Questions to Ask about how Students will Perceive your Goals
Most university professors agree that research-based writing in college classes can and should meet these goals:
Have we, in teaching research rather than critical thinking about research, misled ourselves and our students into reducing this vital undertaking into a set of easily replicated steps?
And then by focusing on the steps, do we give students the wrong message about what is important in doing research?
When we give them 50 pages on documentation styles, are we telling them that format is more important than the critical synthesis of opposing views?
Do students who see a major chunk of the supporting materials for the assignment and the grade text devoted to mechanics of finding and citing material believe in the goals we'd like to believe research-based writing meets?
