The names of your assignments are verbs that align with a learning outcome. Because each of you has different goals and aims, I have opted to use these as the assignment titles to focus on the broad learning goals I hope you accomplish rather than spend a lot of time on specific assignments that aren’t flexible enough for your needs. Each of the individual assignment pages provide a more thorough overview of what we’ll be doing.- Explain the structure of academic arguments in published scholarship (comprehend learning category)
- Differentiate different types of research questions and corresponding methods (analysis learning category)
- Illustrate your understanding of literature reviews through writing three versions with one set of literature (application learning category)
- Demonstrate your understanding of key concepts and terms associated with research (application learning category)
- Create a research study design of an intended research project (synthesis learning category)
Your grade will be calculated as follows**
| Assignment name | weight | Due Date |
| Explain: Article explication | 10% | 1-26-23 |
| Differentiate: Research questions | 15% | |
| Illustrate: Literature Review | 25% | 3-9-23 |
| Demonstrate: Method/ology | 25% | 3-30-23 |
| Create: Research Study Design | 25% | 4-20-23 |
For those doing a seminar credit, your assignment will be due on 3-23-23.
Grading
While it takes a little getting used to, I do not grade in the traditional sense. Instead, the focus of our exercises and assignments are building a knowledge and competency in and around ideas related to doing research. This sort of learning is iterative and does not necessarily occur just because I mark up an assignment and give you a grade. The learning happens by my reading and analyzing what you’re doing and then adjusting the course to help you meet the course goals and outcomes. In other words, many of the exercises and class discussions build on previous ideas and concepts to try and ensure that you’re picking up the big ideas for the course.
If at some point you have a concern about where “you’re at” in the course, just ask.
You can read more about this in a blog post I wrote. We will most definitely talk about this strategy during the course.
**Information is subject to change based on how the course is progressing. No changes will be made without adequate discussions as a class.
Grading Scale
| A+ (97–100) 4.00 | A (94–96.9) 4.00 | A– (90–93.9) 3.67 |
| B+ (87–89.9) 3.33 | B (84–86.9) 3.00 | B– (80–83.9) 2.67 |
| C+ (77–79.9) 2.33 | C (74–76.9) 2.00 | C– (70–73.9) 1.67 |
| D+ (67–69.9) 1.33 | D (64–66.9) 1.00 | D– (60–63.9) 0.67 |