I think the past two days of combined meetings with Dr. Loewe’s class have been very productive. By this point, you should have submitted your “statement of narrowed topic” to me via email. (If you haven’t done this; stop what you’re doing and email me!) I will be responding to your emails this weekend, so by Monday everyone should be ready to move forward on Project #3.
Next week is our last week before spring break, and we have a lot to accomplish. Here’s how we’ll spend our time in class:
- On Monday, we will continue our discussion about finding and evaluating sources. Before you come to class on Monday, please complete the exercise we started in class on Friday. You should try to find at least one source in each of the following categories: an article from a peer-reviewed academic journal; a newspaper article published within the last year; a government report, hosted on a government-sponsored site; a printed book (check to see if a digital preview is available); and a website published by a non-crazy advocacy group. In addition, please read “Googlepedia: Turning Information Behaviors into Research Skills,” by Randall McClure, linked on the Readings page.
- On Wednesday, we will turn our attention to the importance of treating sources fairly and citing them accurately. Before you come to class, please read pages 605–21 in Convergences, paying particular attention to how the authors incorporate the ideas of other writers and researches into their own arguments. Also, if you didn’t complete the exercise on evaluating sources in class, please submit your responses before you come to class on Wednesday.
- On Friday, we will wrap up our discussion about research and talk about our next steps for Project #3. Before you come to class, you should have completed your own Research Plan, using the template I created in Google Docs. Please submit your Research Plan to me via email, either as an attached MS Word file or a shared Google Doc.
If you have any questions about these assignments, please come see me during office hours on Monday or Wednesday. I really want to make sure that everyone is on track before we leave for spring break.