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If You're Going To Write A Research Paper, Start Early |
By:
Drey Peterson |
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I have had the privilege of being an educator for almost thirty years. During that time I have taught elementary, high school and most recently college aged students. Each grade level has different rewards and challenges. When teaching the younger students there is the fun of having them experience wonder in learning new things. There are also behavior issues and shorter attention spans so projects need to be either very short or long term with short sessions each day. With high school students some of them have lost their enthusiasm for their education. Also there are so many social components that get in the way as well as the tough emotional roller coaster ride of adolescence. It has been very rewarding teaching the more mature student in the college setting. There are still some students that are not focused, but most of them are excited about earning their degree.
When I first began teaching at the college level I planned to give a full term assignment to write a research paper on a topic of interest. The dean of our department warned me that this would cause me many headaches. He said that even at a college level hearing that you have to write a research paper sends many students into a tail spin. I could not believe that this would cause as much turmoil as he was leading me to believe. So, being the determined person I am, I proceeded with my plans. The first day of the semester I handed out the curriculum for the course. This included the name of the text book we would be using, the dates of the tests and the expectation that everyone would write a research paper. I explained that the tests as well as the participation in classroom discussions would be two thirds of the grade and the research paper would be the other third. I handed out time lines for the paper. I wanted the topic they chose as well as a rough draft outline completed in the first two weeks and then various updates on progress throughout the semester. I was doing this so that the students would not wait until the last week of the semester and try to write a research paper. I wanted the writing and research process to get them interested about their topic area.
The dean was right about the panic that this research project created. Several of the students complained that they did not take an English course yet and several other complaints along those lines. I stuck with the curriculum and basically did not listen to the complaining. I received several excellent research papers at the end of the course. I could tell the students took pride in the work that they had completed.
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Article Source: http://www.statssheet.com/articles/article52839.html |
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