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How to Make Writing Research Papers Relevant for Students
September 28, 2009 | Bob LenzIn my last post, "Preparing High School Seniors for College," I outlined the College Success Portfolio, a performance-assessment system used at Envision Schools. We developed this system because we believe students demonstrate college readiness not only by passing rigorous courses but also by actually producing college-ready academic work, demonstrating 21st-century leadership skills, and mastering college-level work habits.
In this post, and subsequent posts, I will describe the actual standards-based project learning found in the College Success Portfolio, and illustrate examples for you.
All college students can be assured that they will write a few 10- to 12-page academic research papers during their undergraduate program in college. Unfortunately, most high school seniors graduate from high school without ever producing one long academic research paper.
Envision students are required to produce at least one research paper a year beginning in the ninth grade. The paper might be assigned in any of the academic courses; it is not just a task for English class. In the ninth and tenth grades, the assignment has a tight scaffold so they learn each step of the process: choosing sources, taking research notes, paraphrasing, outlining, writing expository text, and citing properly.
By the time students are juniors and seniors, they are expected to know the steps to create a research paper. The challenge before graduation is to produce a college-ready research paper.
We believe that students will be more engaged and produce more rigorous work when they have context for an assignment. Here is an example of how we built relevance for a research paper in one of our schools:
In a required project called "State of the World," and as part of our world-history curriculum, students study the rise of industrialism and colonialism leading up to World War I. In a joint assignment, the history teacher and English teacher assign a research paper in which students study the perspective of different classes of people -- social, religious, and agricultural, for example -- in specific countries and then write papers summarizing their findings.
In addition, students read and discuss Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, in their English course. Finally, grouped by the country they studied, students produce a short documentary -- complete with the Kens Burns Effect -- that summarizes their findings and conclusions about their country during the particular era.
To conclude the project, the students present their documentaries. In the context of this engaging project, students must also craft an academic research paper that has a purpose -- research for a film. They realize that Ken Burns and other documentary filmmakers need to conduct extensive historical investigations before they even begin to produce a film.
Do you have your students write research papers? Do you have examples of successful research paper assignments that are both rigorous and relevant? Please share.
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Evolving Research Process for Student Relevance
I appreciate that you’re final product incorporated 21st century skills. But your title "How to make writing research papers relevant to students" also got me thinking about the changing process of research. When I was in school, research skills meant being able to use the card catalog for the limited books available in our small school library. With the development of the internet and search engines, research was no longer about just matching to info on a card to the right book on the self. We had to be able to sort through volumes of sites and determine what was quality information and what was junk. Then came Wikipedia and we could not just consume but contribute to the collection of information. And now we have Diigo and other social bookmarking tools that allow us to share the valuable resources we find. The highlighting and posit-notes tools allow us to interact with the text, but more importantly it allows you to read what I thought was most important about the page and skip the rest.
So my question is have the projects we assign students also evolved with these new tools? Or are we still asking students to jump through the same hoops? Are we ready to accept that being able to effectively do research (or find information) is no longer a task I do in isolation, but rather something I do within my personal learning network? Granted not all information can be found within our communities and we still need to be proficient at searching the vast oceans of the world wide web for the buried treasures we seek. But it seems to me that social bookmarking is as much of a game changer as search engines were. Perhaps the social nature of this tool will help make research more relevant and engaging for some students than the historical isolated research process of our own educational experiences.
Evolving Research Process for Student Relevence
I appreciate that you’re final product incorporated 21st century skills. But your title "How to make writing research papers relevant to students" also got me thinking about the changing process of research. When I was in school, research skills meant being able to use the card catalog for the limited books available in our small school library. With the development of the internet and search engines, research was no longer about just matching to info on a card to the right book on the self. We had to be able to sort through volumes of sites and determine what was quality information and what was junk. Then came Wikipedia and we could not just consume but contribute to the collection of information. And now we have Diigo and other social bookmarking tools that allow us to share the valuable resources we find. The highlighting and posit-notes tools allow us to interact with the text, but more importantly it allows you to read what I thought was most important about the page and skip the rest.
So my question is have the projects we assign students also evolved with these new tools? Or are we still asking students to jump through the same hoops? Are we ready to accept that being able to effectively do research (or find information) is no longer a task I do in isolation, but rather something I do within my personal learning network? Granted not all information can be found within our communities and we still need to be proficient at searching the vast oceans of the world wide web for the buried treasures we seek. But it seems to me that social bookmarking is as much of a game changer as search engines were. Perhaps the social nature of this tool will help make research more relevant and engaging for some students than the historical isolated research process of our own educational experiences.
The Changing Face of Reserach
I appreciate that you’re final product incorporated 21st century skills. But your title "How to make writing research papers relevant to students" also got me thinking about the changing process of research. When I was in school, research skills meant being able to use the card catalog for the limited books available in our small school library. With the development of the internet and search engines, research was no longer about just matching to info on a card to the right book on the self. We had to be able to sort through volumes of sites and determine what was quality information and what was junk. Then came Wikipedia and we could not just consume but contribute to the collection of information. And now we have Diigo and other social bookmarking tools that allow us to share the valuable resources we find. The highlighting and posit-notes tools allow us to interact with the text, but more importantly it allows you to read what I thought was most important about the page and skip the rest.
So my question is have the projects we assign students also evolved with these new tools? Or are we still asking students to jump through the same hoops? Are we ready to accept that being able to effectively do research (or find information) is no longer a task I do in isolation, but rather something I do within my personal learning network? Granted not all information can be found within our communities and we still need to be proficient at searching the vast oceans of the world wide web for the buried treasures we seek. But it seems to me that social bookmarking is as much of a game changer as search engines were. Perhaps the social nature of this tool will help make research more relevant and engaging for some students than the historical isolated research process of our own educational experiences.
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Research papers. I believe
Research papers. I believe you said that due to state testing and
curriculum etc. research papers have taken a backseat. Might I add that due to drugs, and the moral collapse and emotional and social trash that have infiltraated our society our schools have indeed taken a back seat to education. Think of who kids have as heroes---American idol--yes the TV show, and that is the positive side. The negative side is their drug family. But thanks for teaching the few that are still out there that are decent.
Research papers. I believe
Research papers. I believe you said that due to state testing and
curriculum etc. research papers have taken a backseat. Might I add that due to drugs, and the moral collapse and emotional and social trash that have infiltraated our society our schools have indeed taken a back seat to education. Think of who kids have as heroes---American idol--yes the TV show, and that is the positive side. The negative side is their drug family. But thanks for teaching the few that are still out there that are decent.
21st Century Skills at College Level
I was thinking how does this relate to 21st century skills? Then got to the end of the reading and saw the documentaries portion of the assignment (like Andrew said in the previous post). The documentary part is a very important part, because it provides for differentiation within the project. I wonder if higher education will make the adjustment to 21st century skills? Just thinking about my college career (undergrad), I can think of only one time where we were asked to use 21st century skills to create something. I wonder what it is like today? Has higher ed made the adjustment? Will they make the adjustment? I do realize that the term "higher ed" is very broad, and to lump all higher ed into one giant/broad term might be incorrect. Anybody else have any thoughts on 21st century skills at the college level?
Great post!
Great post!
Business class
In my business class, I require my students to write a four page research paper. It is not organized as a skill to learn to get into college. It is presented as a skill to learn so that the student can develop a viable business. Gathering information on any subject requires research skills. The paper I require them to do takes them through all the necessary steps. It helps them see that "research" can be personally helpful and gets them engaged in the process.
Writing a Research Paper
As I first began reading your blog post I was thinking papers are great but at the beginning of the Twenty First Century students should also be developing other multi-media presentation formats. So, I was thrilled when I got to the end and saw that your students also develop documentaries. When developing documentaries, perhaps it's fair to say that the purpose of a written paper is to tighten thinking, scope and sequence. (Of course as you argue it's also to prepare students for higher educational endeavors.)
Andrew Pass
www.pass-ed.com