This is a LOW-STAKES ACTIVITY. The follow-up activity, which asks students to take their answers to the questionnaire and submit it as a final paper proposal, is a high-stakes activity.
- Review “Asking Questions” in College Writing https://www.oercommons.org/courses/collegewriting/view
- Put the question frames (who, what, when, where, why, and how) on the board
- Have students engage in asking questions: in five-minute increments, have them take their topics and use each of the question starters to ask questions about their topics. Encourage them to continue to make the questions more and more specific. (That is, five minutes to ask as many questions as possible with each question opener in sequence: so five minutes for “who”; five minutes for “what”; etc.)
- Review the principles of inquiry and problem solving
- Have students use their rapid-fire questions as a springboard to completing the following questionnaire:
Questionnaire for Final Research Paper
PICKING A TOPIC
OPTION A:
- Are you expanding on the topic from your personal interest essay?
- If so, why?
- That is, what do you hope to learn about by continuing to explore this topic?
OPTION B:
- If you are exploring something new, what is it?
- What do you hope to learn about it?
CONSIDERING OPPOSING VIEWPOINTS
- What is your opinion about your topic?
- Why does it matter, in your opinion?
- What other point(s) of view might there be about your topic?
ASKING A RESEARCH QUESTION
- Based on what you wrote above, ask a question that will help you to open up exploration into what you wished to learn more about.
- Propose a question about which you wish to learn more.
- Once you have articulated a research question, begin freewriting your educated guesses as to answers to that question. This will prepare you for…
CREATING A RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS
- For this assignment, your HYPOTHESIS will be your preliminary answer to your research question. It will adapt & change as you learn more about your topic through focused research.
- Offer a possible answer to your research question. Include your position on this topic. Be prepared to counter the opposing viewpoint(s)…
CONSIDER THE “SO WHAT?” OF YOUR TOPIC
- While my hypothesis is interesting, it does not engage either the how or the why of that phenomenon happening (if it indeed proves to be the truth of the matter).
- The “SO WHAT” allows me to explore what the larger significance of my claim might be.
End the activity by reviewing the “Thesis Sentences” entries in College Writing
https://www.oercommons.org/courses/college-writing/view
These ideas are then meant to be shaped into a final paper proposal, which is submitted for a score. That is an at-home assignment. All of this preparatory work occurred in class.
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