History Research Paper Series--Presenting and Defending

It is time to celebrate your students’ hard work and successes! At the end of the semester or school year, this assignment will help recap their writing experiences, highlight all of the content they learned, and encourage self reflection in a positive way.

Title: History Research Paper Series--Presenting and Defending
Objective: Learner will reflect on their content learning and development of writing skills over the course of the term or year. This reflection will encourage their strengths to be continued in upcoming terms, provide a sense of accomplishment, and also review the content topics discussed during your time together. Additionally, the student will learn to evaluate the work of others as well as begin to learn to “defend” their own work.
Assignment type: Summative
Assignment Details:
-Student will select their best historical research assignment of the term or school year. The instructor should emphasize that it might not be the one they got the best grade on as the evaluation of those writing experiences may have changed or had different goals during the year.
-How do they pick? Ask students to reflect on which assignment they are most proud of or that taught them something they didn’t expect or even challenged them the most. Which paper is the most readable for the audience, the class, or would be most relevant to the audience? Which paper is the most interesting to the student?
-After selecting their favorite research and writing assignment of the year, the student is to edit and improve the paper based on comments from the instructor when it was graded and make changes they wish they had done the first time. Does it need more sources, more supporting details, more explanation, a better conclusion? Does it have a catchy title and a first paragraph that intrigues the reader?
-Students will share copies of their perfected paper with their classmates (each student should get a copy of each paper). Students will read papers before “defense day” and make edits, provide a statement of one item that is really great about the paper, and list at least one question to ask during the defense of the paper.
-Student will present the paper to their classmates.
-Class will ask questions regarding the topic and thesis, and the presenter will answer questions and defend their paper. (Instructor is to act as a moderator not as a participant of the audience)
-Student will collect all the copies of his or her paper with comments from their class and have the opportunity to make final improvements before submitting the paper again to the instructor.

Rubric (Based on 100 points but considering the summative aspect could be worth more toward the final grade in the course)
Student selected paper from the term and made edits to that paper for classmates to review.-10 points
Student presented and defended paper and thesis statement to classmates.-20 points
Student responded thoughtfully in a supportive and constructive manner to all the papers of his or her classmates including providing edit marks as well as one item the student did well and one question for the defense. -20 points
Student submitted an improved version of the paper to the instructor.-50 points

This may be a tough assignment for some students because it will certainly push them out of their comfort zone, and in some cases may be done more effectively in a small group. However, as I recall my graduate college years, I remember feeling unprepared for “paper readings” and especially defending my master’s thesis. In “real” life we often get the chance to improve our work and then “defend” or persuade others that it is good and well researched. Students don’t often get the opportunity to show they can apply what they’ve learned to improve their work because they are starting from scratch with each assignment. This assignment focuses on the next step which is taking ideas and building them into something better. With this assignment the entire class is getting a review of historical content by reading the papers and listening to the presentations, and everyone is also working on editing and evaluation skills that they can apply to their own work.

History Research Paper Series--Final Paper

Finally, you and your students have arrived at the due date of the final version of the 3-5 page historical research paper. After all the preparation, the papers should meet your expectations. If not, consider whether there is a step missing in the process or whether you have provided the most helpful feedback to students. For example, would an audio recording of feedback or a phone call have helped students be more successful? Do you need to be more detailed or explanatory?

Title: History Research Paper Series--Final Paper
Objective: Learner will compose a polished 3-5 page historical research paper with a minimum of 5 primary or secondary sources.
Assignment type: Summative
Assignment Details:
-Assignment will contain the following elements: well-crafted thesis statement,
a works cited or bibliography with a minimum of 5 primary or secondary sources properly cited, carefully selected supporting details and examples that relate to the thesis, a strong beginning, middle and end, and have minimal grammar errors.

Rubric: Based on a total of 100 points
Well-crafted Thesis Statement 0-5 points
Works Cited page or bibliography with a minimum of 5 sources properly cited 0-25 points
Paper is well organized and contains a strong beginning, middle, and end 0-25 points
The paper is 3 to 5 pages in length with minimal grammar errors 0-20 points
Page includes substantial supporting details and examples 0-25 points
Plagiarism will result in a zero.

One helpful exercise is to have students submit a graded rubric for themselves to do some self reflection on their project, and you may want to emphasize areas of noticeable improvement in your feedback. Next week we'll explore an example of how to reuse this assignment.

History Research Paper Series--First Draft

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and are ready to start thinking again about scaffolding your research papers.

There are several different approaches that you might take with the next step which is composing the rough draft. You might suggest to students that they have peers, friends, and family read and review their rough draft. You might also suggest that they read the document out loud to themselves or a friend to start catching awkward phrases or mistakes.

I like to use an optional discussion where students post their rough draft for classmates to review and provide feedback. The advantage of this is that students get multiple perspectives from other students who understand the parameters of the assignment. I usually give bonus points (5 points) to the student for just taking the time to put their rough draft in the discussion and additional bonus points (up to 5 points) for taking the time to thoughtfully review a classmates’ paper. It is helpful to reviewing students to provide a rubric or other tools when evaluating the papers so they can provide the most useful feedback to their classmates without sounding overly critical or harsh. I announce to students that I will not read the papers in the discussion, so they feel less risk about showing work that might not be polished. However, I also state I will monitor the discussion for questions and positive, thoughtful correspondence.

Most students seem to understand that the rough draft is a first, second, or even third version of their final paper. They also understand that the rough draft should have citation, quotation, and basic grammar and spelling. However, be sure your students know that the rough draft is to have strong organization and is more than a free writing activity to get thoughts on paper.

For the purposes of this blog, the lesson below is for the student to submit the paper to the instructor to continue the feedback loop presented in other assignments. I do not think that this assignment should be graded except possibly some points for turning it in on time. This is the moment to help students struggling with the writing process and a graded assignment might be too penalizing at this step to encourage improvement.

Objective: Learner will compose a rough draft of their final research paper using the steps prior to this assignment. The rough draft should include a strong thesis statement, demonstrate research on the topic including a Works Cited or Bibliography section, and must be well organized with a concluding statement.

Assignment type: Formative

Assignment Details:
Student will compose a rough draft of their final paper. The rough draft must include the following:
1. Thesis Statement
2. Researched details as examples in the body
3. Works Cited or Bibliography and in-text citation
4. Strong organization of thoughts and ideas

Student will submit the assignment to the instructor for feedback and review. (In my courses the assignments can immediately be run through a plagiarism detector and can be marked up using that tool. Students can see the plagiarism report and this can save many students from accidentally plagiarizing on the graded final version. Additionally, this is a good opportunity to require students to submit some questions about their paper or to have a live session with the instructor to discuss areas for improvement.)

There is no rubric included for this assignment because the focus should be on encouraging your student to improve the assignment for the final version.