A Guided Inquiry Approach to Teaching the Humanities Research Project

Randell K. Schmidt, Emilia N. Giordano, Geoffrey M. Schmidt

Aligned with the Common Core, this book enables teachers and librarians to develop lessons and workshops as well as to teach high school students how to research and write a humanities paper using a guided inquiry approach.Being able to use the inquiry process to successfully research, write, and prepare papers and others types of presentations is not only necessary for a student's preparation for collegiate work, but is truly a requisite life skill. This book provides a solid guided inquiry curriculum for cultivating the skills needed to properly investigate a subject in the humanities, interrogate both textual and non-textual sources, interpret the information, develop an understanding of the topic, and effectively communicate one's findings. It is a powerful and practical guide for high school humanities teachers, school librarians, community college humanities teachers and librarians, and early college-level humanities instructors as well as for high school and college students who want to learn how to conduct and write up humanities research.Part one comprises a teacher's practicum that explains the power of guided inquiry. Part two contains student's workshops with instructions and materials to conduct a guided humanities project and paper on the high school level. The third part provides materials for a professional development session for this assignment as well as assessment tools and other supplementary materials such as student handouts. Based on the authors' 15 years' experience in teaching guided inquiry, the 20 workshops in the book use a step-by-step, constructivist strategy for teaching a sophisticated humanities project that enables college readiness.

Describes the Information Search Process within the structures of a step-by-step workshop environment that serves both research and writing

CONTENTSForeword by Carol KuhlthauAcknowledgmentsPrefacePART I. TEACHER'S PRACTICUMChapter 1: The Traditional Humanities Research PaperChapter 2: The Rise of the Research Question and the Decline of the ThesisChapter 3: The Information Search Process, Guided Inquiry, and the WorkshopsChapter 4: Interrogation of Sources and the Development of a Researcher's Ideas by Directly Questioning the MaterialsChapter 5: Media Literacy and the Role of Social MediaChapter 6: Metacognition, Assessment and Latitude: Measuring GrowthPART II. STUDENT WORKSHOPSPrelude to a Research ProjectResearch in the Initiation Stage of the Information Search ProcessWorkshop 1: What Are the Humanities and Why Study Them?Workshop 2: The AssignmentWorkshop 3: Encouraging a Variety of Sources and FormatsWorkshop 4: Hunting for Information and Browsing for IdeasResearch in the Selection Stage of the Information Search ProcessWorkshop 5: Coming Up with a Topic and Beginning to Ask a QuestionWorkshop 6: What Is Culture and What Is Cultural Criticism?Workshop 7: Research in the Ubiquitous Media EnvironmentWorkshop 8: Searching for Humanities SourcesWorkshop 9: The Research QuestionWorkshop 10: Responsibility to Academic Honesty and the Problem with PlagiarismWorkshop 11: MLA Style and Formatting PaperWorkshop 12: Taking Notes and Keeping Track of InformationResearch in the Formulation Stage of the Information Search ProcessWorkshop 13: Interrogating the SourcesWorkshop 14: Further Developing the Research Question into a Thesis: Using Ideas Uncovered While Interrogating the SourcesWorkshop 15: How to Organize Your Borrowed Information Into an OutlineWorkshop 16: Filling the Research HolesResearch in the Presentation Stage of the Information Search ProcessWorkshop 17: Writing the PaperWorkshop 18: Writing a Conclusion and Creating a "Cover Page"Workshop 19: Preparing to Peer Edit the DraftResearch in the Assessment Stage of the Information Search ProcessWorkshop 20: Protocols for Turning in the Research Paper and Learning PortfolioAppendix A: Plan for Professional Development Workshop on the Guided Inquiry Approach to Teaching the Humanities Research ProjectAppendix B: SLIM Packet MaterialsAppendix C: Evaluation Samples and RubricReferencesIndex