Welcome to Chris' Classroom

Can you believe the summer has gone? Well, it is! Some, of course, are thrilled about going back to school, while others are less enthusiastic. No matter what kind of feeling you have, well, welcome on board! Welcome to the English World! Now you will need to spend a few moments to read over the requirements of the course. Do not feel hesitated to ask if you have any question about this course

Tentative Syllabus of Research Project
First Semester, 2008

Class:
Instructor: Dr. Yu-ying Chris Chang
Course link: http://projectwriting.blogspot.com/
http://homepage.ntust.edu.tw/YUYING/

I. COURSE DESCRIPTION
Research Project is a course that helps you experience methods of discovery, critical thinking, logical analyses, and problem-solving and even reach the demands of the community. It is a course that offers you a chance to go beyond what you know and think and incorporate ideas by others, and to present your integrated products. To involve in the course, you will need to choose a subject and do a series of studying and researching. You will need to access the Internet, to check out books from the library, and perhaps to interview several people to discover information or reach a new understanding. Most important, to present your integrated works, you will need to polish your writing and oral presentation skills. The class activities will include lectures, discussion, online activities, individual and group (usually 3-5) presentations, etc.

II. COURSE REQUIREMENTS
1. Class attendance, preparation and participation
2. Satisfactory completion of all the assignments (i.e. weekly reading and writing)

III. TEXTBOOK
Required:
1. Gibaldi, J. (2003). MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 6th edition. New York: The Modern Language Association of America. (書林書局代理)

Optional:
2. 王貳瑞，實務專題製作與報告寫作，華泰書局，台北，民國94年4月。
3. http://www.crlsresearchguide.org/00_Introduction.asp
4. http://pzweb.harvard.edu/Research/Research.htm
5. http://staffcentral.brighton.ac.uk/CLT/research/projects.htm
6. http://cela.albany.edu/reports.htm
7. http://www.education.vic.gov.au
8. Lester, J. D., & Lester, Jr., J. D. (2007). Writing Research Papers: A Complete Guide. New York: Pearson Longman. (書林書局代理)

IV. Evaluation:
1. Class attendance, participation, quizzes, assignments 40%
2. Weekly writing 20%
3. Midterm and final exams: 40%

注意事項：
• 所有的書寫的作業必須經過資料蒐集、閱讀、討論、用Word Processor寫出並用電子檔寄出
• 你的作業檔名為(你的名字+學號+項目+日期)
e.g. Chris8920101Overview(1)20080901
• 課程資料及優異的作品會放置在指導老師網站：http://projectwriting.blogspot.com/ http://homepage.ntust.edu.tw/YUYING/

Weekly Schedule
Week 1
• Orientation
1. A letter to students in Research Project
2. An introduction to Research Project
3. Time slot
4. Grouping
5. Reporting Activity: overview (1)
a. What does a research project look like?
b. Why do we need to learn Research Project?
c. What are the purposes of doing a research project?
d. What is the procedure of doing a research project?
e. What are the principles of doing a research project?

Week 2
• Overview (1)
What, why, the purposes, the principles, and the procedure
• Search Activity:

Week 3
• Quiz
• Overview (2): Definition, Objectives, Framework, Coverage, Procedure
• How to choose an appropriate topic
• Principles of Selecting a Topic & Ways to Settle on a Topic

Week 4
• Quiz
• How to collect data and do research
• Writing Activity:
• Log on the national library or city library and find out references related to your topic (at least two) and explain why.

Week 5
• Library trip
Report: introduce one of the sources in libraries.

Week 6
• Presentations
• Writing Activity: Discuss with your group members and hand in your group bibliography.

Week 7 Midterm Exam I (?)

Week 8
• Compiling a working bibliography (references)
• Writing Activity: Refine and convert all the working bibliographies and make the works-cited list of you group.

Week 9
• Group presentation of your work-cited lists
• Evaluating sources
• Taking notes & Types of Note-taking
• Index cards
• Writing Activity: Individually find two articles and make index cards (i.e. a working bibliography with notes). One of the articles should be summarized and the other should be paraphrased.

Week 10
• Application (presentation of group index cards)

Week 11
• Quiz
• Outlining:
What are outlines? Why do researchers need outlines?
How are outlines formed? Types of outlines.
The difference between outlines and proposals.
• Writing Activity:
• Write your own outline.
• Work with your group members and work out your group outline.

Week 12
• Quiz
• Conferencing
• Start writing the first draft

Week 13
• Language and style
• Guides to writing
• Plagiarism

Week 14 Midterm Exam II

Week 15
• Mechanics of Writing—student presentations (sections 3.1 to 3.4)

Week 16
• Mechanics of Writing—student presentations (sections 3.5 to 3.8)

Week 17
• Mechanics of Writing—student presentations (sections 3.7 to 3.8)
• Review

Week 18 Oral exam

Week 19 Oral exam: Final project due

Week 20 Final Exam (Written Form)

The criteria of grading.
1. Need to have a paper work with a complete framework, including a cover, a content, group name list and distribution, pictures and figures or tables, an introduction, a body, conclusion, suggestion, and implication.

2. Each group can have only 15 minutes to present its product. I prefer group work unless your personal stuff is good enough so you can do it individually.

3. You need to send a digital file and paper copy respectively to the instructor on time. The due date will be at 12: 30 p.m.

Notes for the next semester:
The next semester will focus on an individual or pair work or a big project with multiple members, so that you need to prepare your focus (subject) in the winter break.