Teaching Research; Teaching Writing
Framing goals for the formal research project during second semester in Honors World History.
The second semester of my Honors World History course sees my students delving deeply into individual topics of interest in the Greco-Roman world. Throughout the course of the semester, they will practice research and writing while working through the scaffolded process outlined below culminating in a thesis-based argument supported through either a traditional research paper or a creative research project. Students work on this research project alongside the continuing regular work of the class, with both class and homework time set aside for this project. Aspects of the regular coursework are designed to supplement this process by integrating small scale writing instruction, such as how to appropriately “name drop” sources and significant historical figures in their writing.
Below, I will post all the associated documents and a sampling of student examples from an array of different students to highlight the variety of their topic choices. The assignment sheets will all be the most up-to-date versions, modified for use during the 2020-2021 school year; however, most of the students samples will be from the 2019-2020 school year or earlier. This may lead to slight variations in alignment between sample and directions. Each example earned full marks when it was submitted.
This first document is the main assignment sheet, which outlines the conceptual and historical framework of the assignment and includes a detailed timeline and checklist of the steps to be taken, including supplementary readings and associated points values for each process assignment. Most of the supplementary readings come from Mary Lynn Rampolla’s A Pocket Guide to Writing in History, ninth edition.
Following about two weeks of open research, online discussions with each other around potential topics, and informal conversations with me, students submit both a formal topic proposal, with an initial questions and sources, and a research outline. In an earlier iteration of this assignment, the research outline came slightly later and included the first narrowing of the chosen topic into a “theme”. I have moved the research outline forward in the process, but kept the theme selection a few more weeks into the process.
Throughout the research process, students practice summarizing sources and making connections between sources through regular research logs. These logs are my way of keeping up-to-date on the progress of each individual and assists me in providing them the personalize guidance and help they need along the way. Each log contains a formal citation for each source utilized during the sessions logged, a summary overview of the findings of each, links between what they’ve learned and what they already knew, and an explanation of next steps that may also include direct asks for help from me.
The next two stages of the process, after several more weeks of research, is to narrow from a theme to a thesis. Prior to this, we complete some in-class practice on how to create and support a solid historical thesis, focusing on how to move from an initial working thesis, to a strong working thesis, to a final strong thesis. For this project, I expect students to eventual have either a strong working thesis or a strong final thesis by the time it is formally submitted. This is usually ironed out through a series of informal and formal conversations with me and through continued research.
In the current iteration of this project, students submit both a thesis statement and a proposal of the type of project they want to create. This is a change that began last year with the move to online learning. All prior year, this was a formal paper project only. Students now have a wide range of project forms they can elect to create. The final goal of supporting a strong argument-based thesis holds true regardless of final form. The choice of form allows students to tailor their product to their topic, their argument, and their strengths. This created even stronger buy-in and stronger comprehensive arguments from more students than in years prior.
Rather than a traditional outline, I teach my students a bare-bones format that I call an “evidence outline.” This helps them focus directly on what the pillars of their argument will be, and what evidence they have to support those pillars.
At this point, project creation and paper writing begins in earnest. Three weeks following the evidence outline, a full draft is due for peer review. This check-in point with peers gives students a chance to take a breather, see other’s work, and get feedback on their own work. If a student elects to write a formal paper, their final paper is due the following week, a week earlier than final project. This is because I give full editorial feedback on formal papers, and then allow for a one-week revision period. I find that the complete editor/teacher/historian mark-up followed by time to revise is the single most beneficial step in allowing students to improve their writing skills. Two weeks following the peer review, final projects are due.
Approaching this stage, I have a series of handouts with advice for papers and project, as well as a template for formal research papers that reminds students how to properly create footnote citations for the work. All projects with a written component are required to utilize formal Chicago style footnotes. Projects that are audio-based are required to clearly state their sources in lieu of footnotes.
For examples of student work, I have included a paper from several years ago, which won the student national recognition from the National Society of High School Scholars, and a recent example of an Infographic project. This past year, quite a few students elected to create podcast, which were an excellent and compelling form of presenting and defending a historical thesis, but I do not have the ability to anonymize any of them.
Following submission of the final project, there are two aspects remaining. First, completion of a formal annotated bibliography in which they formalize their commentary on each source that informed their research. They are asked to think critically on the credibility of each source commenting on the author’s authority as well as the content and style of the source. Second, students complete a reflection on the process, considering what went well and what did not, and projecting forward to what they need to consider for their research projects in various classes in the future. Process reflection is an often overlooked but fundamentally significant aspect of learning.