What's good about it?
You pick the topic. And it can be whatever you are interested in. Finally a chance to explore that curiosity about people-watching or serial killers or race cars.
What's challenging?
You have to pick a topic that you will not get bored researching for the next six weeks. And you have to write a long paper. You also have to develop a thoughtful research question that balances specific and general. It needs to be broad enough that you can find information but not so broad that it could be the topic of a full book. I always tell students to pick something that could be one chapter of a book.
What have I changed about the process this year?
I find that Parkinson's Law, which was referenced in that NPR piece on meetings, is often true-- people will use the time given to complete a task. This can be detrimental when we stretch tasks out way past what is necessary and lose flow. This unit is thereby shorter this year-- to help you be efficient and effective in your use of time. Because there is less time, I whittled things down to cover the most essential topics while cutting out busywork.
What are the various required assignments?
You pick the topic. And it can be whatever you are interested in. Finally a chance to explore that curiosity about people-watching or serial killers or race cars.
What's challenging?
You have to pick a topic that you will not get bored researching for the next six weeks. And you have to write a long paper. You also have to develop a thoughtful research question that balances specific and general. It needs to be broad enough that you can find information but not so broad that it could be the topic of a full book. I always tell students to pick something that could be one chapter of a book.
What have I changed about the process this year?
I find that Parkinson's Law, which was referenced in that NPR piece on meetings, is often true-- people will use the time given to complete a task. This can be detrimental when we stretch tasks out way past what is necessary and lose flow. This unit is thereby shorter this year-- to help you be efficient and effective in your use of time. Because there is less time, I whittled things down to cover the most essential topics while cutting out busywork.
What are the various required assignments?
- 30-second pitch to the class on your topic and possible roadblocks (in class, ungraded)
- "Lit preview" (aka annotated bibliography) to demonstrate that you can find reliable sources that address a range of ideas related to your topic (graded)
- "Interview" to practice speaking and listening skills while also getting specific information to benefit project (graded)
- Paper (6-7 single-spaced pages, graded)