Updated Grades (and info about your next quiz!)

Hi all,

Your grades have been updated in the Gradebook. Please take note:

The highest Blog grade you can now have is a 45
The highest blog responses grade you can now have is a 6. 
The highest extra credit grade you can have is a 10. If you have less than that, it is because, more than likely, you summarized the arguments each side made instead of analyzing how they used research to make those arguments.
The highest research portfolio grade you can have is a 10. If you have less than that and you turned in the assignment, chances are you did not include citations, you included resources that weren't books, or you didn't include enough books.
The highest participation grade you can now have is a 5. If you don't have a 5 and you submitted the email assignment, it might be because you submitted the incorrect words or because you submitted to the incorrect email address--part of this assignment was how well you read and followed directions. 


Let me know if the numbers for your grades don't match up with mine.

Your quiz this week will be online and open book. It will be open tomorrow on CourseDen and closed on Tuesday evening.

Best,
Jessica

A note about class

Hi all,

I am a little concerned that you all are not reading the assignment instructions or blogs that I post. I am certainly always happy to answer any questions if you are confused--please do not hesitate to ask them--but do make an effort to keep up with your assignments and readings in class. When I explain things, make a concerted effort to listen, and to ask for clarification in the moment.

Remember that I have office hours Monday and Wednesday right before class (and at other times by appointment) if you need help.

In terms of due dates, you all should know by now that I am not unreasonable here. My concern is not necessarily WHEN you learn something but THAT you learn something. Almost everything we do in class is due the day of class so that you are processing information when it is fresh in your mind, and also to make sure that you do not wait until the last minute to do things. That said, your blogs and your research portfolio entries are more or less due before Sunday, because that is when I grade them. Anything posted after I grade Sunday, though, won't be counted. I have to have these dates for logistical, fairness, and personal sanity-related reasons.

Ask for help before you let yourself get frustrated or lost, and take responsibility for your part in this learning process by reading through class material and reflecting on it. This responsibility is a part of your overall class participation grade. With that in mind...

Please do the following:
-Reread the instructions for the research portfolio. Find the sentence that begins with "Each entry into your research portfolio...". What are the last four words of that sentence? Email them to me at
at jcritten@westga.edu by 11:59 Friday 9/28. To be clear, you are finishing the sentence from the Research Portfolio Instructions, and emailing those four words to me at the listed email address. Completing this assignment will be worth 5 of your class participation points. I will not be flexible with this due date.

I hope you all have a good weekend. Remember to get your research portfolio entry posted soon, as well as your blog post and response to a classmate.


Best,
Jessica

Week 6--Class info (Important! Please read!)

Hi all,

Hope you had a nice weekend! I've had a lot to catch up on, I was in Savannah for a few days presenting at a conference (similar to what you'll all have to do for your final project). A few important things:

--I've updated the class schedule to reflect the assignment that we'll start this week, the research portfolio. This class schedule also has quiz dates updated as well--our next quiz will be on Oct 1.

Updated Class Schedule 

--Instead of your usual blog post this Wednesday, you will have to do your first Research Portfolio entry. Here is more info about those research portfolio posts:

Research Portfolio Instructions

--Your grades have been updated to reflect the last two in-class assignments (so the highest grade you can now have for that is 30) and your most recent quiz. I will update the blog grades on the gradebook next weekend.

--Remember to add word counts to your blog posts, you will get points off for leaving them out.

Let me know if you have any questions!

Best,
Jessica

Monday's (9/24) Blog Post

Hi all,

Here's the blog prompt for Monday:

We’ve talked about scholarly information in class (mostly by way of scholarly articles and books.) Most scholarly information has to go through a peer-review process to be published
After reading the relevant articles in this week's folder, and keeping in mind the discussion we’ve had in class about scholarly information, describe the peer-review process. In your response, answer the following questions:
-Why is peer-review important?
-What are some ways that you can tell if an article is peer-reviewed, or scholarly?
-When do you want to use peer-reviewed research in your work?
-Also think about in what ways YOU engage in informal and/or formal peer-review in your personal and researching life

Remember to add a word count!

Best,
Jessica

Class Business--Please Read!

Hi all,

I hope you had a good weekend. I am about to sit down and grade blogs, but I thought I'd touch bases with you all first:

• If you completed the extra credit assignment, please submit that to your blog by 11:59 Monday evening. 
• Be advised that you have a quiz tomorrow. Make sure you study up on research questions! 
• Your blog prompt for Monday is now posted. You'll note that you only have the one blog post this week! Make it count! 
•  Finally--and this is important--please start putting a word count on your posts. I'll mention this in class too, but be advised that I will start taking off points if the word count is not on future blog posts.

This week we'll be talking about information sources. I've posted a powerpoint online as well as some videos for you to review if you need some extra help!

Looking forward to seeing you all on Monday!

Best,
Jessica

Blog Prompt--Monday (9/17)

 (Remember that you'll need to respond to a classmate by Friday!)

MONDAY:

Discuss how you would use each of the types of information we discussed in class today (scholarly books, popular magazines, newspapers, government documents, encyclopedia, and scholarly journal articles) in the research project you are working on in our class.

To get full credit for this blog post, your discussion will need to reflect that you have an understanding of what kind of information is contained with each type of source

Wednesday's Blog Prompt (9/12)

Blog Prompt: 


Did you change your research question since Monday? How? (DId you narrow it? Did you make it broader?) Why did you decide to change it this way?
Also, start brainstorming the kinds of resources you might need to answer this research question (books, interviews, statistics, photos, etc)

Remember to respond to a classmate by Friday

No Quiz Today

Hi all,

There is a quiz scheduled today, but we are going to move it to next Monday. I want to make sure we have this extra day to work with and really understand what a research question is and what it does.

The quiz next Monday will cover basic class information, developing a topic, and research questions. It will be the same format--short answer--as the first quiz.

Best,
Jessica

Extra Credit Opportunity

Hi all,

This Wednesday (9/12), The UWG Debate team will host Clark Atlanta University in the Campus Center Ballroom at 7:30 pm in a public debate on the topic: "African-American Students Should Atttend HBCUs"

For 10 points extra credit, attend this debate and do a write up on your blog of no fewer than 250 words on how each side of this debate is building its argument. Analyze what kind of evidence each side presents, and document anything in specific that you find interesting and relevant to the course.

General summaries of this event will not receive any credit, nor will partial credit be offered for insufficient word count. Again--to get credit, you will need to the prompt above. Take this as an opportunity to consider the context of the assignment--I want you to address this specific prompt with at least as much depth at 250 words requires. More, if you are so inspired.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Best,
Jessica

On your grades

Hi all--

A quick note:

I have updated the gradebook on CourseDen with your blog grades and in-class assignment grades. You'll see that those grades are out of a much larger number--I"ll be updating that number throughout the semester. The highest grade you can have on your blog posts is 25. your responses is 3, and on your in-class assignments is 10.

If my numbers don't match up with yours, let me know!

Best,
Jessica

Monday's Blog Post (9/10)

Hi all,

Here's your blog post prompt for Monday:

Monday: What is your research question (as of now) and why do you think it is a good research question? What knowledge did you gain about your topic as a result of the research you’ve conducted so far? What specific aspect of your topic do you want to research further?

Best,
Jessica

Semester Long Research Project

Hi all,

Thought I'd take a second to recap what these semester long research projects are going to be in case any of you are confused.

1. On Wednesday, your groups picked a broad topic that they pulled from a news story. I had you all do the assignment this way because you all will have to learn how to extrapolate a topic from a text. In other words, you'll need to know how to read or watch something and then analyze it to think about what the major issues are relating to that book, movie, article, etc. That is the backbone of research!

2. Each member of your group is narrowing this broad topic in a different way, and your individual approaches to this topic will serve as the topic (and later research question) for the project that you'll research all semester and present on at the end of the semester. So, if my group's topic was "eating disorders" one person might look at how media influences eating disorders, another person might look at social stigma of eating disorders for males, etc etc. Your group can change topics down the road, but the earlier you can find a topic that you all like and can work with, the better.

3. In class on Monday, we'll begin to talk about turning your topics into research questions. Research questions are, believe it or not, the questions you want to answer in your research! Like your topics, you'll want refine these so they aren't too narrow or broad. You'll also want to make sure they they aren't subjective or too easily answerable.

4. As we move through the rest of the class, we'll be digging more deeply into the mechanics of research-finding books, articles, etc. You'll be using your individual topic to look for things in class, so you should have almost all the resources you'll need for your final project before any of your final project-related materials are due.

Please do not hesitate to ask any questions if there is an aspect of this that you are unclear about!

All best,
Jessica

Week 3 Info

Hi all,

We've got only one day this week, so it is going to be pretty jam packed. A few things:

--You'll get your quizzes back today, and the grades should also be on CourseDen
--Your Library Ethnography responses are due today (Wednesday) by 11:59 pm. Make sure they are thoughtful, thorough, and constructive.
--Your blog prompt is up, and that post is due this evening by 11:59 pm.


As always, please let me know if you have any questions.

Best,,
Jessica

Blog Prompt (9/3)

Hi all,

Hope you all had a great Labor Day weekend! Here is your blog prompt for this week, due Wednesday by 11:59:

What topic did your group choose? Why do you think I had you choose a topic this way (pulling from news sources)? After doing some presearching, what aspect of this topic is most interesting to you? 

Remember to respond to classmate by Friday. 

As always, let me know if you have any questions!

Best,

Jessica