Writing the Research Paper

Course Description

Course Syllabus

Learn to write a research paper in this sixteen-week live course (new for 2022-2023 school year). Research writing is an essential skill for college-bound students. They will use this skill throughout their academic career, including other high school classes.

Research writing gets a bad reputation for being impersonal or intimidating, but I think it’s the perfect place to grow your passions. A research paper is a tool to think about and present problems and solutions. In this class, I break down all the steps so that even novice writers can successfully complete a research paper and an attractive, informative research poster in just sixteen weeks.

Think about a problem you’d like to solve: maybe you care about the environment, treatment of animals, childhood obesity, or dangerous traffic patterns in your hometown. Got it? That’s all you need to be a research writer. We do the rest together: name the problem, research the best solutions, learn about academic honesty, and convince readers to agree with you. You can write about topics that you’re interested in or use the products of this class to meet requirements of other courses. I want students to care about the topics they research. I have worked with students of all writing levels, and so I’ve developed the tools that meet the needs of every student. I’ll use templates, outlines, and a lot of personalized feedback to help you complete this project.

Research papers are typically required in high school and university courses in all kinds of content areas. This class is a great place to get a jump start on the skills needed to be successful in more advanced writing classes. As a college professor, I see a major need for instruction in high-quality technical and research writing. So I decided to teach this class to help prepare high school students to write a strong research paper well before they get to college. Each student will receive one round of individualized feedback prior to submitting a final paper as well as a grade and feedback on the final product. They will also practice presenting and discussing research in a digital academic conference on the last day of class.

Here are some of the skills you’ll learn:

• Develop a research thesis statement
• Identify, summarize, and synthesize appropriate sources
• How to look for resources and think about biases, slants, and objectivity in those resources.
• Write and use an outline and think about the logic of inquiry throughout your argument
• Identify an audience for your research
• Prepare a presentation to convince that audience of your perspective

Course Structure

Each week includes both reading and writing assignments designed to scaffold students toward a successful written research paper and oral defense. We meet for live, one-hour classes each Thursday, although students are welcome to view the recordings if they cannot attend synchronously. Steps on the scaffold include clarifying your audience and argument, identifying appropriate sources, evaluating biases and argument quality, and preparing to orally defend your research.

Who should enroll?

This class is designed for 8^th-10^th grade students. Others by permission of the instructor.

Technology Requirements

• High speed, broadband Internet
• Sound card and microphone (for live sessions)
• Streaming video capabilities to watch recorded lectures

Evaluation and Feedback

Students will receive rounds of individualized feedback prior to submitting a final paper as well as a grade and feedback on the final product. They will also practice presenting, discussing, and answering questions about their research in a digital academic conference on the last day of class.

I believe in ample, individualized feedback so that each student can successfully engage with the research process in a way that is exciting and intellectually satisfying. Research is, at its heart, about advocacy (selecting a question or problem important to the writer) and activism (suggesting a course of action that answers the question or solves the problem). Rubrics are available for each assignment that address the major components of quality nonfiction writing and the specifics associated with quality research writing. Students will receive feedback via Canvas, and each student will have at least one session of one-on-one feedback time in advance of the final submission.

Communication

Parent support is essential to success in this class, and I welcome any questions parents have throughout the class. Parents and families are welcome to contact me before registering at [email protected] and new registrants will receive a welcome email with additional startup information.

Required Texts

 

All texts provided by instructor via Canvas. Student must be able to open, read, and annotate PDFs and documents (.doc, .docx, .pdf).