Between BIC and Philosophy, I've written a substantial number of papers in my undergraduate career here at Baylor, and I can say quite confidently that the process we've used in this class has been by far the most beneficial.
In most classes, when you write a paper, you are given a prompt,you produce a paper, you turn it in, and then you recieve your grade and some feedback. In some cases, an outline or a draft is due prior to the paper's due date, but this is usually only in lower level classes. In these cases, a student is provided with some level of feedback to incorporate into their final draft, but usually this is done only to improve the quality of the grade that the student hopes to recieve on his final draft.
However, in this mode of doing the paper, the entire process was different. We were not given a prompt, but rather were able to research a topic that heavily interested us, with the minor stipulation that it relate to a Classical Philosopher in some manner or another. Before we produced a paper, we produced an abstract and got peer feedback on it. This enabled us to alter our trajectory for the paper before committing to one that didn't say what we were getting at fully enough. After the abstract, a rough draft was due. It didn't have to be as long as the final draft, which enabled us to actually use it as a rough draft (in contrast to those classes who say "turn in a rough draft, but it should closely resemble your final copy"). This allowed us to more fully develop our ideas and commit to them but still be open to critique and improvement which we got from 3 different sources: our peer editors, Dr. Schultz's edits, and our presentation. The presentation enabled us to explain our argument in different media. Through preparing for my presentation, I actually gained a better grasp on my argument myself, which enabled me to be more clear as I tweaked my paper for the final copy. Finally, the review that we wrote compelled us to look back at the process, and reinforce in our minds that it was more about the process thant the grade.
Overall, the seminar style of writing the paper was a definite success, and I can tell this by the fact that I've been thinking, not about tallyng up the scores on all my rubrics to see if I'm going to actually make an A on it, but about what I've gleaned fromt he process as a whole.
I really enjoy the seminar style of writing in this class too. I think just writing a paper for the finals, and writing a paper but at the same time present it to professor and classmates are two different types of things. When writing the paper, the only thing one need to concern is more about the context. One has to use evidence to prove his/ her own potions. But by presenting, one has to make the listen be interested in the topic, at least to attract them to listen to your presentation. That makes me reconsider about how could I con structure the paper, and how logically should I put all the points in my ten-minute presentation. Meanwhile, it is really interesting to learn from peers, to see what my classmates are concentrating on. By the way, I really enjoy your presentation on Tuesday, and it makes me more interested in the justice of law. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteThank you Rui! I can't wait to hear your presentation! :) I agree with what you said regarding the paper. Thinking about how to restructure your main points to fit them on a PowerPoint/make an effective presentation out of them definitely makes you reconsider the logical flow of your argument. I also found that doing that helped me to go back to my paper and ensure that the points made logical sense there as well! :)
ReplyDeleteI was very struck by the value of having the presentation of the paper as well. I think in the future, I'll just require that rather than "reading the paper." Thank you for this sustained feedback Stefanie. I will use it to refine the process further in future years.
ReplyDeleteI am grateful for your reflections too for my own teaching in the future.
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