I’ve had conferences like mad this week, trying to make sure that my students have got clarity on their first research paper.
Several people turned this “paper” into a paragraph-form annotated bibliography. They had their introduction and then introduced their sources in alphabetical order (with no regard for topic) and spent a paragraph on each.
It never occurred to me to tell them they should not do that.
Has anyone else had students do this?
Or am I just uniquely gifted with students who can figure out weird and crazy ways to do the paper wrong?
Sigh, but yes: I’ve gotten that before. But it’s been a while, since the first time I saw that in horror I did some intermediary assignments (scaffolding) between the Ann. Bib and the actual researched essay to change that.
—close reading of sample student researched essays where students annotated in the margins explaining what the writer was doing in each section of the paper
–topic outline, then sentence outline noting where and how sources will be used
–freewrites of specific sections of the essay, peer reviewed
But I feel your pain.
Okay, so I am not alone. That is good to know. It is also good to know what you do to keep that from happening as I will be adding something next year for this.