Syllabus Guidelines for Designing a Sophomore Research Seminar

Syllabus Guidelines for Designing a Sophomore Research Seminar

When approving SRS courses, the Gen Ed Board will look for the integration of skills and content.  This document provides guidelines to help you design your syllabus.

Guidelines for your syllabus: Learning objectives and plans for integrating skills

  • Have you indicated key research topics to be discussed?  These should include, but need not be confined to, the following: framing a research question; identifying and analyzing secondary and, depending on the discipline, primary sources; creating a thesis; constructing an argument.
  • Have you indicated plans for integrating skills, such as the timing in relation to the course, assigned books or handouts addressing writing and research methods, a Library visit to discuss use of online and other sources, etc.?
  • IF your class will be analyzing primary sources, have you indicated (in a general way) what these are (e.g., students will interview retired GE scientists; students will look at old newspapers)?  How will you be discussing the gathering of primary sources (e.g., a class on how to survey and interview)?
  • Have you described a sequence of at least three written assignments for the research paper with intervening instructor or instructor-guided feedback and student revision? Feedback could include peer review, conferences with the instructor, class feedback on oral presentations, and/or written comments from the instructor. 
  • SRS Learning Outcomes: In 2008 the following learning outcomes were agreed for Sophomore Research Seminars and Scholars Research Seminars.  Syllabi for these courses should address these common learning outcomes:
  • DEVELOP A RESEARCH TOPIC: Formulate a clear, focused research question or thesis appropriate to the topic of inquiry.
  • FIND EVIDENCE: Identify and locate evidence appropriate for examining a research question or thesis.
  • EVALUATE EVIDENCE: Critically and ethically analyze evidence obtained for examination of a research question or thesis.
  • DEVELOP AN EVIDENCE-BASED ARGUMENT: Develop and organize a logical argument grounded in the analysis of evidence that supports or refutes a research question or thesis.
  • PRESENT RESEARCH FINDINGS: Present a logical analytical argument supported by evidence in an appropriate written form without errors of grammar, usage, and spelling.
  • PRACTICE PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS OF CITATION: Incorporate and cite evidence in a manner that meets the professional standards of the discipline most appropriate for the topic of inquiry.

Possibilities for Research Paper Assignment Sequences:  These are suggestions to give you ideas about how to design your sequence of assignments.  You are free, of course, to design the assignments in some other way as long as you include at least 3 stages with review and revision:

Stage 1: Preliminary assignment possibilities:

  • A statement of the research question/s and an annotated bibliography
  • A preliminary thesis statement and a summary of methods
  • A thesis statement and a preliminary outline

Stage 2: Feedback on one section of the paper:

  • Introduction:  exploration of the question/thesis and background information
  • Literature review:  summary and synthesis of what relevant sources say about the topic/issue
  • Section of the body:  One time period, issue, or sub-topic of the larger question; data analysis, etc.
  • Oral presentation on progress with feedback from the class and instructor

Stage 3: Feedback on a rough draft:

  • Students could be asked to submit a complete rough draft for feedback or a partial draft.  Instructors might want to consider peer review and/or staggered deadlines so that the time spent responding to papers is easier to manage.  

Stage 4: Final draft