noodletools
8. Come in ready to discuss this research process on Wednesday, our first day of class. Only the instructors will see your work, so don’t worry if your final product isn’t perfect. It’s your reflection on the steps of the research process that we care about most.