Scheduling and Scaffolding
Schedule Chunks
- 1 Week — Intro to the research process
- 1 Week — Coming up with research(able) questions
- 2 Weeks — using the literature (search, find literature, annotated bibliography)
- 2 Weeks — design and revision of method
- 1-2 Weeks — data collection
- 1 Week — data analysis
- 1 Week — Writing Methods
- 1 Week — Writing Results
- 1 Week — Writing Discussions
- 1 Week — Writing Introductions
Schedule Timeline
- Week One — intro to research process, generate researchable question
- Weeks Two – Three — using the literature, design method
- Week Four — data collection begins / write Method
- Week Five — writing lit reviews (prep for introduction)
- Week Six — analyze data / write Results
- Week Seven — write Discussion
- Week Eight — write Introduction
Note: Any of these sections can be made longer; 8 weeks is a solid minimum to get good work. This schedule does not include peer review or additional time for writing an IRB application (even if for class project). If you include an IRB-like document (sometimes called a prospectus), then add at least one week, and schedule it for Week 3, after method has been figured out. For greater impact, add an additional week, and include a brief introductory literature review (more like a problem statement) using 3-5 sources. This would make the project 10 weeks long.
Scaffolding Chunks
- Finding and reading literature precedes anything to do with writing.
- Teach analysis and synthesis.
- You don’t have to teach everything to do with the literature in one week. Teach search, reading, analysis and synthesis separately, with time to practice each.
- The better the method, the better the results. Better results makes the whole paper far more writeable. So help students develop and refine their method so that it works.
- The Discussion cannot be written until Results have been analyzed. Sometimes, the Introduction will have to be revised to better reflect the Results. Thus, write the middle parts (Methods, Results) first. Students know this information, and they are relatively easy to write because they are so conventionalized with strict expectations associated with each. Both sections also embody disciplinary thinking better than any other section of the paper, so represent a terrific opportunity to teach students how to think in the field.
- Write the Introduction and Discussion last. They are harder, and take longer to write.