Study of Studies

         This is one of those assignments I have used for years and years and I don’t honestly know where I originally saw it or what refinements I made to it for my purposes.  I prefer this to a research paper many times when I want more thinking done and quoting.  The assignment lends itself especially well to any topics that are controversial, have universal appeal, or needs a question answered based on research.  Sometimes a whole class will have the same topic, sometimes all students have different topics.  You can limit or delimit as you see fit.

Students are to choose a topic and then read at least 10 articles/stand alone chapters/essays/interviews on that topic.  They will then write a one page “paper” on the chosen topic.  All ten papers are then put together in one folder with an index, title page and bibliography. 

The one page paper is made up of seven components:  
Component 1:  Title of Article and Author of Article
Component 2:  Brief Summary of article: This may NOT be the biggest part of the article or the review will receive          a zero.
Component 3:  Student reactions to the article: This should be the bigger part of the paper.
Component 4:  Implications for the student:  This may be shorter or larger than the other two mains parts.
Component 5:  Footnote
Component 6:  Page Number
Component 7:  Word Count by Section

         The finished Study of Studies will have a Cover Page, Index to Articles, 10 Article summaries/critique/implications, and a Bibliography.  An example of one page is at the end of the instructions.  If you choose to do so, you may have them write a one-page reflection on what the implications of their study has been learned.  I call this the Implication Summary and it would be right before the Bibliography.

Suggested Topics for Different Subjects:
Writing: Writers Blocks, Query Letters, Developing Characters, Journaling, etc.
History: Prison camps of the Civil War, Why America lost the Vietnam War, Who Really Discovered America?
Speech:  Debate topics, Persuasive speech topics, etc.
Science:   Any experimental topics.  Or topics with two or more “sides”
FCCLA:   Babies having Babies, types of clothing construction, Design techniques, reviews of television shows          that have merit to the subject like Trading Spaces or Designed to Sell.
Language Arts:   I sometimes cut the number to 5 and assign students to read five books by a certain author or read 5 reviews of the same book.  Literature of the Romantic Period, Did Shakespeare write all the plays that have his name on them?  Or, read five stories that could have copied their plots from Romeo & Juliet.
Government:  Fixing the Electoral College; Should we Reinstate the Draft, Should we get out of Iraq, Who is/was George Patton, Dwight Eisenhower, George Bush.

   

"Writer’s Block and the Student"
an interview by
September Sasbel

Summary: Ms. Sasbel is a professor at Purdue University where she is in charge of the Online Writing Lab.  She stated that “because writers have various ways of writing, a variety of reasons can cause writer’s block.” (Sasbel)  She feels most students become blocked because “they fail to do preliminary work such as brainstorming, outlining,” or researching.  She suggests that a student work with a tutor to overcome this.  Another reason she mentioned was the boring subject matter.  True, academic writing can’t always be interesting, but there may be ways to reinvent a topic to make it more interesting.  Finally, Ms. Sasbel offers that too many students use writer’s block as an excuse for not trying.  “Every journey begins with the first step and if a students refuses to take that first step, then there is not much that can be done to help him or her.”  [146]                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                         
Reactions: I thought Ms. Sasbel was very informative and had dealt with many students.  I have always felt the old adage about “you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink” applied to my students for years.  After hearing Ms. Sasbel, I began to think that to be a more pessimistic view than her every journey affirmation.  I think that encouraging students to take that first step might prove to be more beneficial.  The idea that a student work with a tutor was a very valid step to take.  Another warm body and mind to bounce ideas off of had proven to be very beneficial to me.  Plus, a tutor can make outlining a simple road map to follow as one writes.  The most important idea I got from the interview, however, was that one should break up the assignment into smaller, manageable steps.  Write the introduction and conclusion one day, work on the body of the paper for three days, and then put it all together.  Again, if a student uses a tutor, that tutor can also help when editing roles around.  This can give a student a big dose of confidence when writing papers in college.[201]

                                                                                                                                                 
Implications:   College students and perhaps high school students as well, use the excuse of writer’s block too many times.  Careful planning and asking a tutor or others for help sometimes can make the job a bit easier to start.  However, the student must make that first step.  Then, perhaps, the other steps will come easier. [54]