Hi Mike All students who work with me in my lab (they sign up for independently research for credit) read 2-3 articles each week and take detailed notes on those article (1-2 pages per article in outline form). The last item in their notes must be a "why is this article useful or interesting entry" in which they give their own comments (e.g., "good section on limitations," "sort of peripheral because x and y" etc). This forces students to read carefully and present their articles to everyone in my lab (sometimes just me and another student). This method is very successful in forcing students to read. I find lack of reading the single biggest obstacle to developing a meaningful hypothesis based on the literature.
In fact, this method is so successful that I instituted it in my advanced methods lab this semester. Students works in groups of 4 and for the first 3 labs they had to do "journal club" (what I called it for lack of a better word) in which they collectively as a group picked the most important 4 articles, one person took notes on one article, shared the notes with everyone and discussed (informally presented) the article in their group. The students really like it so far because it forces everyone to read and within 3 labs each group has at least read 12 articles carefully (not enough but a start). Journal club is required but not graded. So I've found it works both with the select and highly motivated students who work in my lab as well as with a class (where students have more varied levels of motivation). Hope this helps. Marie **************************************************** Marie Helweg-Larsen, Ph.D. Department Chair and Associate Professor of Psychology Kaufman 168, Dickinson College Carlisle, PA 17013, office (717) 245-1562, fax (717) 245-1971 Office hours: Mon & Wed 2-3:30 http://users.dickinson.edu/~helwegm/index.html **************************************************** -----Original Message----- From: Michael Smith [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Friday, February 26, 2010 1:16 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: [tips] Research Journaling Hi all. I was wondering if anyone has had students keep a research journal while in the process of doing a literature review and developing a research statement. If so, is there any good resources about how to do it which includes example entries? I have a directed study student for whom I required this and gave examples of what could go into it and the (multifaceted) point of keeping one. It seems, though, that the student 'doesn't really get it', or is unmotivated (thinking that a directed study might be an easy way to pick up a course), or is treating it as just another thing to do as minimally as possible instead of using it as the tool, which if kept properly, would make the final write-up that much better and easier. Anyway, if there are some resources some of you know about that would be great. --Mike --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13234.b0e864a6eccfc779c8119f5a4468797f&n=T&l=tips&o=907 or send a blank email to leave-907-13234.b0e864a6eccfc779c8119f5a44687...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=911 or send a blank email to leave-911-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
