Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
assigned readings are a substantive presentation on a topic such as writing a conclusion. Most
readings are short pieces prepared by credible sources such as OWL at Purdue University,
Reynolds Library, Keys for Writers, and many other experts.
If a student even reads half the material (although given the length of the pieces, reading
them all would certainly be within a reasonable time frame for this level class), they will have an
in-depth understanding of the basic components of the research paper. They will also know how
long each part of writing the paper will take and have examples of models to follow to do their
work.
Some Highland English teachers use the exact approach Kate does of concentrating solely
on producing the research paper with little to no other writing or reading for the class. So, this
choice is solely hers and provided her students learn how to produce a research paper is a fine
approach. Having said that, I think it is important to have students assess the strengths and
challenges of some argument papers and try producing at least one shorter argument paper
before producing the research paper.
If this happens in the first few weeks, it gives students a chance to become familiar with
argument writing and develop their critical analytic skills as well as produce a writing product for
Kate to assess and give feedback on. This can also identify students who need particular
support as well as provide a dry run for close reading of texts and forming cogent, reasonable
arguments. Having said this, it should be noted that Kate requires a two to three page research
proposal by the third week of class that can fulfill a number of these goals and that since Kates
teaching style seems to be working, this is simply a suggestion.