Module I Overview: Preliminary Research & Discovery

This is a four week module to get students started with their research projects. Using the class theme: Personal Freedoms, students discuss possible argumentative topics in a discussion forum and read and summarize two articles on Personal Freedoms to help generate ideas. Students then explore the web for topics and collaborate ideas via bookmarking and sharing websites with each other. Students write a research proposal, get topic approval, and write a full outline (rough draft) for either a position or proposal paper. The module ends with a reading quiz.

Module I Objectives

In this module students will:

further developed their ability to read critically,
generate original ideas,
present an idea persuasively in academic, college-level essay,
refine strategies of academic research, including selecting a topic,
refine strategies for understanding sources, and planning and developing an extended documented research paper.

Discussion 1	Issues with Personal Freedoms	20 points
Assn. #1	Writing Summary (2 articles)	30 points
Assn. #2	Preliminary Research Web pages/Social Bookmarking	30 points
Assn. #3	Odyssey #1-Locating Sources on the Internet	30 points
Emails	Research Prospectus – Proposal & Prospectus (2)	20 points
Paper 1	Position/Proposal Paper Outline (1-2 pages)	50 points
Quiz #1	Module 1 Quiz	20 points
Module I Total Points:		200 points

Week 1

Course Orientation
Discussion 1: Issues with Personal Freedoms- 20 pts

Week 2

Ass. #1: Summary of two articles- 30 pts
Ass. #2: Preliminary Research Webpages/post to Diigo- 30 pts

Week 3

Ass. #3: Odyssey #1-Locating Sources on the Internet - 30 pts

Week 4

Paper 1: Position/Proposal Paper Outline- 50 pts
Quiz 1: Module 1 Quiz - 20 pts