Reminders for Class #5

Next week's class meeting (10/5) will be back in Enterprise 174.

Reading:

-Booth: “Quick Tip” on page 83, and Chapter 6, and pages 271-276. (And Chapter 5 if you missed that last week.)
-Heffernan and Lincoln: “Guidelines for Critical Reading” from Writing: A College
Handbook (Course Reader).
-Katzer and Cook: “A Step-by-Step Guide for Evaluation” and “Questions to Ask” from Evaluating Information: A Guide for Users of Social Science Research (Course Reader).
-The last reading assignment is a bit complicated... The original assignment was Facione: 2006 update preface from Critical Thinking: What It Is & Why it Counts (Course Reader). However, I am putting this on the chopping block and possibly removing it from next year's 390 Reader. You guys are going to help me decide. Click this link for an alternate article on the same topic. Basically what you can do is start reading the first page or two of both of them (Facione vs. Fisher), or skim along in them both a bit, and decide which one you like better. Then you can finish reading the one you like in more detail. I'll put up a poll and we'll weigh their relative merits in class. 

Writing (yes, these are different than the original syllabus deadlines)
-Share (or email) me a draft of your Project Description ASAP if you haven't done so. I have already given some of you the green light to send this along to your mentor. The second draft should be shared to me by Tuesday night (10/4); I anticipate giving that green light to the rest after I read that second draft.
-As previously announced, Research Log #3 will be a follow up to the library session, and should be posted to the course blog by Thursday night (9/29)
-Post Research Log #4 to the course blog by the Friday night after the next class (10/7). This should be a revised list of your 25 research questions. I want to make sure to get that in before the holiday weekend because it will guide you as you start doing your background literature research. 
-Work further on your concept map if you're finding that helpful. We'll take a look at it in the next class and in our personal conferences, so don't lose it.

Bonus Opportunity: In addition to being the BIS director, Dr. Leonard also organizes an annual lecture series called "Moments of Truth." This year's lecture is next Tuesday (10/4), from 3:00-4:30 in the lobby of the GMU Center for the Arts. The speaker is Chris Myers Asch, who wrote an excellent book about the history of the civil rights movement in Mississippi called, The Senator and the Sharecropper. I can offer an extra credit opportunity of sorts for those who go to the lecture - you can post a brief review/response that will replace one of your nine research log entries.

Fine Print:  

As a follow-up to the library session, I will demonstrate how I found the Boix Mansilla article I posted here a week or two back. So this can be another example of how to use research databases. It is my speculation that Dr. Leonard left the article citation out of the original BIS 390 syllabus as a sort of treasure hunt exercise, but I felt we didn't have the time before. So I just found it myself.

Putting myself in the lazy student's position, because I am one, I go straight to Google for the article citation. I know I probably won't be able to get the article itself, which is likely to be a paid library resource. So the third hit on the article title appears to be the right one, and I get this citation: Change, v37 n1 p14 Jan-Feb 2005 . The first two hits seem to be earlier versions of the article that might have been given as conference speeches. I'm guessing Change magazine refers to its purpose rather than its cost, but that could work either way, ha ha. OK so now I know which magazine/journal I need, so I'll go to the main library page (library.gmu.edu). I click on e-journals because I'm optimistic and then type in the journal's title, and click search. It appears to be that first one, published in New York. So then I click on the JSTOR link, which is a database service that university libraries pay for (with your money), then I get a proxy access password prompt, which is way easier than this process used to be at my old university. At this point, I've apparently been granted access by GMU's electronic library elves. But I'm stumped, because this access stops at volume 36, or year 2004. But wait, why did I look for it on JSTOR when it was available in several other places? Now I'll go back and try Education Full Text, which sounds like what I'm looking for and purports to cover until "present," which should include 2005 unless there is some kind of hot tub time machine involved. Eureka. Now I'm into Volume 37, Number 1. I click full text PDF for the article I was seeking. I save it under a silly filename to my desktop, and then blah blah blah I put it on the blog. Lather, rinse, repeat that process about 10,000 times with more frustration, dead ends, work, and pressure, and that's your research project.

A student asked me a great question that will become pertinent in the coming weeks: If I am writing a project description for an investigative research project, does it make more sense to write an explanatory thesis rather that an argumentative thesis? I always thought that an "investigation" would have very little argument or none at all.

This is the answer I gave: Sorry that the terminology is confusing here. I want to make it clear that the investigative projects are all meant to develop an argumentative thesis. I suppose the background literature review that both investigative and creative projects do could be deemed "explanatory," but even there you are generally selecting, organizing, and framing the explanation to suit the nature of your project. There is no such thing as an explanatory thesis. An explanatory thesis would be, "I claim that in the pages that follow, I will be giving you pertinent information about the topic." That's not what we're going for here. You do need to make a value-added contribution to the interdisciplinary research conversation about the topic. Remember, no "book reports." 

Reminders for Class #4

Announcement: By popular demand, this blog is now for the Wednesday section only! The Monday section's blog has been moved here.

Reminder: Our 9/28 meeting will be in the Johnson Library, room 228. 

Reading: Booth chapter 5, and anything from the previous weeks you're still catching up on. I told you it would slow down! 

Writing: 

-Share (or email) first draft of Project Description by Monday the 26th at 8:00 p.m. There are some guidelines in the handout I gave you a couple of weeks ago with the title "Drafting a Research Proposal." Also, be sure to get this to your faculty mentor somehow, and then get me the comments when he/she finishes them. Again this would all be easier in Google Docs, but email is fine if needed.
-Sample project descriptions here.
-Whether or not you are successful with Google Docs yet, it is important that you be able to call up your project description from one of the library computers during our session there.

-Create a concept map of your topic, also for use in the library session. So make sure to bring a physical copy of that. As I explained this afternoon, a concept map could be many different things, so don't take "map" too literally. Just any way you can organize the various concepts or questions of your paper without writing in sequential complete sentences. Here is a copy of the related handout.
-As a separate exercise, or perhaps as sort of the "legend" scribbled in the corner of your concept map, I highly recommend that you try your best to complete the following template: I am investigating ___________ because ___________ , in order to ___________. ___________has/have generally approached the topic by ___________, while ___________ believe/s that ___________; I will be arguing instead that ___________.

-Research Log #3 will be a follow up to the library session, and should be posted within 24 hours afterwards. (That makes Thursday the 29th at 7:30 p.m.)

Reminders for Class #3

Class Meetings
-The next Monday class will meet on 9/19 in Krug 5.
-The next Wednesday class will meet on 9/21 in Enterprise 174. 

Bonus Opportunities

-If you've missed class or feel generally out to sea, I will be holding an optional mega- office hour session on Wednesday afternoon from 3:30 to 6:00. Drop by Enterprise 314 anytime in that interval.

-This article discusses a project to encourage interdisciplinary collaboration by using mapping software to show the citation networks from one academic article to the next. Really interesting. 

Reading Homework 

-Read Booth: Chapters 3, 4.

-Read Graff and Birkenstein: Chapters 5-10. 

Writing Homework

-In case you missed the Statement of Interest samples from last semester, they are here: A, B, C, G.
-Share revised Statement of Interest to me on Google Docs by Sun 9/18 at 15:00. Revised in light of my comments (which you should have received by now if you submitted the first draft), in light of the way your thinking has developed after reading our various course texts and after filling up with so much fuel in class, and in light of any preliminary source research you're able to squeeze in this week. (Technically, neither the first draft nor the second draft of the SOI are graded, so just think of it as a way to sketch out some of your ideas and to make sure that I know everything I need to know at this point about them.)
- Post Research Log #2 on course blog by Thursday 9/22 at 22:00. This one should be a list of 25 questions relating to your topic. See Chapter 3 of Booth for guidance in framing questions about history and context, structure and composition, categories, speculations, agreement and disagreement, etc. Another way to frame questions is to think about multiple perspectives or contrasting viewpoints. that may not necessarily be well documented or extensively discussed in your sources. (Yes, I eliminated one of the research logs. We'll fit it in later.) 

Reminders for Class #2

Off we go! I have to warn you, the next two weeks will be the heaviest reading load of the entire year. Please look carefully below because the instructions differ for the Monday and Wednesday sections. And if you didn't finish the personal survey, here's an electronic copy you can email to me or bring to the next class. 

Have a nice Labor Day. 

Class Meetings

-The next Wednesday class will meet on 9/7 in Enterprise 174.
-The next Monday class will meet on 9/12 in the Enterprise 420 computer lab. (Walk all the way to the back of the room.) We will use the first part of our session to make sure everyone is able to access the computer tools for the course.

Reading Homework

-Read Booth: Prologue and Chapters 1-2.
-Read Leedy & Ormrod: “What is Research?” from Practical Research: Planning & Design (Course Reader)
-Read Boix Mansilla: “Assessing Student Work at Disciplinary Crossroads."
-Read Graff and Birkenstein: Introduction and Chapters 1-4. 

Writing Homework

-All students should Complete Research Log #1 by Tuesday 9/6 at 22:00. Post here to the course blog. (Wednesday students will already know how to do this, but for Monday students and any absentees, I put some instructions in small type below. You can always just email me if it won't work.) Research logs are meant to suit your project’s development, so there are many possibilities: post a comment about a potential idea, a potential source, an assigned text, your feelings about your progress or lack thereof, or post a question, tip, or response to another student. Aim for about 100 words but feel free to post more, or to post additional entries. Cross conversation is encouraged, though please be respectful of other students.
-All students should complete an initial one page Statement of Interest about a potential research topic and post it to the blog Docshare or email it to me by Sunday 9/11 at 15:00. I think this gives the Monday group enough time for the holiday and lets the Wednesday group have the benefit of another class discussion. Be as specific as possible; you can start with what you wrote on your survey and develop it further. What topic interests you and why? Which disciplines inform this topic? What do you already know about it? What are you curious to learn or analyze about the topic? Why is it something worth thinking about? The “Finding Topics” and “Checklist for Understanding Your Readers” sections of Booth’s Craft of Research might also be helpful for developing your statement. 

Blogger Instructions 

I will be doing a tutorial during the 9/12 class, or you can meet me before or after class. And you can always just email me if you are unable to get the blog to work.

1) If you already use Gmail, Blogger, Docs, Picasa, My Maps, or any other Google product, go to Blogger.com and sign in with that name and password. Skip to step 7. 
2) If you have not already sold your soul to Google, now is the time. Go to Blogger.com and click where it says "Don't have a Google account? Get started."
3) The first thing they want is an existing email address and password. You can use your GMU address, your work email, your home email, etc. (This is basically their way of converting MSN and Yahoo customers.)
4) Make sure the "notifications" box is off or you'll get junk mail. Give them a fake birthday but make sure it's before 1990.
5) If you get through to the next screen, you should be signed on. Skip to Step 7.
6) If for some reason you got into the "Create Your Blog now" area by accident, just create a generic blog with any name and design specifications whatsoever. You won't ever use it in this class.
7) Type 390gas.blogspot.com into your browser. You should now be able to post on the course blog. Click on "comments" just below where you are reading now. Scroll to the bottom to where the white box is and you can write your test post, question about the syllabus, Research Log #1, or anything else you like.
8) At some point, Google may send a verification email to whatever email address you gave them. I'm not sure whether or how that comes into play, but I think you need to follow the instructions. 

Docs Instructions

About half of you already know how to share me a document on Google Docs. Remember, the address to use is aaron.mclean.winter _at_ gmail.com  <--- I can't type the @ there or I'll get spam emails. For the other half, I will show you how to do this on 9/12. But you don't need to actually send me anything on Docs this week, unless you (Lucia) really want to.