Category: In-Class Activity


Archive for the ‘In-Class Activity’ Category

Sep 08 2010

Research Log 3: Finding Scholarly Articles (Contributed by G. Hlavaty & M. Townsend)

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Name:

Section and Professor’s Name:

Individual Topic:

For this activity, you’ll search a subject area database for articles, choose and locate one article, and evaluate its content.

1. Search one database for articles related to your topic. What database did you choose and why? Please be specific. Think about how the scope and subject specialization of the database relate to your individual topic.

2. What search terms did you use?

3. Were you satisfied with your results? Why or why not? Please be specific.

Once you’ve identified your scholarly article, retrieve it from the library’s bound periodicals section. Using the print version of the article, answer the following questions.

Author:

Title of the article:

Name of the journal/magazine:

Volume number: Issue number:

Page number: Date of issue:

Today’s date (when the article was retrieved):

Read or carefully skim the article. Would this article be most appropriate for scholars or the general public or some other audience?  Explain your answer based on the presence of research, the formality of the tone, and/or biased perspectives.

Sep 08 2010

Research Log 2: Finding Popular Periodicals (Contributed by G. Hlavaty & M. Townsend)

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Name:

Section and Professor’s Name:

Your individual topic:

For this exercise, you’ll browse the Belk Library popular periodical holdings, find one popular periodical that is closely related to your topic, and evaluate its rhetorical elements and content.

  1. Jot down some keywords that relate to your topic. Focus in on a few keywords that might appear in a popular magazine’s title. For example, if your topic is Social Networking, you might look for Technology to be in the title.
  2. Take your keyword list with you to the periodical section of the library and browse the popular stacks. Retrieve one popular publication that relates to your topic.
  3. Read or carefully skim the article that relates to your topic. Would this article be most appropriate for scholars or the general public or some other audience?  Explain your answer based on the presence of research, the formality of the tone, and/or biased perspectives.

Sep 08 2010

Research Log 1: Finding Books (Contributed by G. Hlavaty & M. Townsend)

Published by

Name:

Section and Professor’s Name:

Your individual topic:

For this exercise, you’ll search the Belk Library online Catalog, find one book related to your individual topic, and evaluate its content.

Go to the Belk Library site: http://www.elon.edu/e-web/library/find/findhome.xhtml

1. Open an Advanced Keyword Search and write down the words/phrases exactly as you typed them in the blanks:

How many books did this search retrieve?

2. From your list of results, select one book that is currently in the library and write down the following information:

Author(s)/Editor(s):

Title:

Publisher:

Date & place of publication:

Call Number:

3. Go the stacks and find the book. Look over the table of contents, the index, and skim the Preface or Introduction chapter. This method is a good way to get an understanding of a book’s content.

4. Would this book be most appropriate for scholars or the general public or some other audience?  Explain your answer based on the presence of research, the formality of the tone, and/or biased perspectives.

5. Browse the other books shelved nearby. Write down the information of one additional book that is related to your topic:

Author(s)/Editor(s):

Title:

Publisher:

Date & place of publication:

Call Number:

6. Review the book as you did in question 4.

Apr 14 2010

Activity Showcase: Peer Review and Self-Assessment (Paula Patch)

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The grading rubric is a great tool for facilitating both self- and peer assessment. During most of our peer review sessions, the students refer to and use the grading rubric for the assignment, which is useful for several reasons:

  • They are using the same criteria to assess their work and their peers’ work as I will use to assess the product. They have no excuse for not understanding the expectations for the assignment.
  • On that note, if they don’t understand the expectations as they are written on the rubric, this is a good time to ask me questions about it.
  • The rubric stands in for me in the role of assessor, which
    • frees me up to play different roles during the review session, such as mentor or “pretend” peer
    • allows students to step into my role for a while, to view their own writing from my perspective. I tend to refer to this shift as the “What would Professor Patch say?” perspective. It works best on the second and subsequent assignments, when they’ve “heard” me in feedback on at least one major writing assignment.

The students evaluate one another’s writing by marking the rubric and by making comments in the margins of the peer’s essay.

After they have received feedback from their peers, students complete the reflective self-assessment activity, which I copy onto the back of the rubric. When they leave the review session, they have multiple types of feedback, along with a plan, to refer to as they revise their essays.

Rhetorical Analysis Essay Grading Rubric

Essay Is

Exceeds Expectations

Meets Minimum Expectations

Needs Work

Does Not Meet Assignment Requirements

Points Earned/ Allotted

Argumentative

  • Includes a thesis
  • Focuses on the thesis throughout

_____/15

Analytical

  • Describes, explains, and reflects on how/why/to whom your sources present information
  • SHOULD NOT simply summarize what the sources say
  • SHOULD NOT attempt to answer your research question

_____/25

Well-supported

  • Includes multiple examples of relevant textual evidence from each source
  • Provides an explanation or interpretation of the evidence that clearly ties the evidence to the argument

_____/25

Meets audience expectations

  • Engaging
  • Clean and clear
  • MLA formatting and documentation

_____/15

Comments:

Self-Assessment and Revision Plan

What do you like best about your essay?

What do you like least?

Look at the rubric:

What does your essay seem to be missing?

Where can your essay be strengthened?

Based on the feedback from your peers and your self-assessment, list at list 5 things to work on in your revision:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.